Navy convoy attacked in Trinco, 2 civilians killed in retaliation

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 January 2006, 06:19 GMT]
A cycle bomb placed along the Nilaveli-Trincomalee road near a bus depot hit a Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) bus convoy carrying soldiers towards east port town at the third mile post junction Tuesday around 10:05 a.m. Sri Lanka troops fired in retaliation killing two Tamil civilians and injuring several Tamil civilians, four of them have been brought to Trincomalee general hospital. Initial reports said about eleven soldiers were seriously injured and are admitted to navy hospital, which is located inside the SLN eastern region headquarters in the east port town.

The cycle bomb, detonated by remote control, had missed the target, Sri Lankan defence sources said.

Meanwhile a SLAF helicopter landed in naval headquarters to airlift seriously injured sailors to Colombo.

One of the wounded civilians, shot in his head by the soldiers, is to be transferred to Colombo hospital in critical condition, medical sources said.