Rebel Says He Planted Bomb That Killed 64

A newly arrested Tamil rebel took responsibility Tuesday for a train bombing that killed 64 people and wounded 400 others outside the Sri Lankan capital.

Surrounded by police and army officers at a news conference arranged by the military, Saverimuttu Loganathan, 23, said he planted the bomb before getting off the train at a suburban station.

“I got into the train at Kolcutititya station and got off at Dehiwala after leaving a bag of explosives on a rack,” Loganathan said.

The bomb exploded as the train pulled out of the station in Dehiwala, a middle-class suburb just south of Colombo on the Indian Ocean coast.

The July 24 bombing was the worst terrorist attack on Colombo since a Tamil Tiger suicide bomber devastated the capital’s commercial district in January, killing 88 people.

Loganathan and two women were arrested Monday after police raided their rented home in Dehiwala.