- Title: SRI LANKA: Blast in capital Colombo kills seven people
- Date: 14th August 2006
- Summary: (BN09) COLOMBO, SRI LANKA (AUGUST 14, 2006)(REUTERS) WIDE OF STREET WITH ARMY STAFF ON SITE ARMYSTAFF WEARING HELMETS ARMY STAFF AROUND WRECKAGE OF BURNT CAR MORE OF ARMY STAFF STANDING ON STREET
- Embargoed: 29th August 2006 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Sri Lanka
- Country: Sri Lanka
- Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement
- Reuters ID: LVA33HJN16MHQG48CVKALGCIIY0D
- Story Text: Tamil Tigers killed seven people and injured 17 in an attack on a Pakistan embassy convoy on Monday (August 14), the military said, just hours after a suspected rebel front threatened to start bombing civilians in the capital.
The blast, less than a mile from Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse's residence, came after the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said Air Force jets bombed an orphanage in the northeast, killing 43 schoolgirls aged 15-18 and injured 60.
A military spokesman said it was definitely a LTTE attack to the Pakistan ambassador's car, but he escaped uninjured.
Four military personnel and three civilians were killed in the blast, which bomb squad officials said was caused by a fragmentation mine inside a three wheeler taxi.
The blast shook the windows of the Reuters office in the capital. Soon afterwards, the three-wheeled autorickshaw was still burning as heavily armed troops and police sealed off the area, only 100 metres (yards) from a busy shopping mall.
Peppered with what looked to be ball-bearings from the claymore mine, a Land Rover had slammed through a wall. A nearby car was burning while other civilian vehicles were damaged and smashed.
The rebels had earlier on Monday accused the government of bombing an orphanage in rebel territory and killing 43 schoolgirls. With contact with the conflict-hit areas limited, the LTTE report on the bombing of the orphanage could not be immediately confirmed.
The government accused the rebels of shelling civilian areas in the northern Jaffna peninsula, saying it feared fatalities as the worst fighting since a 2002 ceasefire raged on.
The rebels, who ignored a government demand to surrender, are furious at President Mahinda Rajapakse's outright rejection of their demands for a separate ethnic homeland for Tamils in the island's north and east.
Aid workers estimate around 100,000 people have been newly displaced during three weeks of fighting. Dozens are confirmed dead, and many fear the eventual death toll will be far higher. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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