Blast at Sri Lankan mosque kills 10, wounds 20

Sri Lankan soldiers patrol a shelter for war-displaced Tamils in Vavuniya in late February.
A suicide bomber detonated explosives at a mosque in southern Sri Lanka on Tuesday, killing 10 people and wounding 20 others, authorities said.

The explosion occurred in the Matara district, the defense ministry said on its Web site. The blast targeted Muslims attending Milad-un-Nabi celebrations, which observe the birth of Prophet Muhammad. Authorities blamed the Tamil Tigers rebel group for the blast. The rebels have fought for an independent homeland for the country’s ethnic Tamil minority since 1983. The civil war has left more than 70,000 people dead.

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