Sri Lanka Navy sailors on Friday (29) averted another abominable attempt by the LTTE terrorists to carryout a major bomb attack at Sri Lankan citizens. Navy acting on the information provided by the Tamil fisher folks arrested a modern freezer truck turned into a 1000Kg lethal bomb at Panikkyar in Trincomalee.

Bomb disposal experts who inspected the vehicle said that it had been fixed with C-4 high explosives weighing 1007kg. The explosives were found in 56 iron boxes that had been loaded as one single bomb behind the frontal wall of the freezer container. It is believed that the terrorists have planned to carryout the attack as a suicide bomb blast since the bomb's operating system was found fixed to freezer activation switch of the vehicle.

Bomb disposal experts further pointed out that, unlike in the previous vehicle bomb, which had been found in a wooden bodied lorry early this month; the terrorists had not mixed iron pallets with the explosives. However, thick iron boxes and the aluminum framed freezer container would ensure a better kill than the iron pallets, one expert told our correspondent at Trincomalee.

The driver of the vehicle has been taken to custody. The suspect has been identified as an LTTE cadre who was a resident of Point Pedro in Jaffna. It has been revealed that the bomb was to be taken to the Colombo in guise of transporting fish.

The available evidence show that the bomb was aimed at a massive civilian massacre in the south. According to the explosive experts the bomb was five times powerful than the one that the LTTE terrorists exploded at the Central Bank, Colombo in 1996. Over 90 civilians were killed and more than 300 injured in the callous attack which is still considered to the be the largest bomb blast carried out by the LTTE terrorists.

Meanwhile, our correspondent said that the vehicle had a large sticker on its windscreen printed with the words "Power of Jesus". Being a Catholic himself, he said that he was shocked to see the despicable manner the terrorists had tried achieve their sinister objectives. "This shows the barbaric nature of this terrorist group, they (LTTE) have not only deride our religious values, but also have depraved the name of a sacred personality who preached against violence" he said.