A flotilla of rebel boats raided a navy camp in northern Sri Lanka early yesterday, killing as many as 35 sailors, hours before a bomb exploded near an army bus in the capital and wounded seven people.
The surge in violence came amid a deepening conflict between the government and separatist Tamil Tiger rebels that has shattered an internationally backed peace process and left at least 5,000 people dead in the past 18 months.
The Tamil rebels attacked the navy base in the village of Delft just after midnight, arriving in 15 boats, navy spokesman Commander DKP Dassanayake said. Navy sailors sank one boat, he added.
PHOTO: AP
The attack left 35 sailors dead, rebel spokesman Rasiah Ilanthirayan said. He said four insurgents were killed in the assault. His claims, however, could not be confirmed, and the military had no details on casualties from the attack.
"The fighting lasted only 20 minutes and we completely overran the camp," Ilanthirayan said. The rebel forces then fled the scene by boat, he said.
"Our attacking unit counted 35 bodies during the time they were in [the camp] but had to come back quickly," he said.
Ilanthirayan said the rebels attacked in about 12 boats, and none were sunk.
Later yesterday morning in Colombo, the capital, a bomb exploded near a bus carrying soldiers.
The bomb, attached to a motorcycle parked in a crowded shopping area, exploded as the bus went past, said Defense Ministry spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Upali Rajapakse. Four soldiers and three civilians were wounded, he said.
Passers-by rushed to help the victims.
"Soon after the explosion, the bus burst into flames, and then I brought the injured to the hospital," said Colombo resident Chandana Mahanama, who was traveling in his car just behind the bus when the bomb went off.
Rajapakse blamed the rebels for the bus bombing, but Ilanthirayan denied they were involved.
The violence occurred a day after the International Committee of the Red Cross announced it had withdrawn its staff from two checkpoints between government-held and rebel areas in northern Sri Lanka because of the escalating violence.
The withdrawal of the Red Cross effectively shuts down the checkpoints, stopping aid workers and cease-fire monitors from traveling between rebel-held and government areas.
On Wednesday, at least 15 people were killed in a roadside bomb and in clashes in northern and eastern Sri Lanka, the military said.
The rebels have fought the government since 1983 to create a separate homeland for the island nation's minority ethnic Tamils, who have suffered decades of discrimination under the Sinhalese-dominated government.
Nearly 70,000 people have died in the conflict, including about 5,000 killed since December 2005, when violence flared despite a 2002 cease-fire that is now in tatters.
SPEAKING OUT: After Siranudh Scott’s allegations surfaced, celebrities and public figures took to social media to share their own experiences of sexual misconduct and abuse A high-profile alleged sexual abuse case within a wealthy Thai beer brewing family has prompted a wave of painful accounts from survivors of unconnected abuse in the conservative nation. Siranudh Scott, a member of the billionaire Thai family that founded the ubiquitous Singha beer brand, posted an emotional video this month accusing his elder brother Sunit of repeatedly abusing him when he was a teenager. Sunit, who is in his 30s, later denied the allegations in a video posted online, but Singha parent Boonrawd dismissed him from his executive role with the company on Tuesday last week. “I felt I needed to speak
SEEKING ORDER: Rodrigo Paz said that ‘anyone who wants to destroy the nation will have to deal with this president and the full force of the constitution’ Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz on Wednesday said that the nation was at a “breaking point” after nearly a month of protests that have caused shortages of food, fuel and medicine. Paz, who took office six months ago amid the worst economic crisis there in four decades, is battling a groundswell of fury over his policies. The political capital, La Paz, has been besieged by low-income workers and members of the indigenous majority calling for his resignation. “The country needs order and is reaching breaking point,” the 58-year-old said at a public event in La Paz, renewing his appeal for dialogue. On Tuesday, the Bolivian
COMMUNITY CONFLICT: Concerns about disease spread from corpses has run up against friends and families’ desire to bury their dead as infection spreads in the area Angry residents of a town at the epicenter of the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) attacked and burned a tent that was part of a health center where people are being treated for the virus, the staff there said Saturday. It was the second such attack in the region in a week. No one was hurt in the attack, according to reports but as patients ran out to escape the fire, 18 people with suspected Ebola infections fled the facility and are unaccounted for, a hospital director said. Angry residents arrived at the clinic in the
Forecasters in Europe yesterday warned of exceptional heat as record temperatures driven by a “heat dome” push temperatures well above seasonal norms across the continent. The surge follows a record-breaking Monday, with France logging its hottest day in the month of May on record, its weather agency said, and the UK also posting unprecedented highs. A so-called “heat dome” of warm air from northern Africa trapped under a high-pressure system over western Europe is behind the high temperatures not usually seen until high summer. Restrictions on outdoor work were imposed in parts of Italy, beaches in southwest France filled earlier than usual and
RSS