Sri Lankan Army captain and corporal who went to Mali for peace-keeping service ... killed by bomb attack!

Sri Lankan Army captain and corporal who went to Mali for peace-keeping service ... killed by bomb attack!

An Army captain and a corporal faced death while three Army soldiers sustained injuries in Douentza area in the Kingdom of Mali when improvised explosive device was targetted at a series of Army escort troop of vehicles in which a troop of Sri Lankan members of the Army were travelling. They had been to an African country known as Mali Kingdom for peace keeping purposes and the tragedy has occured around 6.30 in last morning (25).

An Army captain and a corporal had died in this attack while three Army soldiers have sustained

injuries. Among the two deceased is H.W.D. Jayawickrema who was a captain of the eleventh infantry and S.S. Wijeykumara of the first mechanized infantry regiment, it was identified. He was a resident of Polpithigama, Kalakolawewa. Corporal Kumarasingha of the first Engineer regiment too has suffered serious injury in the process.

The series of troops had gone for an operation Mopki area, 582 kilometres away from Gavo area and had been on their way back to Gavo when they were subjected to this bomb attack,it is reported. The bomb had been operated by a remote control device and a vehicle behind the targetted vehicle too has sustained damage in the process.

The wounded Army soldiers were dispatched to Gavo Hospital, 400 kilometres away from the location where this incident took place. This is the first instance where members of the Sri Lanka Army had died from a terrorist attack when they were away on service on United Nations peace keeping activities. After the incident a wide-scaled search operation was carried out in the location concerned and headquarters of United Nations Peace Keeping. An incident where a terrorist had attempted to blast a highly potential bomb weighing 38 kilos targetting a series of Sri Lanka Army vehicles in the Kingdom of Mali in the month of March last year. However the terrorist concerned was apprehended by the Army with the bomb in his possession, it was reported.