The bomber rammed a truck laden with explosives into buses carrying sailors starting and ending tours of duty. Civilians were reported to be among the dead and injured. 

Sailors' helmets, boots, bags and other belongings were left scattered around the scene, near the town of Habarana to the south-west of the eastern port of Trincomalee. 

About 100 people have been killed in a suicide attack on a naval convoy in northern Sri Lanka, the military says. The government blames Tamil Tiger rebels. 

About 100 people have been killed in a suicide attack on a naval convoy in northern Sri Lanka, the military says. The government blames Tamil Tiger rebels. 

Security personnel collect the weapons of sailors killed in a suicide bomb attack carried out by suspected Tamil Tiger rebels in the north-eastern Sri lankan town of Habarana, in the Trincomalee district. Sri Lanka has suffered its worst ever suicide attack when suspected Tamil Tiger rebels detonated a truck packed with explosives next to a convoy of sailors, killing at least 102 people and wounding 150 more.(AFP) 

Widespread Health Hazard in Kattankuduy

By: Khalid - Marzook

Currently there is an increase in diseases like cancer and Jaundice in Kattankduy. Specially, the number of children who fall sick in this region is alarmingly high. This sudden increase is causing great fear and panic among the local population of Kattankudy. This grave situation is mainly attributed to the deteriorating living condition worsened by an ultra dense population of the area. As a result of the population increase, the food hygiene and other health habits have been driven to a lower level.

Once instance where the food hygiene is concerned is the take away food sales in the small hotels here. Knowingly or unknowingly these people buy and sell these food items which are hygienically unsuitable. For instance the Samosa (a kind of pastry) is very popular among these people. This item is fried in the oil which is repeatedly used several times for the purpose. As a result, it is said that this oil is a cause for the fatal diseases above mentioned. We learn that the health authorities also warned of this danger. This is only one instance where the unscrupulous hoteliers misuse the innocence of the people. These vendors also profusely use a food taste-adder ( Aji no moto), which is already a prohibited substance.

There is also the danger of contamination of water due to the thickness in population whose waste materials are disposed of beneath their own dwellings. The wells which are shallow with clear water get easily contaminated by these waste materials. With no alternatives these people drink this water highly contaminated. We feel this condition is so severe and fatal that a remedy should be found sooner. If these people are made aware of these dangers, they may at least escape the calamity in the middle. Only possible rectification now, we assume, is that a campaign to educate them on these issues. We hope you would consider these facts and help us draw up a program to implement. For this purpose, we think it is better for people like you in the medical field itself to decide on procedures to start with. Then we can carry on what you have begun.

Concerned citizens in Kattankudy

Suicide bombing kills over 100 in Sri Lanka

by Amal Jayasinghe Mon Oct 17, 10:09 AM ET

COLOMBO (AFP) - Sri Lanka has suffered its worst ever suicide attack when suspected Tamil Tiger rebels detonated a truck packed with explosives next to a convoy of sailors, killing at least 102 people and wounding 150 more.

The government said Monday the "barbaric" act, which coincided with increased international efforts to restore a 2002 truce, meant the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was not interested in negotiations scheduled to take place next week in Switzerland.

The bombing occurred about 170 kilometres (105 miles) northeast of Colombo at a transit point for security personnel coming to and from the front line of the drawn-out conflict in the restive northeastern district of Trincomalee.

"Suicide bombers drove a truck packed with explosives into the area where there were about 15 buses," a police official in nearby Sigiriya town told AFP by telephone. "We have two helicopters to evacuate the wounded".

Doctors said that 98 bodies were at the nearby Dambulla hospital while four more people died while being taken by road to a hospital in the major town of Kurunegala.

"This barbaric attack on unarmed sailors shows that the Tigers are not worried about international opinion," said government defence spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella, who is also the minister of policy planning.

"We are keen on negotiations, but the Tigers are not."

The military moved to carry out retaliatory air strikes against the Tigers, but an Israeli-built Kfir war plane crashed shortly after take off from a military base here, officials said.

They said the aircraft crashed into the Negombo lagoon, but the pilot ejected to safety and was rescued by helicopters.

There was no immediate comment from the Tamil Tigers, who last week fiercely resisted a major military onslaught, killing at least 133 soldiers and wounding 500 in two hours of fighting, according to government figures.

The first suicide truck bombing against the security forces was in 1987 when an explosives-laden truck rammed into an army camp on the Jaffna peninsula, killing 40 troops.

Until Monday's attack the worst suicide bombing was against the central bank building in Colombo, killing 91 and wounding 1,400.

Monday's blast came as Sri Lanka's key international backers moved to salvage a 2002 truce and arrange talks later this month.

