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Rush Hour bomb explodes in Sri Lanka, 7 killed
A roadside bomb exploded during the evening rush hour near Sri Lanka's capital killing seven civilians. Military spokesman Brig. Prasad Samarasinghe said a truck carrying police commandos to the capital was hit by the blast in Ratmalana, a suburb of Colombo. Samarasinghe said seven civilians died and 33 others were wounded in the blast. Four police commandos were among the wounded."We suspect that the bomb had been planted on the roof or the wall of an abandoned shop," Samarasinghe said. Rebel spokesman Rasiah Ilanthirayan denied that the Tamil Tiger rebels were responsible for the bomb. The explosion occurred during the evening rush hour as many workers were returning home. It comes amid a worsening separatist conflict in Sri Lanka that has killed more than 5,000 people in the past 18 months, shattering a 5-year-old, Norway-brokered cease-fire viewed as the best opportunity to solve the two-decade-old crisis. On Sunday, police commandos found a bomb in Batticaloa, in Sri Lanka's restive east, weighing 25 kilograms (55.12 pounds) and defused it hours after an explosion elsewhere in the region killed three civilians, Lt. Col. Upali Rajapakse of the Defense Ministry information center said. Posted by: Pappy 2007-05-29 |
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