Three people were killed in an apparent suicide attack in Sri Lanka's restive east yesterday while security forces threw a blanket of security over the capital to prevent new attacks, officials said.
A suspected Tiger suicide bomber on a motorcycle crashed into another motorbike carrying two rival militants in Batticaloa district 300km east of Colombo.
"One man detonated the explosive immediately after crashing into the other bike, killing all three of them," a local military official said by telephone.
PHOTO: AFP
The two victims were from a Tamil Tiger breakaway faction that is contesting local polls on March 10.
In Colombo yesterday, police and other security forces launched a major security sweep a day after a parcel bomb aboard a private bus exploded, leaving at least 18 people wounded.
Ten men, seven women and a child were admitted to hospital after suffering minor injuries in the blast in Mount Lavinia, 10km south of Colombo, police said.
Police spokesman N.K. Illangakoon said they were awaiting a report from a government analyst to determine if the bomb was triggered by remote control or a timing device.
Security forces sealed off all entry and exit points to Colombo, paralyzing the city of 650,000.
Motorists had to wait in long lines at military checkpoints to have their vehicles inspected and get their identity verified.
Along with the search operations, Illangakoon said police had also intensified awareness programs to show bus and train commuters how to respond to a bomb threat.
Government and rebel forces exchanged artillery fire across the island's northern districts, killing at least 58 rebels on Saturday, the defense ministry said.
MINERAL DEPOSITS: The Pacific nation is looking for new foreign partners after its agreement with Canada’s Metals Co was terminated ‘mutually’ at the end of last year Pacific nation Kiribati says it is exploring a deep-sea mining partnership with China, dangling access to a vast patch of Pacific Ocean harboring coveted metals and minerals. Beijing has been ramping up efforts to court Pacific nations sitting on lucrative seafloor deposits of cobalt, nickel and copper — recently inking a cooperation deal with Cook Islands. Kiribati opened discussions with Chinese Ambassador Zhou Limin (周立民) after a longstanding agreement with leading deep-sea mining outfit The Metals Co fell through. “The talk provides an exciting opportunity to explore potential collaboration for the sustainable exploration of the deep-ocean resources in Kiribati,” the government said
The head of Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic intelligence agency, was sacked yesterday, days after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he no longer trusts him, and fallout from a report on the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack. “The Government unanimously approved Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s proposal to end ISA Director Ronen Bar’s term of office,” a statement said. He is to leave his post when his successor is appointed by April 10 at the latest, the statement said. Netanyahu on Sunday cited an “ongoing lack of trust” as the reason for moving to dismiss Bar, who joined the agency in 1993. Bar, meant to
Indonesia’s parliament yesterday amended a law to allow members of the military to hold more government roles, despite criticisms that it would expand the armed forces’ role in civilian affairs. The revision to the armed forces law, pushed mainly by Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s coalition, was aimed at expanding the military’s role beyond defense in a country long influenced by its armed forces. The amendment has sparked fears of a return to the era of former Indonesian president Suharto, who ex-general Prabowo once served and who used military figures to crack down on dissent. “Now it’s the time for us to ask the
The central Dutch city of Utrecht has installed a “fish doorbell” on a river lock that lets viewers of an online livestream alert authorities to fish being held up as they make their springtime migration to shallow spawning grounds. The idea is simple: An underwater camera at Utrecht’s Weerdsluis lock sends live footage to a Web site. When somebody watching the site sees a fish, they can click a button that sends a screenshot to organizers. When they see enough fish, they alert a water worker who opens the lock to let the fish swim through. Now in its fifth year, the
RSS