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Bomb Explosion Injures One Person in Sri Lankan Capital
A bomb exploded on Wednesday near the President's House in Sri Lankan capital Colombo Wednesday, injuring a member of the presidential security staff.
The explosion took place at around 9:00 a.m. on Wednesday morning opposite the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, which was blasted by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels in 1996 with 86 people killed.
Police said that the Presidential Security Division personnel had been searching the high security zone around the area when they detected a small parcel in a building which had been abandoned. It exploded when one of the security personnel handled it. He sustained minor burn injuries.
Police later barricaded the area and evacuated people form nearby buildings pending search operations to determine whether there were anymore explosives in the vicinity. However, none were found.
A bomb squad official said the quantity of the explosive was very small. He said he could not comment whether LTTE rebels are responsible for the explosion.
The LTTE called off a four-month unilateral ceasefire at midnight on Tuesday. The ceasefire began on Christmas eve last year and the rebels renewed it every month ever since.
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