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COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (CNN) -- Eight people were killed and almost 100 wounded when a woman blew herself up near a train as it was pulling into a station Sunday in Sri Lanka's capital city, Colombo, police said.

The blast occurred just hours after a grenade detonated inside Sri Lanka's central zoo Sunday morning, wounding at least six people.

No one has yet claimed responsibility for either explosion. The government blamed the rebel group, the Tamil Tigers, for the train blast saying the group often uses suicide bombers in its attacks.

In recent days, Sri Lanka -- already in chaos as government and rebels continue a deadly battle -- has seen an rise in civilian casualties despite heightened security ahead of the country's independence day celebrations on Monday.

On Saturday, a bomb explosion on a bus in a tourist town north of Colombo Saturday killed 20 people and sent at least 68 others to the hospital, authorities said.

The train was pulling into Fort Station -- the country's main railway station in Colombo's city center -- when the bomb detonated, authorities said.

The casualties included both passengers in the train and others who were waiting on the platform, police said.

Earlier Sunday, a grenade detonated at Behiwala Zoo, located 10 km (6.2 miles) south of Colombo.

Sunday, a holiday in Sri Lanka, is a time when hundreds flock to the zoo and other attractions. And police said they think the attack was intended to cause panic rather than casualties.

The island nation in southeast Asia has been thrown into turmoil since the government withdrew from a cease-fire on January 16 between its forces and separatists rebels known as the Tamil Tigers.

The fighting in Sri Lanka pits government forces in a country dominated by the Sinhalese ethnic group against rebels from the Tamil minority. The rebels are fighting for the creation of an independent nation, citing discrimination by the Sinhalese.

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