Kumari Cooray suicide : Police probe security lapse

The Colombo Crime Division (CCD) and the Kollupitiya Police investigating the suicide of Kumari Cooray who set herself ablaze on Thursday morning is probing, why the three Ministerial Security Division (MSD) officers on duty failed to prevent the woman from entering the premises where SLMC leader Rauff Hakeem was residing and then allowing her to commit suicide. According to Colombo Crime Division's Director SSP Sarath Lugoda, the deceased Kumari Cooray first attempted to enter the house of SLMC leader Rauff Hakeem on Thursday around 12.00 midnight but was prevented by the MSD Security officers. However she returned there again in a three wheeler taxi around 1.30 a.m and managed to enter the premises by scaling over the wall. Thereafter she requested the three wheel driver to hand over her bag which he did. When she confronted the three MSD officers inside the premises she had told them that she wished to meet Hakeem. While the security officers had just looked on she poured petrol on her body and set herself ablaze. She had run for about 50 meters and had fallen down when the security officers were able to put out the fire. According OIC Kollupitiya Chief Inspector Palitha Siriwardena, the deceased Kumari Cooray had lodged a complaint at the Kollupitiya Police station last August against Hakeem.However the three wheeler taxi driver was not arrested as he was not involved in any way. Meanwhile the city Coroner who held the inquest had returned a verdict of suicide.

Huge quake kills thousands in Kashmir

A powerful earthquake measuring at least 7.6 on the Richter scale killed over 1000 people across India's Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan on Saturday, the state's top civil servant told AFP. "The devastating earthquake has left 157 people (civilians) dead all across Jammu and Kashmir," State Government Chief Secretary Vijay Bakya told AFP, adding that 18 soldiers had also perished. Police and army officials reported at least 300 people wounded in the quake, which had its epicentre across the de facto border in Pakistan where more than 1,000 were feared dead.

"Fifteen of the soldiers died along the Line of Control (LoC)," army spokesman P. Sehgal told AFP, referring to the dividing line Kashmir between India and Pakistan. He said some of the army's forward posts caved in, while others were hit by falling trees and landslides. "There can be more casualties," he added. Doctors at Srinagar's main hospital said more than 200 people were admitted with injuries and shock after the quake.

The army spokesman said more than 100 people were being treated at an army hospital in northern Uri town alone. Police reported more than 100 houses and buildings were damaged in the initial jolt, and roads to northern border areas were blocked by landslides triggered by the tremors. People in multi-storey buildings were evacuated as a series of aftershocks hit the capital city and other parts of the state.