Army finds explosives on bus

[TamilNet, Sunday, 13 December 1998, 22:27 GMT]
Sri Lankan police sources said that five people, including the driver and conductor of a bus, were arrested yesterday after explosives were discovered on board. The bus was on its way to Trincomalee from Kaththankudy in the Batticaloa district.

The sources said that an unclaimed parcel containing explosives was discovered by the Sri Lankan Army manning the Mannampiddy check post when they searched the bus at 12.30 p.m. The bus had left the Kaththankudy bus depot at 8.00 a.m.

A passenger who was in the bus said, however, that the bus had drove through at least 12 checkpoints. It would have been impossible that the parcel had gone unchecked by the army and police at any of the those check posts, said the passenger.

The arrested have been transferred to Colombo for further interrogation.

Elsewhere, in the Ampara district, the Sri Lankan Police said that, last night, they found the body of a young man at Karaithivu, with gun shot injuries.

He has been identified as Thangarasa Sivarasa, 28.

The police said that he was killed in the cross-fire during a clash between the Special Task Force and the Liberation Tigers.