Sri Lanka plans new security force for capital

Jan 15, 2006 (AFP) - Sri Lanka plans a new security force in the capital to deal with possible attacks as concern grows for a fragile ceasefire with separatist Tamil Tiger rebels, police said Sunday.







Jan 15, 2006 (AFP) - Sri Lanka plans a new security force in the capital to deal with possible attacks as concern grows for a fragile ceasefire with separatist Tamil Tiger rebels, police said Sunday. Heavily-armed troops and police have been visible in the city of 650,000 in recent weeks, in line with tighter security following clashes between troops and rebels in the country's northeast, police Deputy Inspector General Pujith Jayasundara said.

Jayasundara, who is in charge of security in the capital, said the police department was in the process of raising a specially-trained unit of a few hundred men to deal with any emergency situation in Colombo.

However, he rejected reports that Tamil rebels planned a suicide truck bomb attack in the capital.

"There is always a general threat, but nothing specific against any landmark building or anything like that," Jayasundara said.

He rejected as "rumours" a report in the privately-run Sunday Leader newspaper that Tiger rebels had planned a