Police curfew in Trincomalee following grenade attack

Trincomalee correspondent

A police curfew was imposed yesterday afternoon following a hand grenade attack at Madathadi Junction, Trincomalee where a new Buddha statue is being erected, killing one person and seriously injuring four others.

A clash had ensued between Tamil and Sinhala factions following the attack around 2.45 pm. The attackers had targeted the new statue under construction near the three wheeler stand next to the CTB stop.

The Tamil People's Organisation (TPO), a cat's paw of the LTTE, organised a hartal at the Trincomalee town yesterday against the new Buddha statue.

Another hand grenade was hurled at the CTB bus stand, close to the statue by an unidentified person on Monday night.

The Security Forces recovered an unexploded hand grenade near the Urban Council Office yesterday morning. Another hand bomb was thrown at the multi-purpose market but no one was injured. Police summoned a meeting of religious leaders attended by Buddhist, Hindu and Catholic priests and TPO President V. Vigneswaran.

DIG Trincomalee Neville Wijesinghe, DIG Vavuniya Mahinda Baddewela and SSP H.N.B. Ambanwela chaired the meeting called to bring about a solution.

The TPO representative has demanded to stop the erection of the Buddha statue claiming Trincomalee as the capital of "Tamil Eelam".

Buddhist priests have protested saying the Buddhists did not protest the new Hindu temples built at various places in Trincomalee.

However, the discussion ended without a final decision and the matter is to be taken to courts.