By IANS,
Colombo : Seven security force personnel and a civilian were killed, while 17 others were injured in a suicide bomb explosion by suspected Tamil Tiger rebels on the outskirts of Colombo Sunday morning, defence sources here said.
Military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said the suicide explosion took place at a Civil Defence Force (CDF) post near St. Ann’s Church at Wattala, Hekkita Road, lying 10 km north of here.
“The LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) suicide cadre went inside the CDF post and exploded himself. According to latest details, one army officer, six CDF personnel and a civilian have been killed in this blast,” Brigadier Nanayakkara told IANS.
The initial toll was five, but it rose to eight after some of the wounded people succumbed to their injuries in hospitals.
Nanayakkara said the injured were admitted to Colombo and Ragama national hospitals, and the police and army personnel were carrying out investigations into the blast.
The suicide bomb explosion just outside Colombo has come at a time when the Sri Lankan troops have been locked in pitched battles with the rebels in the northern Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu districts over the past few weeks.
Th Sri Lankan Navy claimed it has sunk an LTTE logistic supply boat in the northern seas early Sunday, killing at least four rebels aboard.
Separately, the Ministry of Defence said Sunday that air force jets have carried out two bombing raids targeting “identified LTTE resistance positions” south of Mullaitivu in support of the advancing troops.
There was no immediate reaction from the LTTE in this regard.
Despite heavy LTTE resistance, the troops advancing in several directions were said to be operating in the outskirts of LTTE’s political capital, Kilinochchi, 350 km north of here.
The LTTE has been fighting against the Sri Lankan government for a quarter century to carve out a separate state for Tamils in the northern and eastern parts of the island.
Thousands have died in escalating fighting since late 2005.