Colombo, October 02: An explosion in a van which wounded 13 people in northwestern Sri Lanka appeared to be part of a personal feud, and not caused by remnants of the defeated Tamil Tiger rebels, authorities said.
The blast occurred in the northwestern town of Kurunegala and was the first since the separatist rebels were crushed in May.
“When the driver tried to start the van it exploded. Twelve schoolchildren and the driver of the van were injured,” said military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara.
Police spokesman Nimal Mediwake said officers were investigating but found indications the matter was personal.
“It appears to be a civil dispute,” Mediwake said.
Suicide blasts and bus bombs were hallmarks of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), whom the military defeated in May and ended a 25-year civil war.
Since then, soldiers and police have been rounding up a handful of rebels still in hiding and seizing massive caches of weapons.
Northern Sri Lanka, where the rebels tried to establish their own state, is awash in hidden caches of guns and military hardware.
The Indian Ocean island has had three bloody insurrections since 1971, and the ongoing bloodshed has often provided cover for personal or business disputes to be settled violently.
–Agencies