Attack on Army Commander: A SIM card breakthrough
 

by Ranga Jayasuriya and Prasanna Fonseka

The CID investigators probing the suicide attempt on the life of the Army Commander, Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka finally made a breakthrough, well informed CID sources revealed yesterday.

The investigators had reconstructed the SIM of the mobile phone carried by the woman suicide bomber, whom, witneseses have said received a phone call minutes before the explosion. The investigators believe the suicide bomber could have used a dial five connection, a special facility which allows incoming and out going calls to a limit of five selected numbers.

Detective probing the incident declined to divulge details of what had surfaced after the reconstruction of the SIM adding that they now have positive information as to how the suicide bomber gained entry to the heavily guarded Army Headquarters.

The investigators have exonerated a former military hospital employee, in the rank of a Corporal, who was also killed in the explosion. Initial reports had indicated that the Corporal could have helped the suicide bomber to enter the precincts of the Army Head Quarters.Following extensive investigations, sleuths have ruled out the possibility of this Corporal's links into the incident.

The detectives have also looked into a mess up of names of two woman officers of the Sri Lanka Air Force, one in the regular force and the other in the volunteer force.

One female sergeant of the regular Air Force had told the investigators that she did not receive treatment at the military hospital during the past three months, while the documents at the military hospital recorded she had received treatment on the day of the suicide blast.

Later it was revealed, that another female officer of the volunteer force had received treatment. However, inadvertently that had been noted against the name of the woman officer of the regular force. The volunteer officer had initially denied she received treatment on that day, but had later admitted. She had confessed that her initial denial was due to certain personal reasons of her ailment that could not be divulged to male investigators.