Grenade lobbed at EPDP office in Colombo

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 August 2005, 04:06 GMT]
The office of the Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP) leader Mr. Douglas Devananda came under a grenade attack around 11:40 p.m. Thursday, Police sources said. There were no casualities reported but a big noise due to the explosion echoed throughout the highly residential Park road, Colombo 5, the area where the EPDP office is located. Mr. Douglas Devananda, MP, leader of EPDP and a close ally of President Chandrika Kumaratunga, is the Minister for Vocational Education. The heavily guarded EPDP office houses the EPDP paramilitary cadres who operate along with the armed forces in the NorthEast.

Police sources said that Mr. Douglas Devananda was not at the Park road office when the grenade was thrown.

Police has launched an extensive investigation into the incident.

A week ago an EPDP cadre was shot dead in Jaffna while he was selling the group's newspaper Thinamurasu.