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| Sri Lanka |
| Church blast kills Sri Lanka officers |
| 2008-12-29 |
| Five members of the Sri Lanka's Civil Defense Force (CDF) were killed in a suicide blast in Sri Lanka at a church outside the capital of Colombo Sunday morning, police said. Eight other CDF officers and two civilians were wounded, police said. Nobody immediately claimed responsibility for the blast, but police suspect the bomber was a member of the Tamil Tiger rebels. There was no immediate response from the Tamil Tiger rebels to the incident, which, police said, occurred at St. Anne's Church in the Colombo suburb of Wattala, located on a roadway to the country's only international airport about 15 kilometers (9 miles) north of the capital. The attack happened during a weekly festival that usually draws a large crowd shopping for vegetables and household goods. The suicide bomber walked into an area where CDF officers were stationed and detonated his explosives, police said. Investigators suspect the bomber targeted the area because 150 police officers who help patrol the road to the airport are billeted there. |
| Posted by:lotp |