WORLD Page 10 THE BATTALION Friday, Jans- Sri Lanka blast kills 11 Remote-control bomb explodes in post office VAVUNIYA, Sri Lanka (AP)—A par cel bomb exploded in a post office Thurs day, killing at least 11 people, including soldiers sending money home from the war front, the military and witnesses said. Defense Ministry spokesperson Brigadier Palitha Fernando said evidence from the scene suggested the bomb was sent by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ee lam, which is leading a 17-year-old sepa ratist campaign in Sri Lanka, a small island country off India’s southern tip. The blast occurred late in the morn ing, injuring more than 73 people in Vavuniya, a Tamil-dominated town 130 miles north of Colombo and the gateway to the Vanni jungles, which are con trolled by the Tamil Tigers. There was no immediate claim of re sponsibility, but the rebels rarely comment on bombs or terrorist actions the govern ment ascribes to them. Sri Lankan soldiers collected their wages Tuesday and, after making purchas es Wednesday, many were sending money to their families at the time of the attack. Fernando said the bomb was placed next to a mail box for letters destined for foreign countries, and it exploded late in the morning when the post office was busy. “It was a big explosion from a power ful bomb which was hidden in a packet,” Fernando said. “Our first reports say we have lost at least seven soldiers.” Letters, currency notes and clothes were strewn over the single-story post office. “I was on my seat when I heard this huge sound,” the postmaster, Kanathi Pillai, said from his hospital bed. “I felt heat on my body, and then I felt They’ve got the beat blood coming down from my head.” At least 25 of the wounded were in se rious condition and were transferred to a military hospital in Anuradhapura, 25 miles south of Vavuniya. Federal investigators said the explo sion was triggered by remote control. The rebels threatened to overrun Vavu niya last November, advising the area’s 220,000 residents to evacuate. Sri Lanka troops fought back that attack. The blast came a day after a dele gation from Norway concluded talks in Sri Lanka in a bid to broker peace talks between the government and the Tamil Tigers. SUSAN REDWHGt*}. Logan Youree, a junior speech communications major; Chris Etheredge, a freshman computer engineering major: and Kel Grubbs, a junior computer engineering major, play the drums to promote the Drummers of West Africa. Man detained in Senegal for planning attack, may be working with bin Lac MONTREAL (AP) — A man reportedly detained in Senegal on suspicion of planning a bomb attack was under investigation in Canada before he lied the country, an intel ligence spokesperson said Thursday. Dan Lambert of the Canadian Security Intelligence Ser vice confirmed that Mohambedou Ould Slahi was a subject of an investigation by Canadian authorities in cooperation with the FBI. The New York Times reported Thursday that Slahi is the brother-in-law of one of Osama bin Laden’s top lieutenants. Bin Laden, a millionaire Saudi exile, is one of 18 people in dicted in the United States on charges of conspiracy to at tack Americans in the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed 224 people, including 12 Americans. Bin Laden is believed to be in Afghanistan. Slahi has not been charged, but the United States re quested his arrest and federal prosecutors in New York are preparing formal charges that can be used to seek his extra dition, according to the Times. In Washington, a law enforcement official who requested anonymity said investigators were not sure whether the man in Senegal was in control of the operation or merely a messenger, and, if he was just a messenger, they do not know for whom. U.S. officials also do not know whether the man's broth er-in-law is a key bin Laden aide or not. the official added Canadian authorities started their investigation after the Detf. 14 arrest of Ahmed Ressam, an Algerian liv ing in Mon treal, who allegedly tried to smuggle bomb-making compo nents across the border into Washington state. Slahi later left Canada “due, in part, to the investigation that was ongoing,” Lambert said. I le refused to provide any details of the case. No specific evidence has been released that shows that bm Laden w Closed, First Come First Serve /hiy '(Y ' ) TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2000 9:20-5:00 Career Fair 2- Floor MSC 4:00-5:00 Panel Discussion - 601 Rudl 1 Co-o[) or Intern'? A Corporate Persic# Far mare infarmntian, calf &47-4567, visit http://sec.tamii.edii/ceo/stiidentinfo.html Hosted by The Student Engineers’ Council and The Office of Cooperative Education Be Satun versit A&M Ya “h Ya ie Ch brary, Cadel Ya wond and C Ya to hin sonal Cold Ri Asia, sentei “1 Yana N; ture a R. was a betw< A. her o 170 ii