Parents of the woman suicide bomber who exploded herself outside the Prime Minister's office, killing 14 persons, were detained on Thursday 6 Jan 2000 at Batticaloa police, senior security officials said. The police including a special unit of the elite Special task Force (STF) had rounded up the suicide bomber's residence at Kolavil, Akkaraipattu.

      The police revealed to the Island that the occupants, father and mother of the suicide bomber, had Sinhala names but none of the children could talk the language. However, during preliminary questioning the parents had claimed their daughter 22-year-old Thilakaratne Yashoda had left home in July 1998 to join the Sri Lanka Army. According to a senior police officer, there were contradictory reports on the suicide bomber's departure since the parents had claimed earlier that their daughter was taken away by the LTTE two years ago.

     According to the Daily News, police authorities have said that the woman suicide bomber in her early twenties had come to Colombo a few weeks before the blast. However, the parents were taken to a STF camp in the east for further questioning.

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