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10 Lankan police officers blamed for security breach at poll rally

COLOMBO: At least 10 police officers have been held responsible for breach of security at an election rally where Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga was wounded in an assassination bid, Colombo's Sunday Times newspaper reported.

The newspaper quoted a senior police official heading the investigation into the suicide bomb blast in the capital Colombo on December 18 as saying the names of the officers were in an interim report handed to the Defence Ministry for action.

"A suicide bomber can strike anywhere, but then there is the security to try and prevent it. In this case, there was a serious breach of security and there are people who should be held responsible," chief investigator Deputy Inspector General of Police Indra de Silva told the newspaper.

"We are not talking about constables on the beat but very senior and experienced men," he added.

At least 26 people were killed and more than 100, including Kumaratunga, were wounded in the explosion. It was caused by a woman suicide bomber suspected to be from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which is fighting for a separate homeland for minority Tamils in Sri Lanka's north and east.

De Silva told the newspaper that a later report would recommend action to be taken against those held responsible for the security lapse. He gave no further details.

Some 10 senior officers of the president's security division, who accompanied Kumaratunga to London on a recent trip for treatment of her wounds, have yet to be questioned, he added.

Kumaratunga returned last week from London, where she told the BBC that doctors had told her she had probably lost sight in her right eye.

She won a second six-year term in presidential elections days after the blast and has promised to keep searching for a negotiated solution to the country's 17-year long ethnic war, which has claimed more than 55,000 lives.-Reuters