Sri
Lanka’s Highways Minister killed in bomb blast
April 6th, 2008 - 5:25 pm ICT by admin Tell a Friend -
Colombo,
Apr.6 (ANI): At least 11 people, including a senior Sri Lankan government
minister, were killed in a suicide bombing near Sri Lankan capital Colombo
on Sunday.
Highways Minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle was attending a function to
mark the forthcoming Sinhala and Tamil New Year in the western district
of Grampaha when he was attacked and killed.
The explosion happened as Mr Fernandopulle was attending a New Year
celebration at the Kanthi playground in the town of Weliveriya, 30km
(18 miles) outside Colombo.
He was about to wave a flag to start a marathon race when the bomb went
off.
Media Minister Anura Yapa described the horrific incident as a suicide
bombing.
The director-general of the government’s Media Centre for National
Security, Lakshman Hulugalle, told the BBC that the minister was killed
by the explosion along with many of those around him.
At least 50 people were seriously injured and have been rushed to a
local hospital, he added.
The Sri Lankan defence ministry blamed Tamil Tiger rebels, who want
an independent state for Sri Lanka’s Tamil minority for Fernandopulle’s
assassination. He is the second minister to have been assassinated this
year.
The former minister for nation building, DM Dassanayake, was killed
in a bombing on January 8, days after the government pulled out of a
crumbling ceasefire with the Tamil Tigers.
The government has since vowed to crush the separatist rebels by the
end of this year or the next. At least 70,000 people have died since
the war began in 1983.
Fernandopulle, who had been in charge of roads and highways in the country
and was a senior figure in the government, was a vocal critic of the
Tamil Tigers. (ANI)
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