DATE=6/9/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=SRI LANKA SECURITY (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-263310
BYLINE=STEVEN BARTHOLOMEUSZ
DATELINE=COLOMBO
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
//Editors - Watch the death toll in this story, it may
change. Please adjust accordingly in the intro.//
INTRO: In Sri Lanka, security has been stepped up in
the capital city of Colombo and surrounding areas,
after the death toll from Wednesday's bombing rose to
23. Steven Bartholomeusz reports from Colombo.
TEXT: Doctors say, Shyama Gooneratne, wife of
assassinated Minister of Industries C.V. Gooneratne,
succumbed to her injuries in a Colombo hospital late
Thursday. Mrs. Gooneratne had been at her husbands
side when the suicide bomber struck while the minister
was leading a parade marking the countries first War
Heroes Day.
The Sri Lankan Parliament, meeting on Thursday, while
condemning the bomb attack, has decided to extend the
state of emergency for another month. This action
gives the military and police a wide range of powers
to detain people, search and seize vehicles and
property and shut down newspapers.
Meanwhile security in the capital city of Colombo and
surrounding areas has been tightened with more
soldiers and armed police manning checkpoints.
The Sri Lankan government reacted swiftly on
Wednesday, with the president directing the police and
the military to take stern action against anyone
attempting to instigate the general public into acts
of violence. The government blames the Tamil Tiger
rebels for the suicide bombing and says the motive of
the rebels in carrying out such an attack was to
create communal disenchantment leading to a backlash
against the Tamil community in the south of the
island.
Investigations, led by the country's Terrorist
Investigation Department, are now underway to try and
ascertain how the bomber was able to get so close to
the minister in the parade on Wednesday. Eyewitnesses
say, the suicide bomber, believed to be male,
approached the minister clasping betel leaves in his
hands before the explosion. A police official says he
had requested the minister to leave the parade about
20 minutes prior to the attack.
Police say at least 70 people have been taken in for
questioning and at least 19 people, including one
person believed to be the suicide bombers accomplice,
have been detained and are currently being
interrogated.
The bomb attack marred what had been set aside as a
special day to show support for troops who are now
engaged in fighting with Tamil rebels in the northern
Jaffna Peninsula.
The Sri Lankan military and the Tamil Tigers have been
fighting since 1983. The government says more than 60-
thousand people have been killed in the fighting. The
rebels claim the death toll is higher. (SIGNED)
09-Jun-2000 04:52 AM EDT (09-Jun-2000 0852 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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