1 killed, 5 soldiers wounded in Jaffna blast

Colombo, Feb 17: One civilian bystander was killed and six, including five soldiers, were wounded when the suspected Tamil Tiger rebels exploded a powerful claymore mine targeting a bus carrying soldiers in the Northern Jaffna peninsula, military sources here said.

The incident took place near the Jaffna District Secretariat along the A9 Janffna-Kandy main highway shortly before noon today.

''The injured soldiers were admitted to the Palaly military hospital while the bystander civilian who was injured in the blast, was admitted to the Jaffna base hospital,'' the military sources said.

The residents in Jaffna town told sources over the phone that the government forces have conducted an intensified checking in and around the blast site.

Meanwhile, troops engaged in a routine search operation in the general area of Thampalai in the eastern Batticaloa district have recovered a large stock of arms left behind by the Tamil Tigers when they withdrew from their former strongholds in the east, unable to face the advancing troops, last month.

''The recovered items were 25 T-56 assault riffles and one Rocket Propeller Grenade Launcher (RPG). The search is still continuing,'' the military sources claimed.

Earlier in the day, an officer of the elite Special Task Force (STF), attached to the Vavunativu camp in the Batticaloa district, was injured due to LTTE small arm fire and rushed to the nearby miltary hospital.

UNI