Top Japanese envoy Yasushi Akashi Monday met with President Mahinda Rajapakse and former chief peace negotiator Nimal Siripala de Silva.

Akashi was also expected to meet top LTTE leaders during his six-day visit, although a sit-down exchange with the Tiger's reclusive commander Velupillai Prabhakaran was unlikely, Japanese officials said.

Norway, the main peace broker in Sri Lanka, was planning to send special envoy Jon Hanssen-Bauer on Tuesday to work out details for the October 28-29 talks in Switzerland.

The Tigers have said they will confirm whether they are participating in the talks when they meet Hanssen-Bauer in the rebel-held town of Kilinochchi on Thursday.

US Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher was also expected to meet Thursday with government ministers and civil leaders.

More than 2,300 people have been killed in spiralling violence since December, according to official figures.

Both sides have accused each other of sporadic attacks since major clashes last week, including shelling and airstrikes. The navy also said it had sunk a Tiger trawler loaded with arms Sunday.

More than 60,000 people have been killed in the three-decades-old conflict for a Tamil homeland on the Sinhalese-majority island.

Military says Tamil Tiger suicide attack kills 92 Sri Lankan sailors

Associated Press, Mon October 17, 2006 06:05 EDT . COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) _ Tamil Tiger rebels rammed a truck loaded with explosives into a naval convoy in central Sri Lanka on Monday, killing at least 92 sailors and wounding more than 150, in what the military described as a cold-blooded massacre.

``All these people were without weapons and were going on leave,'' military spokesman Brig. Prasad Samarasinghe said.

Samarasinghe said the attack happened near the town of Dambulla, about 150 kilometers (90 miles) northeast of the capital Colombo, when the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam rammed a small truck loaded with explosives into a convoy of military buses.

The blast killed 92 sailors, while more than 150 were wounded and evacuated to nearby hospitals.

He said the buses were carrying sailors from the port town of Trincomalee.

President Mahinda Rajapakse's office said in a statement that the attack ``was further proof of the LTTE's unmitigated commitment to violence to achieve its ends and was in total disregard of international demands for it to abandon violence and seek peaceful means to achieve its goals.''

The military called the attack, one of the deadliest since a Norwegian-brokered 2002 cease-fire, a ``cold-blooded massacre.''

``This inhuman act is a clear revenge by the terrorists on the navy who inflicted successive defeats for LTTE against their attempts of smuggling arms and explosives,'' a military statement said.

The navy on Sunday destroyed a trawler loaded with arms along the west coast, killing at least five Tamil Tiger separatists.

A witness said that several of the buses attacked had caught fire, while the truck driven by the suicide bomber was destroyed. He said the body of the truck driver was found about 50 meters (yards) from the scene.

The attack comes as a Japanese envoy held talks with the Sri Lankan president Monday amid intensified diplomatic efforts to strengthen the peace process between the government and rebels ahead of scheduled talks between the two sides later this month in Switzerland.

It was not immediately clear what impact the attack would have on those talks. There was no immediate comment from the rebels on the attack, although they routinely deny their involvement.

Yasushi Akashi also planned to travel to the rebel stronghold in the north to talk with the Tiger leadership during his five days in Sri Lanka. A Japanese Embassy spokesman said he had no information yet on whether those plans would change following the attack.

Thorfinnur Omarsson, a spokesman for the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, urged the government and rebels to keep their commitment to the peace talks despite the deadly attack.

``Obviously this is a brutal attack and a serious threat to the peace process,'' Omarsson said. ``But the people of Sri Lanka deserve that the talks will take place as planned.''

Norwegian peace envoy Jon Hanssen-Bauer was also scheduled to return to the island this week ahead of the planned Oct. 28-29 peace talks, while U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Central and South Asian Affairs Richard Boucher will make a two-day visit to Sri Lanka starting Thursday.

The flurry of diplomatic activity comes after some of the bloodiest fighting since the cease-fire was signed in 2002, temporarily ending nearly two decades of civil war. Heavy battles last Wednesday on the northern Jaffna Peninsula left hundreds of combatants dead, despite commitments by both the government and rebels to return to the negotiating table.

The military controls nearly all of the Jaffna Peninsula, which the ethnic Tamil minority claim as their cultural heartland. The Tigers still hold small pockets in the area.

Fighting has left about 2,000 people dead this year, according to the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, set up to oversee the cease-fire.

The Tigers have been fighting since 1983 for a separate homeland for the Tamil minority in the north and east, citing decades of discrimination by the majority Sinhalese. About 65,000 people were killed before the 2002 cease-fire