Child killed, four injured in Jaffna blast

A child was killed and four others including two soldiers were wounded in a claymore mine explosion in Jaffna yesterday.

The mine targeting a security forces convoy missed the target and killing the eight-year-old Mohan Kapilan and critically wounding his father.

The explosion had occurred near the Old Park junction, between Government Secretariat and St. John's College, sources said.

The injured one child's father and two soldiers were being treated at the Jaffna Teaching Hospital, sources added. The preliminary investigations have found that the claymore mine was hidden near the Old Park junction targeting the convoy of the Jaffna 512 Brigade.

However, the buses carrying the soldiers missed the impact but two soldiers were injured. The injured civilians in the explosion are Mohan's father, Jesudasan (55) and Chitra (24).

A local resident said the civilian causalities were small in number as people were relaxing at home after the Maha Sivarathri. The security forces had earlier lifted the night curfew on Friday, in order to allow civilians to attend the Sivarathri observances.

"The attackers made use of that opportunity and could have planted the claymore mine on Friday night itself," a senior security forces official said.