25 people killed in suicide bombing in Lanka

Sri Lanka, Oct 6: After blasts in India, it is now Sri Lanka's turn. A suicide bomber blew himself up in the Sri Lankan north-central town of Anuradhapura killing 25 people. A top former army general, Maj Gen Janaka Perera and his wife were also among the killed, says defence ministry. "More than 65 people were injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up inside the United National Party (UNP) office near a bus depot," officials said.

Officials are suspecting the Separatist Tamil Tiger rebels for the attacks. Maj Gen Perera was the provincial leader of the country's main opposition UNP party. He was one of Sri Lanka's most prominent army officers, and held the command of government forces in the Jaffna peninsula, a Tiger stronghold, in the mid-1990s. The Tamils had accused him of being responsible for hundreds of deaths in Tamil during his period.

The human rights group, Amnesty International, also raised similar concerns. The Tamil Tiger rebels have been fighting for a separate homeland for a quarter of a century and about 70,000 people have been killed in the violence.

OneIndia News