6TH LEAD

Bomb explosion targets Police bus in Colombo, 10 killed, 95 wounded

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 May 2008, 07:00 GMT]
A motorbike fitted with a bomb rammed into a bus carrying riot control police personnel, few hundred meters away from the Sri Lankan Presidential Secretariat, Friday noon, killing 10 persons, 7 policemen and 3 civilians, and injuring 6 Sri Lanka Army soldiers, 30 policemen and 59 civilians. The explosion has taken place on Lotus Road inside the High Security area near the Hilton Hotel. 12 wounded policemen were in critical condition, according to medical sources in Colombo hospital.

Three of the seven police personnel killed were females.

The policemen were on their way to provide additional security as the swearing-in ceremony of the Eastern Province Chief Minister, postponed yesterday, was to take place, as scheduled earlier, Friday at 4:00 p.m.

Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa blamed the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) for the suicide attack.

Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillaiyan, the de-facto leader of the paramilitary-cum-political party, the TMVP, also known as Pillayan Group, was scheduled to be sworn in as the Chief Minister of the Eastern Province. Pillayan's group contested the elections, with widespread vote-rigging and ballot-stuffing, on ruling UPFA-ticket, affecting the ultimate result of the election.