COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - Deadly violence, including a weekend bus bombing that reportedly killed at least 20 people, marred Sri Lanka's 60th freedom anniversary Monday.
The Sri Lankan government Web site said the bus bombing occurred in Dambulla. The victims, many of them women, were pilgrims on their way to the sacred city of Anuradhapura to attend a Buddhist ceremony of blessing, the report said.
The bombing was blamed on Tamil Tiger rebels who have been fighting for decades for a separate homeland for the Tamil-speaking minority on the predominantly Buddhist nation.
In other acts of violence, more than a dozen people died in two roadside bombings Monday.
Britain's Guardian reported in the first bombing, a roadside blast struck a bus in Welioya, north of Colombo, killing 12 people. In the other bombing in the south-eastern town of Buttala, one soldier died and two more were injured.
In Colombo, security was tightened with the city virtually sealed off, the report said.
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