DATE=1/6/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=LANKA/SECURITY UPDATE / L-O
NUMBER=2-257843
BYLINE=VANDANA CHOPRA
DATELINE=COLOMBO
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: The Sri Lankan government has imposed a
temporary curfew on the capital, Colombo, after a
series of deadly bombings blamed on separatists.
Vandana Chopra has the details from Colombo.
TEXT: The government announced the curfew will
continue until at least 2 PM Friday for what it says
is the well-being of the city's residents. Officials
are searching for several suicide bombers suspected of
entering Colombo.
Police sealed off the city after a suicide bomber
killed 12 people (eds:13 including the bomber) and
injured some two dozen others in front of the prime
minister's office Wednesday. It is the third bombing
in as many weeks blamed on Tamil separatist rebels.
The curfew was announced Thursday on state media.
Schools and offices are closed (Friday) and people
have been warned against gathering in public places.
Thousands of security force personnel are searching
the city and questioning anyone suspected of having
links with the Tamil Tiger rebels.
President Chandrika Kumaratunga was injured by
shrapnel in an assassination bid by a suspected Tamil
rebel suicide bomber on December 18 -- the last day of
presidential election campaigning. A second bomb
exploded the same night nearby at an opposition
election rally. More than two dozen people were
killed and scores injured.
Tiger rebels are fighting for a separate homeland for
the minority Tamil community in Sri Lanka's north and
east since 1983. (signed)
NEB/VC/JO
06-Jan-2000 14:13 PM EDT (06-Jan-2000 1913 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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