SLA officer escapes suicide attack

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 March 2000, 07:42 GMT]
22-1 Brigade Commander, Colonel Piyal Abeyasekara, escaped with minor injuries in a suicide attack by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in the heart of Trincomalee town around 10.45 a.m. this morning. One SLA soldier was killed and two others were wounded in the attack security sources said.

The attacker who came on bicycle along the Inner Harbor Road, from the direction of Naval Headquarters, tried to cut across the SLA vehicle, and triggered the blast, the sources said. The attacker died on the spot.

The wounded soldiers were admitted at the Trincomalee base hospital. The driver of the army vehicle died on admission to the hospital.

The attack took place between the Elephant House building and the Trincomalee district office of the Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP), just in front the Higher Technical Institute facing the harbor.

Security Forces sealed off the entire area and conducted a search operation said sources.