COLOMBO, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- The military in Sri Lanka said at least 43 people were injured in an explosion carried out by suspected Tamil Tiger rebels in Sri Lanka's capital Colombo at noon time on Saturday.

Military spokesman Udaya Nanayakkara said a bomb exploded in the business hub of Pettah area around 12:15 p.m. local time (0645 GMT).

Nanayakkara said initial investigations showed that the explosion was caused by a parcel bomb placed near a fruit vendor stall and all the injured were civilians.

The spokesman said three of the injured people are in critical condition.

Attributing the explosion to the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Nanayakkara said the LTTE "desperate with its defeat in the north is targeting civilians in the south."

The Director of the National hospital Colombo Hector Weerasinha said 45 people who suffered injuries were admitted to the hospital.

Few of the victims who suffered severe injuries were already taken for immediate surgeries, Weerasinha said.

Having taken control of the whole Eastern Province from the hands of the LTTE, government troops are currently battling the LTTE in the north with the aim of totally crushing the organization within one year.

The military says the war is entering a decisive stage as the troops are advancing to the rebel's administrative center of Kilinochchi.

The LTTE has been fighting the government since the mid-1980s to carve out a separate Tamil homeland in the north and east, and more than 70,000 people have been killed.
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