A bomb attack was carried out in a train in the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo. The train was packed with passengers when the blast occurred and at least 17 people were wounded, authorities said.

According to the country’s army website the bomb exploded a few seconds after the last carriage of the train had passed by. The blast occurred at 0710 local time when the commuter train was passing between Wellawatte and Dehiwela districts. The bomb had been planted on another track parallel to the one the train was using.

The Tamil Tiger rebels were held responsible by military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara. Rasiah Ilanthirayan, spokesman for the LTTE, couldn’t be reached for comment.

The train didn’t suffer severe damage, but at least 17 bystanders were injured, the military and a hospital official said. The wounded were taken to the Kalubowila Teaching Hospital for treatment, said Dr. Wilfred Kumarasinghe. The condition of the victims is stable.

"The train was packed. There were about 1,500, passengers, mostly office workers travelling... to the city," the train's driver told the AFP news agency.

The bomb attacks intensified in Colombo and most of them were blamed on the Tamil Tigers
A similar attack was carried out in February and 11 people died then at the city’s main train station.

The conflict between the Sri Lanka's pro-government forces and the LTTE has started 25 years ago. The rebels are fighting to obtain an independent state for the Tamil minority.

Two attempts of reaching peace were made, but after the last of them made during the peace-talks held in Geneva a year ago, the fighting has intensified.

At least 70,000 people were killed in the heavy fighting since the civil war began.