Suicide blast kills senior Sri Lankan army official
Suicide blast kills senior Sri Lankan army official
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Monday, 26, Jun 2006 11:19
A suicide bomb attack outside the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo has this morning killed four people including the country's third highest ranking army official.
Major General Parami Kulathunga, deputy chief of staff for the Sri Lanka army, was one of three military personnel killed in the vehicle bomb, which exploded at Moraketiya Junction in the Pannipitiya suburb, at about 08:00 local time.
The Sri Lankan ministry of defence confirmed that five other people received injuries in the attack and are currently receiving treatment at the Colombo national hospital, Kalubowila teaching hospital and Sri Jayawardenapura hospital.
Rebel group Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), otherwise known as the Tamil Tigers, has been blamed for the attack.
"Sources said that the bomb had exploded targeting security personnel. LTTE terrorists are suspected to be behind the cowardly attack carried in the highly-populated city area," a statement from the Sri Lankan MoD said.
In total, the civil war-torn country has seen 65,000 people killed since the LTTE started campaigning for an independent homeland for the minority Tamils in 1970.
A reduction in the volume of attacks had taken place after a truce was called between the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE in 2002 but today's attack increases fears that the ceasefire has been retracted by the rebel group.
Two other attacks this month killed nearly 100 people. At least 30 were killed as the result of a sea-borne attack upon the Sri Lankan navy by LTTE on June 17th, two days after more than 60 civilians were killed when their bus exploded after hitting two rebel road mines.
This toll is the worst for four years and has prompted Sri Lanka's government to respond by launching jet attacks against the rebel group.