Compensation was paid to the affected families in Welioya attack

"As yet another bomb exploded in Sri Lanka killing 12 civilians and wounding 17 others yesterday, Amnesty International condemned the targeting of civilians by the LTTE", the human right organisation said in a statement.

On Sunday at least 11 people were killed in a suicide attack at the main railway station in Colombo, while on Friday a bomb on a bus killed 20 people, mostly Buddhist pilgrims, en-route to Anuradhapura, it said.

Amnesty International also cited the claymore mine attack on a bus in Mannar District on January 29 which killed 11 schoolchildren. The bus was close to Madhu Church, in an area the Bishop of Mannar had urged to be respected as a “no war” zone.

Both sides blamed each other for the attack. In the absence of independent monitors, it is impossible to verify or refute these claims, it said

Future bleak

"Both the Sri Lanka government and the LTTE are failing to comply with their obligations under international humanitarian law and are killing civilians on an increasingly regular basis," Amnesty International said.

"With no perpetrators brought to justice, a climate of impunity is becoming entrenched: unless these patterns are reversed the future appears bleak," said Tim Parritt, deputy programme director for Asia-Pacific.