DATE=12/19/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=SRI LANKA PRESIDENT (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-257284
BYLINE=VANDANA CHOPRA
DATELINE=COLOMBO
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: At least 31 people have died and 180 have been
wounded in blasts at two election
rallies ahead of presidential elections Tuesday, in
Sri Lanka. And, as Vandana Chopra reports from
Colombo, President Chandrika Kumaratunga was wounded
in one of the blasts and hospitalized but is now out
of danger.
TEXT: Police officials say a woman suicide bomber
tried to jump over a barrier to get close to President
Chandrika Kumaratunga while the President was walking
to her car after finishing an election speech at a
rally in Colombo.
Witnesses say a fireworks display was taking place at
the rally when the bomb exploded. Hundreds of troops
were immediately deployed on the streets and President
Kumaratunga was rushed to a nearby hospital with eye
injuries.
Soon afterwards a second blast occured at a meeting of
the main opposition,
United National Party, again resulting in many
casualties.
Police officials say President Kumaratunga's security
guards as well as her driver
died in the first explosion and a former army
commander was killed in the second blast.
Three senior ministers and some foreign journalists
were also injured in the
blast at the ruling coalition's rally.
The state media says, President Kumaratunga has
appealed for calm from her
hospital bed.
Meanwhile, security has been tightened in the Capital
Colombo and a curfew has been imposed.
Nobody has claimed responsibility for the blasts, but
police officials suspect Tiger rebels who are fighting
for a separate homeland for the
minority Tamil community in Sri Lanka's North and
East.
Campaigning for Tuesday's elections officially ended
at midnight Saturday, 72 hours
before voting begins.
The state media says more than 100-thousand public
servants will work at almost 10-thousand polling
stations in different parts of the country. Nearly 12
million people are eligible to vote in the election
Tuesday which will take place between 7 in the morning
and 4 in the afternoon.
Lack of independent opinion polls makes it difficult
to say who is leading,
but political analysts say the contest, between
President Chandrika Kumaratunga of the ruling People's
Alliance coalition and Ranil Wickremasinghe of the
main opposition, United National Party, is very close.
(Signed)
SIGNED: This is Vandana Chopra for VOA News, Colombo.
NEB/VC/PLM
19-Dec-1999 00:47 AM EDT (19-Dec-1999 0547 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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