19 injured in Sri Lankan bomb attack

At least 19 people were injured today when two bombs exploded in the office of a pro-government Tamil party in eastern Sri Lanka.

The bombs exploded one after the other in the Batticaloa office of the Eelam Peoples’ Democratic Party, a former rebel group which now supports the Sinhalese-dominated government.

The room where the devices was planted was empty, but the local chief of the party, Palanidharan Pradeepan, was due to arrive at the time.

The Eelam Peoples’ Democratic Party surrendered its weapons along with several other separatist Tamil factions in 1987 under a peace deal reached with the government. However, the party was blamed for an attack on the Tamil National Alliance Party on Wednesday.

The Tamil United Liberation Front, a member of the alliance, accused the EPDP of carrying out the attack, which left the Mayor of Jaffna, Nagalingam Raviraj, wounded and two of his supporters dead.