SRI LANKA: A car bomb exploded in Sri Lanka's capital Colombo yesterday killing two people, including a three-year-old girl. The bombing occurred as the government undertook to investigate the execution-style killings of 17 aid workers caught in the midst of fighting with Tamil Tigers rebels in the east of the island.
Police said that a magnetic bomb attached to the rear of a mini-van carrying a Tamil politician opposed to the Tamil Tiger insurgents' fight for an independent homeland exploded in a residential quarter of the capital.
S. Sivathasan, a senior member of the Eelam People's Democratic Party, which is allied to President Mahinda Rajapakse's administration, escaped with injuries, but his bodyguard and a girl walking nearby were killed. The Tigers have been blamed for the blast.
Meanwhile, relatives of the 17 murdered aid workers attached to the Paris-based Action Contre La Faim (ACF) - Action Against Hunger - non-governmental organisation buried them in their villages in the northeastern Trincomalee district. Their bullet-ridden bodies were found in the seaside town of Muttur, where Tiger rebels and government forces had fought pitched battles over control of a water reservoir in which more than 425 people were killed.
The bodies of two of the 17 NGO workers were found late on Monday night in a car. They were apparently killed while trying to flee the fighting.
The Tigers and the army blame each other for the killings, which have triggered international condemnation, prompting the Sri Lankan government to order an investigation.
Most of the victims, who were aged between 23 and 54 and included four women, were engineers specialising in water sanitation and agronomy. They were engaged in relief work following the 2004 tsunami.
"This was a mass murder targeting clearly identified humanitarian workers. ACF is determined not to settle for vague answers from the parties to the conflict . . . and will demand exemplary punishment," the NGO said.
Shortly after the bomb attack in Colombo the Tigers reopened the sluice gate they had laid siege to in Muttur, allowing water to flow into parched government territory. The blocking of the water supply led to the fighting on July 26th, the first time rebels and government forces had engaged in a ground battle since the 2002 ceasefire.
"We hope this is the beginning of the end of the violence," said Thorfinnur Omarsson, spokesman for the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission which oversees the island's truce.