Nineteen injured in Kahagolla bus explosion

An explosion which occurred in a private bus plying from Bandarawela to Diyatalawa at Kahagolla set the bus fully ablaze injuring 19 passengers.

The passengers were admitted to the Diyatalawa hospital around 5 am yesterday.

Military spokesperson Brigadier Sumith Atapattu said the Military has ruled out any terrorist involvement in the bus which caught fire at Kahagolla yesterday.

Brigadier Attapattu addressing the weekly media briefing noted that given the nature of the blast, they suspect that an explosive such as a grenade might have been carried inside the bus causing it to explode. The Military is conducting further investigations.

Several passengers in transit from Jaffna, a group of Army and Air Force personnel enroute to the Diyatalawa Camp to report for duty and several members of the public enroute to Diyatalawa were among the passengers in the bus heading to Mahiyangana when the explosion occurred.

The passengers from Jaffna had broken journey at Bandarawela to board the bus heading for Mahiyangana which belonged to the same bus operator.

It had been the usual practice of the bus operator to service the Jaffna - Mahiyangana route with two buses with a transit at Bandarawela.The fire gutted the bus.The cause for the explosion had still not been established by the Bandarawela police conducting investigations.

The Diyatalawa Army base too has launched a separate investigation into the blast.

 

 

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