Bomb blast in Wellawatte kills
one, injures six
Device placed in flower pot on island
Four school children among victims
by Norman Palihawadana
A bomb exploded near the Roxy Cinema in
Wellawatta yesterday morning killing one and injuring six,
including four school children. The injured were admitted to the
Colombo South Hospital, Kalubowila.
Tension reigned in the area after the blast,
which occurred at around 7.00 a.m. and traffic on the Galle Road
came to a standstill for over 30 minutes till police arrived to
inspect the scene and clear the area.
A witness at the scene of the blast said she was
holding the hand of her younger daughter on the way to school
when they saw an object placed in a flower pot on the pedestrian
island. A man had approached the pot and she warned him not to
touch the object, but he went up to it and held it disregarding
her warning.
As soon as the man touched it, there was an
explosion and he had died on the spot. Some people, including
four school children, were injured but her two children escaped,
she said.
The deceased has been identified as Ajith,
Wellawatte police said.
The injured school children were Fathima Asma
(18) and Fathima Asna (18) both students of St. Paul’s Girls
School, Milagiriya and Thiruchel Dilrukshan (16) and
Sivnesamurthi (16) both of St. Mary’s College, Dehiwala. The
others injured were Sarojadevi and Ranith Fernando police said.
The bomb may have been set up targeting a VIP
passing that spot and an Army squad inspecting the road, would
have found and defused it had not the victim Ajith tampered with
it. He was a person who collected old newspapers and bottles in
the area for sale, police said.
