At least four people including one army soldier and three civilians were killed and over 25 people wounded when the suspected Tamil Tiger rebels blasted a powerful claymore bomb in the heart of Colombo city targeting an army bus Wednesday morning, official sources said.

“LTTE terrorists have carried out a cowardly bomb attack targeting civilians and an Army bus carrying sick personnel at Slave Island in Colombo this morning. Four people including one soldier and three civilians have been killed and 28 others injured in the explosion,” the Defence Ministry said.

One woman is among the dead while 11 soldiers and 17 civilians were among the injured.

According to initial investigations the bomb had been placed “inside one of the external unit of the Air conditioning machines of the Nippon Hotel.”

Accidental Service unit Director of the Colombo national hospital Dr Hector Weerasinghe said that at least 25 wounded people from the blast site were admitted to the hospital and three people succumbed to their injuries on admission to the hospital. “Of the wounded people there were few army soldiers and the rest of them are civilians,” Dr Weerasinghe said, adding that most of the seriously wounded people were being treated in the Intensive Care Unit.

The blast has occurred near the heavily-guarded and always crowded Slave Island junction area, located a few hundred metres away from Sri Lankan Army and Air Force headquarters. The security force personnel cordoned off the blast site and stepped up the security measures in and around the area.

The blast has occurred a day after a Tamil lawmaker T Maheshwaran and his personal bodyguard were killed when an unknown gunman opened fired at the MP.

Meanwhile, the United States has condemned the New Year Day assassination of MP Maheswaran and also the claymore blast in Colombo that killed and wounded civilians as well.