Saturday, August 30, 2008

Explosion in Sri Lankan capital wounds at least 44

Bharatha Mallawarachi (AP)
Sri Lankan soldiers patrol the 'de facto' frontline at Nager Kovil in the Jaffna Peninsula. Sri Lankan troops killed 10 Tamil Tiger rebels during fresh clashes in the north as the military inches its way towards the guerrillas' political capital (AFP/File/Lakruwan Wanniarachchi).

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka -- The Sri Lankan military says an explosion has rocked the capital, Colombo. A military official says details on casualties were not immediately available after Saturday's blast. Pushpa Soyza, a spokeswoman for a Colombo hospital, says 44 wounded people are receiving treatment there. The military official spoke on condition of anonymity citing government policy. Sri Lanka is immersed in a decades-long civil war with Hindu-separatists in which more than 70,000 people have been killed. The Tamil Tiger rebels (LTTE) have been fighting for an independent state in the north and east since 1983.


Sri Lankan Tamil Hindu devotees take part in an annual cart festival by inserting hooks through their skin at Mayura temple in Colombo August 8, 2008. The act of inserting the hooks is one of the ways devotees fulfil their vows to Hindu gods (Reuters/Buddhika Weerasinghe).

A bomb destroyed bus in Kandy. Strife-torn Sri Lanka is bracing for intense and bloody battles as security forces close in on the political capital of the Tamil Tiger rebels, according to military analysts (AFP/File).

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