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.
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Laden w<is behind the alleged Algerian plot and authorities have
not suggested possible U.S. targets.
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