Unexploded bombs cause panic

[TamilNet, Sunday, 22 March 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Eight 250 kilogram bombs dropped on the village of Vaakarai by the Sri Lankan Air Force Kfir jets on Thursday and Friday did not explode and are stuck in the ground, causing great panic among the people living in the area said sources in Valaichenai, twenty five miles to the south of Vaakarai.

The eight bombs fell on or by the side of the main coastal trunk road to Trincomalee through Vaakarai.

The population here is concentrated along this road.

Sources from the area said that the Liberation Tigers have secured the places where the unexploded bombs are stuck and that the LTTE's explosives specialists are trying to diffuse some of these.

Meanwhile, the Sri Lankan army in the Batticaloa district went on red alert following reports from civilians from this region that a very large LTTE attack group, comprising at least 1500 Tiger troops, has arrived in Vaakarai from the Vanni.