Bomb Kills Minister in Sri Lanka
January 8th 2008 09:29
First the news:
Now for the editorial comment:
Ja-ela is located half way between Colombo and the International Airport in Sri Lanka.
I spent nearly three months living in Ja-Ela in 2003 in a house that was only 100 or so meters from the main road junction. It is area over grown with palm trees with homes close together. The main junction of Ja-Ela has the only main road from Colombo to Katanayake where the Bandanayake International air port is located 30km north of the capital.
Several things come to mind when I think about this area. Firstly it was till today a relatively peaceful place. I remember spending one midnight going to see a concert that had been arranged on the main road to celebrate an election win. I have also been in the police large decaying police station to get a curfew pass on one occasion and a police report for my visa extension on another occasion. That’s right, the police station overlooks the main road and has armed police waiting behind barricades all the time. A market is on the opposite side of the road and a grave yard beside that. I seem to recall that the market was only open on Fridays.
It is difficult to understand why a non-cabinet building minister would be targeted but war rarely makes sense.
In the past few days it has been reported that fighting in the north has been fierce.
The bomb was reported to be a claymore.
Police checking people after the blast.
(COLOMBO, Sri Lanka)—A Sri Lankan government minister died Tuesday after being wounded by a roadside bomb outside the capital, the military said. Tamil Tiger rebels are suspected in the blast, which wounded seven others. D.M. Dassanayake, the nation-building minister of non-Cabinet rank, died in a hospital after his car was caught in the explosion in the Ja-Ela area, about 12 miles north of Colombo, military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara said.
Now for the editorial comment:
Je-Ela is marked on this map.
Ja-ela is located half way between Colombo and the International Airport in Sri Lanka.
I spent nearly three months living in Ja-Ela in 2003 in a house that was only 100 or so meters from the main road junction. It is area over grown with palm trees with homes close together. The main junction of Ja-Ela has the only main road from Colombo to Katanayake where the Bandanayake International air port is located 30km north of the capital.
It is difficult to understand why a non-cabinet building minister would be targeted but war rarely makes sense.
In the past few days it has been reported that fighting in the north has been fierce.
The bomb was reported to be a claymore.
A typical claymore says face this side toward the enemy. It fires hundreds of steal balls upon detination.
My daughter in Ja-Ela pointing at an election poster. She is bigger now.
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Comment by tlcorbin
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Comment by Damo
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Thanks for your comments.
I would be happy if Landmines, claymores and cluster bombs were all banned like napalm is.
Dirty weapons of war that injure more civilans than soldiers.
Comment by jazzman
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I also have been there with the U.N. and to visualize action of this type happening here, is beyond comprehension because it would achieve zilch!
We were told that Claymores and Cluster bombs and the like will always be used by the so called rebels as they are cheap to buy/produce cluster bombs get rid of all rubbish of any type that harms and maims and this in is the scheming paranoid minds of the perpetrators to maim takes more troops of the line to look after the maimed also frightens the opposition - shows the level of decay their mind operates
Comment by Damo
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I am also baffled by the tactic but it may have to mark the draw of the cease fire by the government.
Just a blast to show that they are still in the game and can hit in Colombo.
How they set at all up under the gaze of the police station shows how sleepy the town is.