Tamil rebels hiding behind bushes opened fire on a bus and its army escort Saturday, killing 10 people and injuring six others, officials said. The military officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said five Sinhalese soldiers and five civilians were killed in the attack in dense jungle near Vavuniya, about 135 miles north of Colombo. More than 50 guerrillas fired from both sides of the road, the officials said. ``The soldiers were escorting the civilian bus, and they died fighting the attackers. We believe the attackers suffered heavy casualties, but we don't have details,'' one official said. He said the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, the largest Tamil militia, was responsible for the attack. The ambush came a day after President Junius R. Jayewardene's United National Party won a majority of seats to four new district councils. The elections were boycotted by major opposition parties. Tamil militants have been fighting the Sinhalese-dominated government for a separate homeland in northern and eastern provinces for five years. In July, India and Sri Lanka signed a peace accord aimed at ending the ethnic war by granting some autonomy to the minority Tamils. The accord has been rejected by the Tamil Tigers, who control major areas of Northern Province. India has sent more than 50,000 troops to its island neighbor to disarm the Tigers and enforce the accord. The predominantly Hindu Tamils, who are 18 percent of Sri Lanka's 16 million people, say they are discriminated against by the Buddhist Sinhalese, who form 75 percent of the population and control the government and the military. India, also predominantly Hindu, intervened at the request of its own large Tamil minority.
