Bishop calls for peace in Sri Lanka after cease-fire ends

Published: 2008-01-18

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (CNS) -- A bishop has renewed calls for peace in Sri Lanka and expressed concern over a deadly blast that ripped into a bus hours before the cease-fire between rebels and the government formally ended. Bishop Winston Fernando of Badulla issued a statement Jan. 17, the day after the bus tragedy and at least two other attacks in his southeastern diocese, an area which has experienced relatively little violence from the civil war that began in 1983 between the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and the government. The Asian church news agency UCA News reported that Bishop Fernando extended condolences to the families and emphasized the need for the government and Tamil rebels to come to a peaceful settlement and halt the bloodshed. The bus ambush killed 27 people, most of whom were shot by rebels as they tried to escape the bus, and wounded 67 others, the military reported. The British news agency Reuters reported the Tamil rebels denied involvement in the ambush.

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