2ND LEAD

10 civilians, 3 SLA soldiers, policeman wounded in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 January 2006, 15:23 GMT]
Ten civilians were wounded in a bomb attack on a Sri Lanka Navy Jeep and the retaliatory fire and assault on civilians by the troopers Thursday evening in Trincomalee district between Gandhinagar and Anuradhapura junction along the Trincomalee - Kandy Highway, 3 km southwest of east port town. SLA soldiers opened fire wounding civilians following the explosion. The bomb exploded Thursday around 4 p.m., according to the Police. Tension prevailed in the area.

Soldiers retaliated with firing at the site.

Among the injured one is Sinhalese, two Muslims and the rest are Tamils. The names of the injured are: - Benedict (38), Vinotharajah (28) Kamalathas (48), Pakiarajah (24), Nawas (42), Arulraj (30) Ravichandran (37), Jeyachandran (34), Chandrasekara (38) and Mashoor (73).

A shop, which is located at the site, has been found damaged following the explosion, sources said.

Several civilians were detained for questioning soon after the attack.