Booby-trapped bra may have triggered suicide blast ("Bra bomb" kills four police officers)

Sydney Morning Herald ^ | July 14, 2004

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A female suicide bomber who set off a blast that killed herself and four police officers in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo may have been wearing a "bra bomb", a police investigator said.

The device exploded as the attacker, who appeared to be in her late 20s, was being searched by two female constables at a police station after being detained by guards of a government minister.

Two constables who escaped with injuries have said the woman had shown them her bare midriff to indicate she was not wearing an explosives-filled jacket usually worn by suicide bombers, inspector Palitha Siriwardena said yesterday.

"This points to the possibility that she was wearing a bra that had explosives in it," said Inspector Siriwardena, who is the chief inspector of the Kollupitiya police station where the blast occurred.

It would be the first case of its kind encountered by Sri Lankan police.

Forensic experts were yet to make a formal report on the bombing but police said they were assuming that it was a bra bomb that could have been wired to go off when tampered with.

Usually suicide bomb jackets have a manual detonating device that would come down almost to waist level. No such detonating device was found on the woman, police said.

Tiger rebels denied involvement in the suicide bombing which the Government said was intended for Hindu Religious Affairs Minister Douglas Devananda, who is a staunch opponent of the Tamil Tigers.

US and other diplomats in Colombo said that, despite the denials, the attack bore the hallmarks of the Tamil Tigers who, earlier this month, commemorated 241 suicide bombers who died since 1987.

AFP

[Cobra64]

You got it. Unfortunately, we don't sell bullet corsets (sigh).