COLOMBO (Reuters) - A citizens group is collecting signatures across Sri Lanka to mobilise public opinion in favour of an international ban on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels. The All Peace-Loving Citizens of Sri Lanka (APLC), which groups several Buddhist and human rights organisations, began the campaign last week in central Kandy town, organisers said on Tuesday. The government has blamed the LTTE for a string of bomb explosions in the country, including one last week in the capital Colombo that killed 38 people and wounded more than 250. He said the petition, which would be given to the high commissioners or ambassadors of Britain, France, Germany, Australia, Canada, Sweden, Switzerland and Norway, would be taken to all major towns in the country. The petition calls for the shutting down of LTTE offices in those countries and preventing the rebels from raising funds there, organisers said. The government in January banned the LTTE. Washington last year included the LTTE on its list of 30 "foreign terrorist organisations", making it difficult for the group to raise funds in the United States. The LTTE have been fighting for a separate homeland for minority Tamils in Sri Lanka's north and east since 1983. The government said in 1996 that more than 50,000 people have been killed in the war, but several thousand more have been reported killed or wounded since then.