The Sri Lanka Air Force launched aerial attacks against Tamil tiger rebels in the northern island on Wednesday, the military said.
The Army said the fighter craft took attacks on LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) rebels' complex where the rebels' munitions were stored at Uddasar, Kattukular and Putukudirippu in the Mullaithivu district about 2:30 p.m. local time (0900 GMT).
"Large explosions as well as thick palls of smoke covered the skies as munitions started exploding giving thundering sounds," the Army said.
Defense officials said earlier that at least 25 people were killed and 65 injured when a civilian bus was hit by a Claymore mine at about 7:45 a.m. (0215 GMT) in Uva Province's Okkampitiya area, about 240 km southeast of Colombo.
Many of the casualties were school children, officials said, adding that the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has been blamed for the explosion.
Shortly after the bus attack, an Army vehicle was caught in a Claymore mine attack in the same district around 9:55 a.m. (0425 GMT), with four soldiers being injured.
Meanwhile, five farmers were killed and four were injured in an attack by a group of rebels in Uva Province's Dambeyaya area Wednesday morning, officials said, adding that the same group of the LTTE who had attacked the civilian bus was responsible for this attack.
All the schools in the Uva Province where Okkampitiya is located have been closed for three days from Wednesday due to the attacks.
On the other hand, an LTTE leader named Arichelvan in the eastern strategic port of Trincomalee was shot dead by Army troops around 12:30 p.m. (0700 GMT).
The new violence occurred as the government's decision to withdraw from the Norwegian brokered 2002 ceasefire agreement would take effect on Wednesday.
The co-chairs of Sri Lanka's peace process (Norway, Japan, the United States and the European Union) have stressed that no military solution was possible to end the island's long drawn-out separatist armed conflict.
Claiming discrimination at the hands of the Sinhala majority, the LTTE has been fighting the government since the mid-1980s to establish a separate homeland for the minority Tamils in the north and east.
Source: Xinhua
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