11 killed in concert bomb blast
Eleven people were killed and 158 wounded when a bomb exploded at an open air concert in north west Sri Lanka today.
At least 25,000 spectators were packed in a sports stadium in Kurunegala, about 62 miles northwest of Colombo, when the bomb went off and triggered a stampede, according to a local police officer.
The concert, arranged by a radio station and featuring Indian musicians, was at its peak.
Fifteen of the wounded were seriously injured.
Police blamed the explosion on gang warfare rather than the tropical island country’s long-running civil war between the government and the separatist Tamil Tiger rebels in the north.
The radio station organised the show as part of its advertising campaign ahead of Sri Lanka’s traditional New Year that falls in April.
