Pietersen: England will focus on cricket

Security in Sri Lanka has been on high alert for several months © Getty Images

Kevin Pietersen says England's cricketers will stay focussed on their tour of Sri Lanka despite two bomb attacks in the capital, Colombo, on Wednesday. Team officials will continue to monitor the situation, in consultation with the British High Commission, but at present there is no threat to the itinerary, which begins with the first Test in Kandy on Saturday

"It definitely caused concern, but we've got to concentrate on the cricket," said Pietersen, who left Colombo with the England team on Wednesday morning, barely an hour before the first attack. "It's never nice to hear of casualties, and our hearts go out to those people and their families, but we've got to concentrate.

"I woke up this morning to a load of text messages from England and South Africa, but we had a meeting and we've been told that our circle is pretty secure, hopefully," said Pietersen. "We've just been told to get on with the cricket and concentrate on what we've been paid to do."

The England squad have arrived safely in Kandy, away from the scene of the explosions, which took place within ten hours of each other in the heart of the city, killing at least 17 people. The team is due to return to Colombo on December 6, ahead of the second Test at the SSC, but as yet there are no concerns about the safety of the players or travelling support.

"We have spoken to the High Commission and at present their travel advice remains the same," said England's media liaison officer, Andrew Walpole. "As things stand, this will not affect the tour, although we are certainly not going to be complacent about security and we will keep the situation under review."

The first blast occurred at around 9am, outside the department of welfare in the southern outskirts of the city. The perpetrator, an elderly female, died in the blast, along with the personal secretary of her target, the welfare minister, Douglas Devananda. The second took place in the city's busy Nugegoda district, when a security guard opened a suspect package outside a popular clothing store.

Security in Sri Lanka has been on high alert for several months, ever since the fragile peace between the government and the separatist Tamil Tigers began to crumble in early 2006. In August of that year, South Africa's one-day squad pulled out of a triangular tournament in the country following a blast that killed seven and injured 17.

The attacks came a day after the leader of the Tamil Tigers, Velupillai Prabhakaran, used his annual remembrance address to warn that hopes for peace in the country were "naive".