Colombo, Jan 16: At least 23 people were killed and several others were injured in a blast suspected to have been triggered by Tamil Tiger rebels on a bus in in Okkampitya, a town in southern Sri Lanka. Okkampitya town today.

Okkampitya lies in the southern parts of the Island nation.

The blast assumes significance as it occurred on the day Sri Lankan Government ended the nearly six-year-old ceasefire agreement with LTTE rebels.

While initial reports said that the bus was carrying school children, but a senior police official said that a Claymore mine was detonated on the ill-fated bus that was carrying factory workers.

"Thereafter, the rebels opened fire and hurled grenades at the bus," the CNN quoted the official as saying.

According to local authorities, at least 35 people were undergoing treatment at hospital. (ANI)