Sri Lanka declared a state of emergency and soldiers searched homes and vehicles for suspects yesterday following the assassination of the country' foreign minister, which put the island's fragile peace process at risk. At least seven people were detained over the killing.
The government said yesterday it had not taken any action that would violate the ceasefire with the Tamil Tiger rebels, whom the military blames for the fatal attack on Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar, 73. The Tigers deny any role in the killing.
Kadirgamar, an ethnic Tamil who led efforts to ban the Tigers as a terrorist organization but later backed peace efforts, was shot in the head and chest at about 11pm on Friday and died in the National Hospital after midnight.
President Chandrika Kumaratunga declared a state of emergency after the attack, empowering authorities to detain without charge anyone suspected of taking part in terrorist activities and to search and demolish buildings.
She appealed to Sri Lankans "for calm and restraint in the face of this grave and cowardly attack" on Kadirgamar.
Troops took up positions around the capital, Colombo, and military spokesman Brigadier Daya Ratnayake said the military was checking all vehicles coming in and out of the city.
Military aircraft patrolled over rebel-held territory, monitoring any movement by the insurgents, and navy patrol boats guarded the coastline, some of which is Tiger-controlled, the military said.
Ratnayake has blamed the rebels for the killing.
"We have reasons to believe that he was killed by the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam," he said, using the Tigers' official name. "He was always under threat."
But the rebels denied involvement, claiming the military took part in the slaying to undermine the peace process.
"We also know that there are sections within the Sri Lankan Armed forces operating with a hidden agenda to sabotage the ceasefire agreement," said the Tigers' political chief, S.P. Tamilselvan.
He urged Colombo thoroughly investigate the killing.
India called the assassination a "terrorist crime" and reiterated its support for Sri Lanka's fight against forces seeking to undermine its unity.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice denounced the assassination as "a vicious act of terror, which the United States strongly condemns," and urged Sri Lankans not to let the incident lead to a resumption of civil war.
Elite soldiers and policemen late Friday cordoned off the area where the killing occurred and conducted house-to-house searches.
Police officer Nimal Lewke said Kadirgamar was killed by two snipers who hid in a building near his heavily guarded home in Colombo's diplomatic district and fired through a ventilation hole in an upper floor. He was shot while emerging from his swimming pool.
Police found cheese and chocolates the alleged snipers ate while waiting for their target, along with a grenade launcher, apparently intended as a backup weapon.
Kadirgamar, an Oxford-educated lawyer, had led an international campaign against the Tigers, who remain on terrorist lists in five countries, including the US and Britain.
Kadirgamar was appointed foreign minister in April last year. He also held the position from 1994 to 2001.
The Tigers began fighting in 1983 for a separate homeland for ethnic Tamils, claiming discrimination by the majority Sinhalese. The conflict killed nearly 65,000 people before a ceasefire was brokered by Norway in 2002.
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