John Rathaya cries near the body of his grandson after the bomb blast in Colombo on Tuesday. (Reuters)

Colombo, Aug. 8 (Reuters): A car bomb exploded in Colombo today, killing two people, including a three-year-old boy, as Tamil Tiger rebels lifted a water supply blockade.

Bomb squad officials said a magnetic bomb had been fixed to the rear of a minivan carrying a minority Tamil politician opposed to the Tamil Tiger rebels. It was detonated in a residential quarter of the capital.

Sivardasan, a senior member of the Eelam Peoples’ Democratic Party (EPDP) — which is allied to President Mahinda Rajapakse’s government — survived. His bodyguard and a three-year-old boy were killed.

A Reuters witness at the scene saw the towel-draped body of the child lying on the tarmac as an elderly man wept nearby.

The body of the bodyguard was still in the van. Five other people were admitted to hospital with burns.

“The child is three years old. His mother is working as a maid here. We were going home after work when it exploded,” said the boy’s grandfather, John Rathaya, 61.

“Why did they take my child. They could have taken me,” he said. “Let’s fight against terrorists. I will join you all.”

Shortly after the attack, the Tigers re-opened a sluice to allow water to flow into government territory from a tank in a rebel-held area. Their blocking the water supply had started the fighting late last month, the first time the two sides had been in a ground battle since a 2002 ceasefire.

Nordic truce monitors said they hoped the violence would now stop. The government said the Tigers still needed to vacate the area, and defence officials were discussing how to proceed. The Tigers had vowed to re-open the waterway on Sunday, but the government replied with renewed artillery fire.

“We hope this is the beginning of the end of the violence,” said Thorfinnur Omarsson, spokesman for the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission which oversees the island’s truce. “There’s nothing to fight over now.”

The car bomb attack came as