Two persons suspected in Dambulla bus blast

by Jayampathy Jayasinghe and Shanika Sriyananda

Two persons who boarded the ill-fated bus at Matale and had then got off at Naulla on Saturday morning are suspected of having planted the powerful bomb that killed sixteen women and two men and injured around 51 persons at the Dambulla bus stand, Senior DIG N. Illangakoon, the Police Media spokesmen told a hastily summoned media briefing at the Media Centre at Kollupitiya.

Although the bus conductor had noticed two suspicious looking men carrying a parcel boarding the bus at Matale and then getting off at Naulla he had failed in his duty to inform anybody regarding this, until the bomb exploded inside the bus. If the bus conductor was a little more cautious, he would have averted this calamity.

In the past several such explosions had occurred inside buses, Senior DIG Illangakoon said. When asked to describe the bomb that exploded inside the bus the, DIG said he was unable to say anything at the moment, because the Government Analyst who visited the scene of explosion is still conducting investigations. He said the LTTE terrorists were targeting civilians in the South these days due to ongoing military operations in the North to jeopardise such operations.

He appealed to people to be cautious about terrorists and to move away when a suspected parcel or a bomb was found and promptly inform the police or the army as quickly as possible.Meanwhile, the Disaster Management Unit of the Health Ministry has appointed Director of Health Services Central Province Dr. Shanthi Samarasinghe as the coordinator to deal with the medical arrangements with regard to the incident, sources said.

The National Blood Bank has despatched blood from Colombo, needed for the victims, to hospitals in Matale, Kandy and Kurunegala, where the casualties are now being treated.

Meanwhile, the Medical Supplies Division has sent drugs and other essential medical items to those hospitals, Ministry sources said.