Colombo bomber carried fake ID

By V.S.Sambandan

COLOMBO, JAN. 19. The identity card carried by the suicide- bomber, who exploded herself outside the Sri Lankan Prime Minister's Office here on January 5, has been found to be ``fake'', the media reported.

The Daily Mirror today reported that the identity card found near the body ``was not hers'', and that sleuths ``had evidence that the suicide-bomber's photograph had been affixed on an identity card''. While the Defence Ministry had given the name on the card as Yasoda Tilakaratne and said the woman was of mixed Sinhala- Tamil parenthood,the daily quoted Crime Detective Bureau detectives as mentioning the name on the card as Yasoda Thilakaratnam, and said she was ``also believed to be a suicide- bomber trained in Mullativu''.

It said she was ``still at large'' and was believed to be in Colombo. Yasoda's parents were brought to Colombo from Akkaraipattu in eastern Sri Lanka. ``But they did not identify the suicide-bomber as their daughter,'' the newspaper said.

Army deserters escape

Meanwhile, 17 Army deserters who were under police custody escaped yesterday. The Defence Ministry said the deserters had escaped from the Panangoda cantonment, about 25 km east of Colombo, by ``overpowering the staff who opened their cells for distributing dinner''. One of the escapees was subsequently arrested by the military police.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : International
Previous : Suicide-bombers stalk Sri Lanka
Next     : Jaffna commander dead