Titans will clash as Lanka goes to poll

Kumaratunga was injured in her right eye by shrapnel when a suicide bomber struck at her final election meeting last Saturday night but her eyesight is reported to be unaffected. Minister of External Affairs Jaswant Singh yesterday offered India’s medical assistance to Kumaratunga for the treatment of the injury.

No medical bulletin on her injuries has so far been issued by the government but Kumaratunga made a short address to the nation yesterday to reassure the country about her health. She was also scheduled to appear on national television late on Monday.

Meanwhile, the probe into the suicide bombing, as well as the investigation into the explosion at a rally in support of the United National Party candidate Ranil Wickremesinghe on the same night, was handed over to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).

Police maintain that the explosion at the UNP rally in Ja-Ela on the outskirts of the capital was also caused by a suicide bomber. A severed head, suspected to be that of the bomber, was found at the site of the meeting. But the UNP maintains that it was the work of Kumaratunga’s People’s Alliance (PA). Party general secretary Gamini Athukorale said he held the PA directly responsible for the attack in which a retired major-general was among the nine killed.

Besides the CID investigation, two special committees appointed by Kumaratunga are also inquiring into the bombings at the two meetings. They will submit their reports on Thursday.