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Sri Lanka suicide bombing kills 27, including politician
A Sri Lankan suicide bomber killed 27 people, including a retired army general who is the provincial leader of the main opposition party, police said on Monday.
- Agencies
- Published: 08:59 October 6, 2008
- Policemen stand guard outside a census center in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
- Image Credit: AP
Colombo: A Sri Lankan suicide bomber killed 27 people, including a retired army general who is the provincial leader of the main opposition party, police said on Monday.
The attack in the northern town of Anuradhapura came as the Sri Lankan military appeared on the verge of capturing the Tigers' key headquarters as part of a major offensive in the drawn-out ethnic conflict.
"The LTTE [Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam] set off a suicide explosion. There are a large number of casualties. At least 27 are dead and 80 injured," said military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara.
Retired Major-General Janaka Perera was attending the opening of a new office for the United National Party in Anuradhapura town when the bomber struck, police said.
Perera and his wife were among the 27 people killed, and at least 69 more people were wounded in the bomb attack, said military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara.
Perera led many successful campaigns against the separatist Tamil guerrillas in the country's 25-year-long civil war.
Nanayakkara said the suicide bomber was a Tamil Tiger rebel who apparently targeted Perera because of his successes against the separatists.
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