Acting on a tip off, the army bomb disposal squad in the early hours of yesterday recovered a pair of sandals packed with explosives at Kapuwatte in Kandana police area.

Police headquarters said that the army bomb disposal squad was called in immediately after Police Emergency received a call from an unidentified youth. Police spokesman SSP Ranjith Gunasekera told The Island that the caller and an associate had decided to ring 119 as the pair of sandals they picked by the side of the road was too heavy.

The teenager who had alerted the police told investigators that he was returning home from a funeral when he picked the pair of sandals.


"I took them under a street lamp and noticed a wire jutting out of it," he said.

Space inside the soles of the sandals had been filled with C 4 high explosives, one with 750g and the other with 500g. The army alleged that terrorists were probably targeting school children and other pedestrians.

The bomb disposal squad also found two detonators and one 9 V battery and a timing device connected to the pair of footwear.

Army headquarters said that the LTTE could resort to indiscriminate attacks in the South as pressure mounted on its remaining bases on the Vanni front.