World

One killed and 12 wounded in Sri lanka bomb blast

by Suranee | October 5, 2009 at 07:56 pm

260 views | 28 Recommendations | 7 comments

A bomb blast in northwestern Sri Lanka on Friday killed a 12-year-old school girl while wounding 12 others including schoolchildren.

(AP) — COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - Sri Lankan police arrested an army bomb expert on Saturday who admitted to planting a bomb in a school van that killed a 12-year-old girl and wounded 12 others, mostly students.

The driver of the vehicle along with parents and a baby were also injured in the blast.

Rajamanthri said the wounded included seven schoolchildren, aged mostly from 7 to 11.

She said others wounded were the driver, parents who were dropping off their children, and a nine-month-old baby.

Investigations revealed it was an Army sergeant in the Sri lanka military who planted the bomb.

Police spokesman Nimal Mediwaka said an army sergeant admitted he planted the bomb Friday near the northwestern town of Kurunegala after a dispute with the vehicle's owner.

Mediwaka said the sergeant left his military camp Thursday night without informing his superiors and returned soon after fixing the bomb, which had been set to explode when the engine was started.

The sergeant told police his intention was to kill the owner but didn't expect children to be in the van, Mediwaka said.

Initially it was believed the remnants of the defeated Tamil Tiger rebels may have been responsible for the attack.

The arrest cleared suspicions that remnants of the defeated Tamil Tiger rebels could have been behind the attack.

This was the first major bomb blast reported since the Sri lanka military defeated the LTTE.

It was the first major bomb blast reported in the country since government troops crushed the Tamil...

0 See all footage | View Slideshow

Share: email story | add to any | | facebook | stumbleupon

recommend This comment thread is now closed

israeli.agent

at 20:19 on October 5th, 2009

"It was the first major bomb blast reported in the country since government troops crushed the Tamil... "

The first one in 5 months?

Is there any indication that why the Army Sergeant did this? Any personal vendetta or something else?

It is nice to know that no more tamil tigers (remnants of otherwise) left in the country.

Thanks for the story, Suranee.

.Agent.

Suranee

at 20:56 on October 5th, 2009

The Army Sergeant suspected his wife of having an affair with the driver, so that's why he planted the bomb to kill the driver.

They said initial investigations indicated that the army sergeant had smuggled two kilos of C-4 explosives out of the Minneriya camp and planted them on the van around midnight in an apparent bid to kill the owner-driver, whom he suspected of having an illicit affair with his wife.

You are welcome for the story, Agent.

israeli.agent

at 21:02 on October 5th, 2009

You are welcome, Suranee.

.Agent.

lalith

at 18:45 on October 6th, 2009

Good post Suranee.

The suspected sergeant is a highly trained explosives expert. What was done was a sort of booby trap. Initially, it seems to be meant for only the driver. The device was to go off at ignition point. Which meant that it would have exploded at the starting point (at the the driver's home). However, something went horribly wrong and the explosion delayed and became active after the children were picked up.

This is very sad.

However, is most war torn and post war countries we have seen violence on account of servicemen who have smuggled arms, ammunition and explosives out. This has been the case with some deserters all over the world. This is a very dangerous situation.

Suranee

at 19:03 on October 6th, 2009

Thanks for the additional info Lalith. This is a terrible thing that has happened and because of this sergeant, a little girl was killed and others injured. I do hope the authorities take stern action against the sergeant and that no more incidents of this nature occurs again here in Sri lanka.