Bomb found near Tamil legislator's residence

Colombo, Dec 3: The Sri Lankan police and Air Force bomb disposal squad found a parcel bomb near the residential quarters of a pro-LTTE Tamil party legislator at Jawatta here this morning, the Ministry of Defence claimed.

''The bomb has been found inside an unattended parcel detected near a telephone post opposite the house of TNA (Tamil National Alliance) Jaffna District Parliamentarian MK Sivajilingam around 8:40 am(local time),'' the Defence Ministry report claimed, adding the bomb, detected on a civilian tip-off, was later defused by Air Force bomb disposal unit.

''Cinnamon Garden Police is conducting further investigations,'' the Ministry report said.

The detection of the bomb parcel has come a day after Tamil politicians said several hundreds of ethnic Tamils had been detained by the security forces in several police stations throughout the capital since Saturday as part of the cordon-and-search operations against the rebels.

Police said they detained those who failed to establish their identities, but declined to comment on how many had been held for questioning.

Sri Lanka has further tightened the security arrangements in and around the capital city after the twin blasts that left 20 civilians killed and 40 more wounded last Wednesday.

UNI