SLTB bus burnt down in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 March 2009, 14:28 GMT]
A gang of unidentified men in military uniform burnt down a Sri Lanka Transport Board bus after ordering out the 50 passengers, conductor and the driver Thursday around 2:00 a.m at Aalangku’lam junction in Vaazhzichcheanai police division in Batticaloa district, sources in Batticaloa said. This act of arson may have been carried out as an attempt to create rifts between the Tamil, Muslim communities by some political forces, following the bomb blast in Akuressa in the Southern Province Tuesday, residents of Batticaloa said.

The burnt down bus had left Colombo Wednesday around 6:30 p.m to Kalmunai.

No harm has befallen the passengers and the crew, SLTB officials who rushed with the police to the site of the incident said.

The bus has been burnt down on Colombo-Kalmunai road where Sri Lanka Army (SLA) camps are located with a distance of a km between each and while SLA soldiers and home guards patrol day and night along the road.