An explosion and fire on a bus in Diyatalawa this morning left 19 injured, including Sri Lankan army personnel. 

The army commander informed the prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe the incident was caused by a hand grenade. 

"The Army denies any terrorist involvement in the incident. Police investigations are in progress," the army's website stated. 

The bus was a private vehicle travelling from Jaffna to Diyatalawa.

The European Union's mission to Sri Lanka on Wednesday urged the government to honour its commitments to the Office of Missing Persons and transitional justice mechanisms. 

Marking one year of families of the disappeared protesting across the North-East, calling on the government to reveal the whereabouts of their missing loved ones, the EU in Sri Lanka tweeted: 

Amid calls from UK parliamentarians for his expulsion, Sri Lanka's UK defence attache, Brigadier Priyanka Fernando, will return to Colombo for "consultations" the army spokesperson, told reporters today. 

Brigadier Fernando was filmed on February 4 making a throat slitting gesture at Tamils protesting outside the Sri Lankan High Commission in London. 

Tamil diaspora groups, the TNA and cross party UK MPs have called on the police to investigate the incident and for the Brigadier to be expelled. 

The former president Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday accused the president, Maithripala Sirisena of protecting the UNP leader and prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, following the UNP's election defeat at the local government polls. 

Speaking to reporters, Mr Rajapaksa reiterated his call for the position of Opposition Leader to be given to the UPFA. 

Mr Sumanthiran, the TNA spokesperson, rejected this however, stating that the Opposition Leader cannot be from the UPFA as the president is the leader of that party. 

The Sri Lankan government failed to provide Tamil or English translations of reports on the treasury bond scandal and of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry appointed to investigate into serious acts of fraud and corruption (PRECIFAC), leading to a postponement of the scheduled debates.

TNA Parliamentarian M A Sumanthiran raised the lack of translations in parliament, clashing with Joint opposition Parliamentarian Vasudeva Nanayakkara, who is a former Sri Lankan Minister of National Languages.

Families of the disappeared in Kilinochchi marked today one year of continuous protests calling on the government to release information on the whereabouts of their missing loved ones. 

Civil society groups across the North-East have called for action in a joint statement, marking one year of protests by families of the disappeared. 

^{Photograph: Sri Lankan troops prepare for deployment to Lebanon earllier this month.}

The United Nations has confirmed that it has out “on hold” the deployment of a Sri Lankan commander who was set to lead troops as a peacekeeper in Lebanon, after concerns over his involvement in war crimes.

The Sri Lankan military declared that it had completed the construction of the walls of a Buddhist vihara in Amparai, as the army continued its involvement in consolidating Sinhala Buddhist presence in the North-East.

The Sri Lankan government is attempting to replace the Prevention of Terrorism Act in time for the start of the UN Human Rights Council session in Geneva, the Sunday Times reports.

The final draft was given to the cabinet for approval last Wednesday by the Foreign Minister, Tilak Marapana, and gave rise to objections from the housing minister Sajith Premadasa.

The foreign minister reportedly said that it would be imprudent to stop the new counter terror legislation passing into law so close to the upcoming human rights council session.