Sri Lanka blocks SMS as an Independence Day protection measure

A bomb destroyed a power transformer outside Sri lanka’s tightly-guarded capital on Monday as the government prepared to stage national celebrations marking Independence Day. There were no casualties from the blast at the electricity transformer on the outskirts of Colombo, a police official said. He said another bomb was found and defused in the same area. A caller identifying himself as a member of a Tamil Tiger front group rang international news agencies Monday warning of more attacks, but there was no way to verify the authenticity of the calls.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka’s telecom networks blocked text messaging on mobile phones as part of security measures for the national celebrations marking sixty years of independence from Britain, the phone operators said. The main mobile service provider Dialog, in a message to its subscribers, said SMS (short message services) would not be available from 6.00 a.m. to noon, the duration of independence day festivities. “We regret to inform subscribers that SMS services of all mobile operators will not be available…,” said the company, a unit of Malaysian Telekom. Officials said Sri Lanka’s telecom regulator had ordered the suspension of SMS messages, fearing Tamil Tiger rebels could use them to scare people into staying away from celebrations. Security has been raised to unprecedented levels across the country after a suicide bombing at the main railway station in the capital Colombo killed at least 12 people and injured more than 100. A day earlier, an attack on a bus outside Colombo killed 20 people. Monday’s celebrations are the first national event since the government in Colombo last month withdrew from a 2002 truce with the Tamil Tiger guerrillas fighting for an independent homeland.