Global General

60 killed in accidental blast in Sri Lanka

(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-09-17 16:32

COLOMBO - An accidental explosion of a truck carrying explosives killed at least 60 people on Friday in a police station near the eastern Sri Lankan city of Batticaloa, the military said.

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"Sixty people inside the police station have been killed. Most of them are policemen," military spokesman Major-General Ubaya Medawela said.

The truck was parked next to the police station in Karadiyanaru, near the eastern port of Batticaloa, when it exploded, Medawela said. The explosives were to be delivered to a rock quarry, he said.

Earlier, a spokesman for the state-run Media Centre for National Security had said two foreign citizens were among the dead. He gave no details on their nationality but local media reported they were Chinese.

Sri Lanka, which ended a three-decade civil war last year, had suffered from years of suicide bombings carried out by Tamil Tiger separatists. This explosion was accidental, Medawela said.