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| Tuesday, 30 November 2004 |
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Police curfew in Trincomalee to defuse tension by Ranil Wijayapala and Trincomalee correspondent Police declared a curfew and called in reinforcements to control the tense situation in Trincomalee yesterday morning, as one passenger was killed and three others injured in a hand grenade attack on a private bus heading towards Trincomalee town from Kantale, Eastern Province DIG Neville Wijesinghe told the Daily News. The incident took place at the Anuradhapura junction, two and a half kms away from Trincomalee town on the Colombo Road, around 9 a.m. yesterday amidst a hartal campaign called by the Tamil People's Organisation against the Security Forces, Police said. DIG Wijesinghe told the Daily News that Police assisted by the Army and the Navy was able to control the situation as tension ran high in the area following this incident. Defence Secretary Cyril Herat told the Daily News that, on the directive of President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, Chief of Defence Staff and Navy Commander Vice Admiral Daya Sandagiri along with Army Commander Lt. General Shantha Kottegoda flew to Trincomalee yesterday afternoon to take additional security measures to strengthen security in the area. "We have taken measures to call reinforcements from Minneriya, Batticaloa and Anuradhapura to Trincomalee area to control the situation there in Trincomalee", he added. According to Police the grenade had been thrown at a private bus heading towards Trincomalee allegedly by the people engaged in the Hartal campaign at Pethispeya junction, as they did not want buses plying on roads. One passenger who tried to tried to throw the grenade out of the bus succumbed to his injuries. Police took steps to control the angry mob that gathered near the Trincomalee hospital after the injured were admitted to the Trincomalee Base hospital. Daily life in Trincomalee came to standstill due to the hartal campaign by the Tamil People's Organisation to protest against Security Forces accusing them of blocking the LTTE's Mahaveer Day celebrations in Trincomalee, Mannar, Vavuniya and Jaffna. Several other confrontational situations were also reported in a few other places in Trincomalee including the Kali Kovil junction and Mudco junctions, Police added. According to Police, following the hand grenade attack, another private bus parked at a garage at the fifth mile post in Trincomalee was set on fire by a group of people after taking that bus to a byroad around 11.30 a.m. "As tension ran high in the area we declared a curfew around 11 a.m. and brought the situation under control", DIG Wijesinghe said. Military Spokesman Brigadier Daya Ratnayake told the Daily News that, another van transporting tourists from Kandy to Trincomalee was set on fire at Aandankulam area around 5.30 p.m. The driver of the van reported missing following the incident, he said. "The situation was reported calm by yesterday afternoon with the deployment of additional troops in the area," he added. According to Police sources altogether two buses, one van, two motor bicycles have been set on fire during these clashes. There had been a grenade attack on a house near Bandaranaike Mawatha in the Abhayapura area around 5.35 p.m. yesterday. However, Police and Army personnel deployed in the area defused the tense situation there following the incident, sources added. |
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