3RD LEAD

Seven killed, 13 injured in Trinco claymore explosion

[TamilNet, Monday, 03 July 2006, 07:33 GMT]
One soldier of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA), one woman home guard, two police constables, a police seargeant and a civilian were killed when a claymore mine exploded at Anuradhapura junction, about three km off the east port city Monday around 11.55 a.m. At least fourteen others were injured, Trincomalee police sources said. Another woman police constable, seriously injured in the explosion, died on her way to the hospital. Conditions of two others are serious, medical sources said.

The claymore mine fixed in an abandoned three-wheeler near the army sentry was detonated by remote control when a group of soldiers and police tried to search the three-wheeler, police sources said.

Majority of those injured in the blast were passengers in a bus bound for Kanniya village which got caught in the explosion, police sources said.

The number of injured now stands at 13. Of them, two critically wounded persons have been transferred to general hospitals in Kandy and Colombo, medical sources said.

Security forces immediately launched a cordon and search operation in the area surrounding the explosion site and recovered a live-claymore mine. Bomb disposal squad of the SLA rushed to the site and defused the mine, police sources said.