COLOMBO: A woman Tamil Tiger suicide bomber killed 28 people yesterday at a camp for civilians who have fled Sri Lanka’s ethnic war, the military said, as the rebels faced imminent defeat.

The bomber detonated her explosives as she was being searched by women soldiers outside the camp near Visuamadu, an area the military recently captured from the rebels, military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara said.

“Twenty soldiers including three women soldiers were killed,” he said. “Another eight civilians were killed and 40 civilians were wounded.” Dozens of injured soldiers were also rushed to hospital.

Nanayakkara blamed the attack on Tamil Tiger rebels, whose decades-long armed campaign for an independent homeland has recently suffered huge territorial losses as a result of a major army offensive. “This attack is aimed at slowing down the army’s advance,” Nanayakkara told reporters here. He added that the Tigers were trying to discourage civilians from crossing over to government-held areas.

The United Nations and the US government condemned the attack. “Those killed had already been forced from their homes by fighting, and had endured terrible hardships,” the UN said in a statement.

“The UN reiterates that civilians must be distinguished from combatants, and protected from the fighting. It calls once again on the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) to separate its forces from civilians under its control.”

The US Embassy said it saw the bombing as an apparent effort by the LTTE to discourage Tamils from leaving the conflict area. “The United States calls on the LTTE to allow all civilians freedom of movement,” it said in a statement.

The Tamil Tigers have launched scores of suicide missions in the past. In October, a bomber killed 27 people inside an opposition party office.

Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama met with heads of UN agencies in Colombo to discuss protecting civilians amid reports that the Tigers were also using child suicide bombers against troops, the ministry said.

The government had been at loggerheads with international agencies over the number of civilians trapped by the conflict as well as accounts of civilian casualties. Colombo says the number of civilians trapped by the conflict is now less than 100,000. UN agencies have placed it at 250,000.