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Travel advice for Sri Lanka following bomb attacks

Friday, 06 Jun 2008 14:51
A bomb exploding on a bus in the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo has killed at least 21 people and caused the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) to update its travel advice.

Today's explosion in the suburb of Katubedda also injured 50 people and a further explosion has also been reported on another bus on the Wellawata to Kandy road is reported to have killed two people.

These bombings come only two days after another bomb on a crowded commuter train near Dehiwela (a suburb of Colombo).

The FCO particularly advises against all travel to northern and eastern Sri Lanka and says visitors should avoid military, government and paramilitary locations.

But civilians have been specifically targeted in recent attacks, including on public transport, the FCO says.

More than 100 civilians have been killed in attacks this year and the FCO warns there is an "increasing risk" of foreigners being caught up in an incident.

Tamil Tiger insurgents were behind today's attack, the Associated Press news agency quotes military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nananyakkara as saying.

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  • In May 2008 two huge bomb explosions in Colombo. We witnessed one of them in which 21 people were killed and we narrowly escaped. According to local newspapers Air force shares the runway with the international flights. It is really dangerous and frightening. Therefore I recommend people should avoid Sri Lanka for the time being. Thank you.
    Vani Kumar (London)

    I have recently returned from a visit to Sri Lanka and would advise that Sri Lanka is perfectly safe to visit if you are intending to stay in the South West region where most of the tourist resorts are located. Even travel by train and/or bus to and around Colombo only carries the same risk as in the UK. When using public transport the advice is the same as in the UK: "be aware and if you see a suspicious package alert the conductor or guard who are specifically trained to treat any such package as suspect".

    It is still perfectly safe to visit the principal tourist sites such as Kandy, Dambulla and Sigirya and the many popular towns on the South Coast including Galle, Matara, Koggala etc. Indeed the only indication of the LTTE problem in Sri Lanka in the South West are the occasional police check points on the main roads.

    Sri Lanka is a beautiful country and it's people are delightful but very poor and need tourism to boost their economy and no-one should be deterred from visiting this 'pearl' in the Indian Ocean because of the cowardly actions of a mindless and very near defeated terrorist group.
    Chris Edwards (Sheffield, UK)

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