Sri Lanka races to defuse bombs

Sri Lankan police were yesterday racing to defuse unexploded bombs that fell on villages near the capital overnight and destroyed hundreds of homes, after a huge and deadly fire at an ammunition depot.

At least one soldier burnt to death and thousands of villagers fled their homes after fire broke out at the Salawa military complex late Sunday, triggering a series of explosions that sent shrapnel flying into the air.

Local businessman Neville Nishantha fled with his wife and three children as the explosions began and returned yesterday morning to see his house in ruins.

"A mortar bomb had gone through my roof and hit the living room," Nishantha told AFP. "A wall collapsed in the bedroom where my three children would have slept."

Yesterday, police Special Task Force commandos were deployed to defuse multi-barrel rockets, artillery rounds, rocket-propelled grenades and mortar bombs which landed in residential areas.

An AFP photographer saw commandos collecting at least four unexploded rockets, one of which was lodged in the ground outside an abandoned home.

"Forensic experts have examined the site and we have just begun clearing the main roads of all unexploded ordnance," a senior police official told AFP.

Authorities have yet to establish the cause of the fire which began at sundown Sunday and continued until yesterday morning.

An aerial view of the army complex from a nearby mountaintop showed only a water tower remained relatively intact. All the buildings were either completely destroyed or had their roofs blown out.

Nearly 50 people were treated for injuries or smoke inhalation after the fire, which forced the evacuation of the local government hospital. Police said the facility had been badly damaged.

Former president Mahinda Rajapakse said his administration had planned to relocate the ammunition dump from the built-up area before he was defeated in the January 2015 election.

"My government had plans to relocate this ammunition depot but the new government has failed to execute it," he told AFP.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe visited the devastated area yesterday and promised to rebuild destroyed homes, his office said.