COLOMBO, FEB 22: The suspected Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) suicide bomber who blew herself up in the election rally of President Chandrika Kumaratunga on December 18 carried the explosives in her handbag and not strapped to her body as initially believed, detectives investigating the case have said.CID official S P Samasinghe told a Colombo court on Monday that forensic tests conducted at the site of the blast have established that the suicide bomber carried the explosive in a parcel which was concealed in her handbag.Earlier, police had believed that the bomber, who managed to gain entry into the VIP enclosure of the rally, blasted herself when Chandrika was leaving the meeting.Despite having placed a two million reward for any information on the suicide bomber, the police was able to only partially identify her as not many people came forward with credible clues to her past.Samasinghe also clarified that the DNA tests conducted on the alleged suicide bomber, whose name was believed to be Manickam Leela from Eastern Batticaloa, did not match with that of an elderly couple who were initially detained on the suspicion that they were her parents.Judging from their reaction, when the couple first saw the head of the suicide bomber, police suspect that they are her foster parents, the official said.Though police managed to locate the place from where the suicide bomber had bought a dress she wore on the day of the blast, they could not exactly locate the place where she resided in Colombo, Samasighe said adding, that her photograph shot at the meeting few hours before the blast also was identified by only a few persons.He said the public response to the police investigations was poor. Though over 80 people responded to Government's publicity for information on the bomber, almost 50 of them came forward with false information to settle personal scores against their adversaries.Twenty-five people were killed and over 110 including President Chandrika and several of her cabinet ministers injured in the blast.
