Deliberate attack to cause civilian unrest - Dr. Kohona

Chamikara Weerasinghe

COLOMBO: The Peace Secretariat (SCOPP) has condemned yesterday's bomb attack as an act which was deliberately carried out by the LTTE to cause civilian unrest.

The Secretary General of the Secretariat for Co-ordinating Peace Process in Sri Lanka (SCOPP), Dr.Palitha Kohona said, " The attack was deliberately carried out during rush hours of the day when people were returning to their homes after their day's work."

The LTTE had detonated the bomb at 5.40 pm. The bomb had been set off from a CD vending shop alongside Galle road near the congested Belek Kade Junction at Ratmalana. Dr. Kohona further added, "The LTTE has once again proved that the only mechanism they deploy to achieve their political objectives is violence and terror."

Information and Media Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa said the LTTE had carried out the attack to provoke the public. "They carry out cowardly acts of this nature out of frustration more than anything else with their losses in the Eastern Province especially in Thoppigala area owing to the military successes achieved by the Government forces," he said.

Minister Yapa said, "the acts of this nature stands to prove that they grow in terrorism."

"It is necessary that the public render their support to security forces to prevent such incidents," he said.

He also expressed his condolences and the Government's on behalf of those killed and those injured in the incident.