'Forced to eat' explosives
2005-02-20 11:40
Colombo - Sri Lanka's military launched an investigation into the poisoning of 17 soldiers on Sunday amid allegations they had been forced to eat plastic explosives during a training exercise.
The 17 soldiers undergoing commando training were admitted to a hospital early on Sunday, a military official here said adding that one of them was in a critical condition.
An initial military report suggested the men may have handled the explosives before eating and ingested them accidentally. But subsequently military police were called in to probe allegations that they had been forced to eat highly malleable C-4 type plastic explosives.
An instructor of the soldiers had fled the base in northern Sri Lanka following the incident, a military source said.
Government troops have been observing a truce with Tamil Tiger rebels since February 23 2002, in an insurgency that has claimed more than 60 000 lives since 1972.
- AFP