Sri Lankan forces defused a package bomb hidden in the garden of a heavily guarded Colombo apartment building filled with legislators' homes yesterday, preventing another attack just days after two bombings killed 20 people, the military said.
The 1.2kg explosive device -- discovered by a resident -- was presumed to be an assassination attempt by Tamil Tiger rebels on the air force chief, Air Marshall Roshan Goonetilleke, whose house is located in the area, military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said.
"There are so many senior officers living there -- including parliamentarians, military officers -- it is not possible to say who [the target] is," he said. "But we suspect they targeted the air force commander."
ONE IN A SERIES
The bomb attempt appeared part of a new wave of attacks by the rebels in the capital.
On Wednesday last week, a bomber killed one person in a government office in a failed attempt to kill a Cabinet minister. Hours later, a package bomb exploded at a suburban department store, killing 19. Authorities blamed the separatist Tamil Tigers for the attacks.
European monitors said they feared civilian casualties were approaching the levels seen before a truce between the government and the rebels was signed five years ago. The 2002 ceasefire has largely fallen apart amid fighting between the two sides over the past two years.
The war killed 49 civilians and wounded 60 more from Nov. 25 to 28, the Sri Lankan Monitoring Mission said in a statement, referring to the bombing and government attacks in northern areas controlled by rebels.
More than 70,000 people have been killed in 24 years of conflict. The rebels call for a separate homeland for ethnic minority Tamils in Sri Lanka's north and east, following historic discrimination under governments dominated by the majority Sinhalese.
NEW FIGHTING
In new fighting early yesterday, troops killed two rebel fighters in the Vavuniya district just south of rebel-held territory in northern Sri Lanka, the military said. Troops also discovered more than 400 anti-personnel mines in three separate caches in the area.
Earlier attacks across the north -- where the separatist rebels control a de facto state -- killed a total of 56 rebels and six soldiers over the weekend, the military said.
Independent confirmation of the casualties was not available because access to the conflict zone is restricted, and rebel spokesman Rasiah Ilanthirayan could not be reached for comment.
Both the military and the rebels routinely exaggerate the other's casualty numbers and plays down its own.
The fighting came as the government tightened security in Colombo following the bombings. Troops and police searched most vehicles entering the capital.
Police have been accused of detaining hundreds of Tamils in the crackdown.
"Around 1,000 Tamil people have been arrested without credible evidence within two days," said Mano Ganeshan, a lawmaker.
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