One 12-year-old girl succumbed to her injuries Friday afternoon after 13 civilians were injured in a van explosion in Sri Lanka’s central district of Kurunegala on Friday morning, said the police.
Police spokesman Nimal Mediwaka told reporters that the bomb explosion happened at around 7 a.m. (0130GMT) at Udawalpola, Kurunegala, about 100 km northeast of the capital Colombo.
The explosion injured 12 school children and the van driver.
The van driven by the owner’s son had been parked in a garage on Thursday and the bomb may had been fixed to the van then, said the police.
The van exploded as soon as the engine started and while children were boarding the van, said Mediwaka.
A team from the police Criminal Investigation Department has been deployed to carry out further investigations, the spokesman said.
He said a private dispute was the cause of the explosion.
This was the first major explosion after the government troops defeated Tamil Tiger rebels in May and further investigations are underway.
The rebels had been fighting for more than two decades to carve out an independent Tamil homeland in the north and east before they were defeated by the troops in May.
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