The government is to reassess its commitment to
the Ceasefire Agreement and resort to deterrent military action
in the light of yesterday’s claymore mine blast by the LTTE
which killed 61 and left 45 others injured in an attack on a bus
at Kongollewa.
Defence Spokesman Keheliya Rambukwelle, fielding
questions at yesterday’s Cabinet press briefing, said that the
government would have to reassess both its political and
military approach towards the LTTE.
IS THIS
LIBERATION?
Some of the children who died in the terror attack on
the CTB bus. (Pic by Diyasena Ratugamage, Vavuniya corr.)
NEWS
Twin
blasts kills 61 civilians in CTB bus
International condemnation was focused
on the LTTE as it blasted a state owned bus with powerful
claymore mines killing 61 and injuring 40 passengers seriously
yesterday morning.
The incident occurred at 7.50 AM near
the remote hamlet of Kongollewa. The commuters were all from the
village of Yakawewa from where they boarded the CTB bus bound
for Kebithigollewa and from there they were to proceed to
Kachchikudi in Vavuniya to attend a funeral of a home guard
killed by the LTTE.
The Oslo Non-event, etc.
The much talked face-to-face meeting involving
the Government of Norway, the LTTE and the Norwegian
facilitators was the third non-event over the last couple of
months. The second round of talks in Geneva, agreed by all
parties for 19th April, had to be called off at the last minute
because the LTTE decided that they had to have consultations
with their Eastern commanders on the very day they had
agreed for talks in Geneva.
The Colombo bourse reacted sharply to the
escalating violence and the sharply deteriorating security
situation with both All Share and the Milanka price indices
losing substantial ground on top of the decline the previous
day.
The All Share lost 63.70 points (4.94%) while
the Milanka lost 97.04 points (3.50%) on a turnover of Rs.490
million, up from Rs.333.3 million the previous day.
Rain fails to dampen Mahela
spirit
Sri Lanka's rather faltering preparations for
the NatWest Series were stymied by rain which limited their
Twenty20 warm-up game against a PCA Masters XI at Arundel to 16
overs.
After a week of sweltering heat in the south of
England, the weather broke an hour into Sri Lanka's innings and
while the players gamely soldiered on for a few overs, they soon
had to seek shelter.
GERMANY, Leipzig: Spanish
defender Carles Puyol (R) fights for the ball with
Ukrainian midfielder Anastoliy Tymoshchuk during their
World Cup 2006 group H football game at Leipzig
stadium on Wednesday.
INSIDE
