COLOMBO, JUNE 14: Exactly a week after the attack by a suicide bomber which killed a senior minister and 22 others, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) struck again today in the Sri Lankan capital. A suicide bomber blew himself up and killed two others in the process while targeting an air force bus this morning. At least seven persons were admitted to hospital.The attack took place near a cinema hall at Wattala, on the road which links the city with the international airport. On Sunday afternoon, India's Minister for External Affairs, Jaswant Singh, had avoided the route when he took a helicopter ride into the city after landing at the Bandarnaike Airport.The bus was carrying about 25 personnel, some of them reportedly going for a routine hospital visit. A bicycle was wrecked in the explosion. According to one report, the bomber with explosives strapped on him had tried to ram it into the bus. But another badly damaged in the attack, police said adding the Airforce personnel travelling in the bus were wounded in the ongoing battle between the government troops and the LTTE in northern Jaffna.This was the second suicide attack in Colombo in a week. On June 7, an LTTE male suicide bomber killed senior Minister C V Gooneratne, his wife along with 23 others at suburban Ratmalana. CHENNAI: Meanwhile, the Tamil Nadu police today denied permission to a `Coordination Committee of Tamil Eelam supporters' to hold rallies, to protest the Centre's decision to give $ 100 million to Sri Lanka, in the state on June 15. Director General of Police F C Sharma said here that stringent action would be taken against any group which sought to defy the ban and take out rallies in district headquarters.The authorities had banned a conference sought to be organised by the same coordination committee at Chidambaram on May 7 and arrested the convenor of the committee Nedumaran and his supporters.The MDMK, a constituent of the National Democratic Alliance Government, also planned a rally in the city on June 5, but `deferred' it, following an appeal by Chief Minister.Later, the committee said in a statement that its constituent organisations would defy the ban and take out the rallies as planned.Charging the state government with depriving Eelam supporters of their fundamental right to express their views, it said rallies and public meetings were being banned and even those pasting posters in support of the Sri Lankan Tamils were being arrested.Therefore, with a view to upholding their right to express their views on the liberation struggle of the Sri Lankan Tamils, the committee had decided to defy the ban, the statement said.
