DATE=1/5/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=LANKAN BLAST / L / UPDATE
NUMBER=2-257796
BYLINE=VANDANA CHOPRA
DATELINE=COLOMBO
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: At least 13 people have been killed and 27
others injured in an explosion near the prime
minister's office in Colombo, Sri Lanka. And -- as
Vandana Chopra reports from Colombo -- a Tamil member
of parliament has been killed in a separate incident.
TEXT: Police officials say a suicide bomber triggered
the explosion near Prime Minister Sirimavo
Bandaranaike's office in Colombo.
Government officials say the prime minister was not in
her office at the time of the explosion.
The explosion comes weeks after President Chandrika
Kumaratunga was injured by shrapnel in an
assassination bid by a suspected Tamil rebel suicide
bomber. Twenty-six people were killed and 110 others
were injured in that incident.
Police say the dead in Wednesday's blast include two
women constables, two policemen on duty at the prime
minister's office, a passerby and the suicide bomber.
Although there was no damage to the prime minister's
office, body parts were strewn around the area.
Intelligence agencies had recently warned of suicide
bomb attacks on leading politicians and police had
tightened security in Colombo.
In a separate incident a prominent Tamil politician
and lawyer, Kumar Poonambalam, was shot dead while
driving his car in a Tamil-dominated area in Colombo.
Mr. Poonambalam openly supported the cause of a
separate homeland for minority Tamils that the Tamil
Tiger rebels have been fighting for during the last 15
years.
Government officials say President Chandrika
Kumaratunga has called a meeting of top security
officials to discuss the security in the capital.
(signed).
NEB / VC/ WD / WD
05-Jan-2000 06:57 AM EDT (05-Jan-2000 1157 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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