The year is off to a great start. As in Madrid and Bangkok, somebody seeks to prove the intellectual superiority of their position by blowing up random civilians. (And none of these three cases involves Muslims, by the way.) From the NYT. Jan. 6:

COLOMBO — A powerful bomb blew up a passenger bus on Saturday, killing 11 people and wounding more than 40 others on the southern coast of Sri Lanka.

The bombing was the second in less than 24 hours. The authorities are investigating the first blast, which killed six people and wounded 50 on Friday northeast of the capital, Colombo.

A government statement blamed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam for the explosions.

“The government believes that the L.T.T.E. is attempting to divert attention from the continuous defeats they have been suffering at the hands of the security forces during the recent past,” the statement said. “The government reiterates that terror attacks will not deter its efforts to find a peaceful solution to the national problem or its counterterrorism measures to defeat terrorism.”

The rebels had no immediate comment. They routinely deny involvement in attacks. The Tigers have been fighting for more than two decades to carve out a separate state for the island’s Tamil minority.

The bombing on Saturday took place near the busy town of Hikkaduwa, in an area that is popular with tourists.

The body of a woman who was believed to have planted the parcel bomb was found near the bus, said Jayantha Gamage, the senior police official in the area. He said most of the damage and casualties were to the rear section of the bus, which bore a gaping hole.

See our last post on Sri Lanka.