COLOMBO, Aug 14: Seven people were killed and 17 injured in the Sri Lankan capital today when a security forces' convoy escorting a Pakistan embassy vehicle was hit by a Claymore fragmentation mine, officials said.

A driver from the convoy said the embassy vehicle was slightly damaged, but no-one was hurt. He refused to identify passengers in the vehicle. The Pakistani ambassador was uninjured, the bomb squad said.

''Seven people were dead on arrival. We have 17 other people who are injured and being treated now,'' said Colombo National Hospital director Hector Weerasinghe.

The rebels had earlier today accused the government of bombing an orphanage in rebel territory and killing 43 schoolgirls.

A driver from the convoy which was escorting a Pakistan embassy vehicle said he believed the convoy had been hit by two Claymore fragmentation mines.

The embassy vehicle was slightly damaged, but nobody in it was injured.

The Pakistani Embassy was immediately available for comment.

A three wheeler taxi was on fire. The other vehicles in the convoy continued away from the site of the blast. Ambulances rushed to the scene.

The blast shook the windows of the Reuters office in the capital, and comes just hours after a suspected Tamil Tiger front threatened to attack civilians if the military continued attacks on Tamil Tiger rebel territory.

REUTERS

Related Stories
Blast rocks Sri Lankan capital, Team India safe

In Focus: Sri Lanka Crisis