Not a sabotage act, No security threat – Military spokesman  

By Ranil WIJAYAPALA 

Military spokesman Ubaya Medawala ruled out any sabotage activity behind today’s explosion at Karadiyanaru Police station premises, adding that there is no threat to security of any person in the area due to the explosion.

“There is no threat to anybody in the area and peace exists in Karadiyanaru”, the Military spokesman said addressing the media at the Media Centre for National Security this evening

He said 16 Policemen and nine civilians including two Chinese persons attached to the road construction company were killed due to the explosion. “Thirty two Policemen and 20 civilians are among the 52 person injured from the incident”, he added.

“Four critically injured were airlifted to Colombo National hospital for further treatment”, the spokesman added. The injured civilians are either those who had visited the Police station to attend their daily needs or those who were walking in the road. He said the incident in Karadiyanaru police station premises took place due to an accidental explosion when two Chinese nationals engaged in road Construction Company withdrew explosives from the containers kept there at the Police station premises for their daily use.

“Due to the sympathetic detonation caused due to this accidental explosion the other two explosives containers were also exploded”, Major General Medawala added. He said the Chinese Road Construction Company kept the high and low explosives needed for rock blasting  at the Police station premises for security reasons for quite some period and they used to withdraw explosives from them on daily basis according to their requirements.

He however said that special Police, Army teams and a team from the Government Analysts Department visited the scene to conduct further inquiries.