At least 17 people were killed and 39 more were injured as a
huge explosion hit Sri Lankan capital Colombo late Wednesday
afternoon, defense officials said.
Military Spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said the
explosion occurred in a business district in Colombo's southeastern
suburb of Nugegoda around 5:50 p.m. (1220 GMT), and the explosion
also caused fire in the area.
Sri Lankan police officers survey
the scene of a bomb explosion near a shopping centre in a Colombo
suburb Nov. 28, 2007. At least 17 people were killed and 39 more
were injured as a huge explosion hit Sri Lankan capital Colombo
late Wednesday afternoon, defense officials
said.?(Xinhua/Reuters Photo)
Defense officials said at least 17 people have been confirmed
dead in the explosion and 37 others were injured and rushed to
local hospitals, adding that four of the injured were in critical
condition.
The government has blamed the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil
Eelam (LTTE) for the explosion.
Initial investigations show that the bomb was inside an
unattended parcel which was found at the counter of a shopping
complex.
Sri Lankan hospital staff carries
a wounded child for treatment at the Kalubowila hospital in
Colombo.?(Xinhua/Reuters Photo)
Some vehicles were caught fire following the explosion.
Early on Wednesday, a female Tamil Tiger suicide bomber killed
one people and injured two others after exploding herself near the
office of Douglas Devananda, a pro-government Tamil politician and
the minister of Social Services and Welfare.
Fortunately, Devananda himself escaped the suicide attack.
The two attacks came just one day after the LTTE supremo
Velupillai Prabhakaran delivered his annual policy speech.
"Thousands of our fighters are standing ready to fight with
determination for our just goal of freedom and we will overcome the
hurdles before us and liberate our motherland," the LTTE leader
said on Tuesday.
Claiming discrimination at the hands of the Sinhala majority,
the LTTE has been fighting the government since the mid-1980s to
establish a separate homeland for the minority Tamils in the north
and east.
More than 5,000 people have been killed in the new wave of
violence since the end of 2005.
(Xinhua News Agency November 29, 2007)
