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Explosives-laden truck seized

B. Muralidhar Reddy

Major disaster averted in Trincomalee, says Sri Lanka Government

COLOMBO: The Sri Lanka Government claimed on Saturday that a major disaster was averted in Trincomalee district following the interception of a lorry with 1,000 kgs of explosives intended for a “high profile suicide mission by the LTTE.”

The Defence Ministry said here that acting on tip-off from civilian sources, personnel of the navy seized the vehicle from Padikkiya, a fishing village on Friday. It said the lorry was laden with C-4 high explosives weighing over 1,000 kg. The Ministry said initial inquires indicated that the explosives were packed inside the lorry, similar to the previous lorry found at Kotavehera in Kurunegala on June 1. There was no word from the Tigers on the charge.

The military further said that four civilians were shot dead by suspected LTTE cadres in the Mavil-Aru area in the east on Friday. The victims were killed when they had gone to collect their cattle. Separately, the Foreign Ministry, in a statement, disclosed that the U.S. ambassador, Robert Blake, had given a list of 355 names of people who had gone “missing.”

The Ministry complained that the list is based on information “from sources and individuals with partisan political agendas.” There was no elaboration from the Government on the motives behind those who could have furnished wrong information to the envoy. The U.S. mission here chose not to comment on the subject.

The subject of abductions and disappearances from the island nation in the last few months has been a bone of contention between the Government and several NGOs and a section of the international community. The Government believes that the figures are deliberately exaggerated by vested interest to divert attention from the military successes in the east.

The Foreign Ministry said the U.S. list contained a “number of repetitions”. The Ministry said inquiries from the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka revealed that out of the list, only 53 cases have been reported to the commission.

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