Bus bomb injures 20 at Polgahawela
[31 Jan 2000]

A parcel bomb exploded in Kurunagala - Alawwa private bus last afternoon, injuring 20 passengers.

     The explosion occurred around 2.30 p.m. at Alawwa junction, Polgawella, when the bus stopped to pick up more passengers.

      Eyewitnesses believe that the bomb was in an unattended parcel, which had been kept under the back seat. Ten of the injured passengers were admitted to the Kurunaegala Hospital and eight were warded at the Polgawella hospital. Two others with minor injuries were discharged after treatment.

     This attack by the LTTE is yet another brutal attacks targeted directly at innocent civilians among the string of attacks carried out during the recent past.

     Amnesty International condemns Vavuniya bombing
Amnesty International condemned the bombing of the main post office in Vavuniya, in which at least 11 people were killed, including several civilians, and over 70 people injured, many of them seriously. The majority of those injured were civilians.

     The bomb attack, which comes in the aftermath of a number of suicide bomb attacks in Colombo in the last two months, is widely believed to have been carried out by members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

     However, Amnesty International pointed out that by choosing a post-office as its target, the LTTE appeared to have contravened the principle of distinction in international humanitarian law.

     This principle obliges all parties to a conflict to take all measures to distinguish between civilian and military targets and direct their attacks only at military objectives, which should apply under all circumstances.

     "The risk to civilians in this attack far outweighed any military objective as the casualty list so tragically shows," Amnesty International said.

     At least 25 civilians were killed by suicide bombers at election rallies in Colombo, just days before presidential elections took place on 21 December. Dozens of people were injured in the attacks, including President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga and four ministers.

Furthermore, a suspected LTTE suicide bomber blew herself up outside the office of the Prime Minister, Sirimavo Bandaranaike, on 5 January, killing 12 people and injuring numerous civilians.

Source: Amnesty International, International Secretariat, 1 Easton Street, WC1X 8DJ, London, United Kingdom

     The LTTE, fighting for a seperate homeland in the country's North and East since 1983 in a war that has killed over 55,000 people has naver claimed responsibility for any such attacks.

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