Roadside bomb kills five in Sri Lanka

A roadside bomb exploded near an ambulance in a Tamil rebel-held part of northern Sri Lanka today, killing five people, including a doctor and two nurses.

A posting on the TamilNet website blamed the army’s special forces for the blast late yesterday. But military spokesman, Major Upali Rajapakse denied the charge, saying government forces do not enter rebel-held areas.

There was no independent confirmation of the report, but the rebels often accuse the Deep Penetration Unit, a special force of the Sri Lankan military, for such attacks. All the victims were Tamils, the country’s main ethnic minority.

The other victims of the blast were the doctor’s wife and the driver, TamilNet said.

Dr Kathirkamathamby Jeyamalina was returning with his crew and his wife to Nedunkerni hospital after admitting a patient at another hospital at around 11.30pm local time when the blast occurred.

The rebels who have fought since 1983 for a separate homeland for the country’s 3.2 million ethnic Tamils controls large swathe of lands in the north and parts of the east.

A 2002 ceasefire is in tatters due to almost daily violence.