Piliyandala bomb blast: Nine held

By Jayampathy Jayasinghe

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Nine persons were taken in for questioning by a police team following the bomb blast at the Piliyandala bus stand last Friday at 6.42 p.m. where 26 persons died and around 70 persons sustained serious injuries, a spokesman for Senior DIG N. K. Illagakoon told the Sunday Observer.

The suspects arrested by the special police team detailed by DIG Nugegoda Range C. D. Wickramatrane include a Sinhalese and eight Tamils following a dusk to dawn operation at Piliyandala. Police said that the lethal bomb was placed in the middle of the bus by someone who alighted from the bus before it exploded.

The blast ripped through the CTB bus crowded with passengers. Around 63 persons who sustained injuries were admitted to the Kalubowila Teaching Hospital while others were admitted to the Piliyandala hospital on Friday.