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| Sri Lanka | ||
| Female Tamil Tiger bomber kills 28 after hiding among refugees | ||
| 2009-02-09 | ||
| A female Tamil Tiger suicide bomber killed at least 28 people and wounded 90 this morning as soldiers searched a group of civilians fleeing Sri Lanka's northeastern conflict zone, according to the Army. The bomber blew herself up while she was being frisked for weapons near Vishvamadu, a town recently captured by the Army as it edges towards a conventional military victory over the Tigers. Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara, a spokesman for the military, said the blast killed two officers, 18 other soldiers, and eight civilians. State television footage of the bomb site showed several civilians - including a child in a purple dress - lying lifeless on blood-stained ground among overturned plastic chairs. The attack has raised fears that the Tigers may resort to further suicide attacks - a tactic they pioneered over the last 25 years of civil war - now that they have lost their air force, navy and heavy artillery. It also highlights the problems facing the Government as it tries to comply with international demands to allow civilians to leave the conflict zone while protecting its own forces and preventing Tigers from escaping.
Today, however, the Government said that the number of civilians fleeing the conflict zone had picked up in the last few days, with a total of at least 17,300 leaving since Thursday. The rebels usually deny involvement in any attacks that kill civilians, but they have been accused of carrying out more than 200 suicide attacks over the course of Asia's longest running civil war. Listed as a terrorist organisation by the United States, the European Union and India, they are credited with inventing the suicide jacket and the culture of martyrdom surrounding the suicide bomber. | ||
| Posted by:tipper |
| #1 Yet they refused to hook up with al qaeda, saying they would not deal with monkeys... |
| Posted by: Ming the Merciless 2009-02-09 20:57 |