DATE=7/29/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=LANKAN STRIFE
NUMBER=2-252276
BYLINE=STEVEN BARTHOLOMEUZ
DATELINE=COLOMBO
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
Intro: Police officials in Sri Lanka say a moderate
Tamil politician and a suicide bomber were killed and
five others injured in an attack in the capital,
Thursday morning. Steven Bartholomeusz reports for
V-O-A from Colombo.
TEXT: Police say Tamil United Liberation Front
politician Neelan Tiruchelvam was killed when a
suicide bomber leapt on his car as he approached his
home in Colombo.
Eyewitnesses say two people on a motorcycle had been
following the Tamil politician's car. When it slowed
down in a traffic jam, the passenger on the cycle
jumped on the car, exploding himself.
Police say Mr. Tiruchelvam's bodyguard and driver and
three police in the area have been injured in the
attack. Four other vehicles were badly damaged in the
blast.
Eyewitnesses say the motorcycle driver -- who was
bleeding from wounds following the blast -- escaped in
the confusion. Poland army troops have cordoned off
the area and are conducting a search for the suspect.
A senior police official with the terrorist
investigation department says evidence at the scene
points to a Tamil Tiger suicide bomber. The Tamil
Tiger rebels have as yet to claim responsibility for
the attack.
The rebels have frequently used suicide bombers to
assassinate politicians and military personnel in Sri
Lanka's ongoing ethnic conflict. Rebel suicide
bombers killed two Tamil politicians in the northern
Jaffna Peninsula, in similar attacks last year.
The Sri Lankan military and rebels demanding a
separate state for the country's minority tamils have
been fighting for more than 15 years. The government
says more than 60 thousand people have been killed in
the fighting. The rebels claim the death toll is
higher. (signed)
NEB/ wd / wd
29-Jul-1999 04:05 AM LOC (29-Jul-1999 0805 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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