The International Committee of Red Cross has made its concern about casualties caused by deliberate attacks against civilians in the form of bus bombs.
The bombs against two civilian buses owned by the Sri Lanka government's Sri Lanka Transport Board killed 30 people of mixed Sinhalese and Tamil ethnic crowd of the island's Eastern and Northern provinces. Experts say the bus bombs carried all the hall marks of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the group found out to be carrying such bomb attacks in the past by the Norway managed Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission.
"In all circumstances the law prohibits direct attacks against civilian and civilian objects," said the statement. The following is the full statement:
"The number of casualties caused by deliberate attacks against civilians has sharply increased in northern and eastern Sri Lanka.
"Only last week some 30 people were killed and more than 50 injured as a result of two bomb attacks on civilian buses and other violent incidents.
"The last took place on Saturday in Vavuniya district, where a claymore-mine explosion gutted a public bus, killing eight persons and injuring 25.
"The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is deeply concerned about the worsening situation in the country and especially its effects on civilians.
"It calls on the parties to the armed conflict to respect the rules and principles of international humanitarian law, in particular by distinguishing at all times between civilians and fighters.
"In all circumstances the law prohibits direct attacks against civilian and civilian objects.
"The ICRC has been active in Sri Lanka since 1989, in particular in the north-east of the country, acting as a neutral intermediary, protecting and assisting the civilian population, visiting detainees, restoring contact between members of separated families and promoting international humanitarian law.
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