Archives

PERTH, Thursday (AFP) - Sri Lanka's cricket team are concerned about playing a World Cup game in Kenya early next year because of last month's terrorist attack there, team manager Ajit Jayasekara admitted here Thursday.

"We have had a similar type of problem earlier," he said, referring to the Tamil conflict that has claimed thousands of lives in Sri Lanka. "But this is a different threat altogether." "It's not that we are not going to play there, but we have our concerns."

On November 28, three suicide bombers rammed a vehicle into the lobby of the Israeli-owned Paradise Hotel in the Kenyan port city of Mombasa, killing 11 Kenyans, three Israelis and themselves.

Five minutes earlier an Israeli-chartered jet with 261 tourists on board narrowly escaped being shot down by a missile that was fired at it as it took off from Mombasa airport. Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network claimed responsibility for the attacks early this month and warned that it would hit more Israeli and US targets across the world.

Sri Lanka are schedued to play Kenya at the Nairobi Gymkhana Club in a preliminary round World Cup clash day on February 24. Most games in the 14-nation tournament will be in South Africa and Zimbabwe, with the final in Johannesburg on March 23.

News | Business | Features | Editorial | Security
Politics | World | Letters | Sports | Obituaries |

Produced by Lake House
Copyright 2001 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
Comments and suggestions to :Web Manager