A suicide bomber targeted a convoy of vehicles carrying Sri Lanka's defense secretary and other security officials in the capital yesterday, killing himself and a soldier and wounding 15 others, the military said.
Soon after the blast, police and other security men opened fire. The body of an unidentified man lay at the scene with gunshot wounds. A car caught fire as a result of the blast.
The government blamed the separatist Tamil Tiger rebels for the attack which appeared to target the island's defense secretary, who is also the president's brother, and who escaped unhurt.
PHOTO: AP
"Sri Lanka's Defense Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse escaped unharmed when an LTTE suicide killer, targeted the convoy of vehicles in which he was traveling," a government statement said, using the acronym for the rebels' official name, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
Military spokesman Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe said the bomber triggered the explosives as the five-car convoy of vehicles was passing. Samarasinghe confirmed that Rajapakse, who is the younger brother of President Mahinda Rajapakse, was in one of the cars.
"He is safe, no harm has come to him," Samarasinghe said.
Minutes after the blast, the government released photographs of the president hugging his brother, who in another photo showed photographers the blood spatters on his white shirt.
Samarasinghe said a soldier later died of his injuries at a hospital, where 10 other soldiers and five civilians were admitted with varying degree of injuries.
The suicide bomber apparently approached on a motorized rickshaw from the opposite direction and targeted the convoy, Deputy Inspector General of Police, Jayantha Wickremeratne said.
Rajapakse, a retired military colonel, was in a bulletproof car, which was flanked by two motorcycle escorts.
Colombo has been under tight security for several months over fears of possible attacks by the separatist Tamil Tiger rebels.
The latest round of peace talks held in October failed to make any progress in resolving the problems between the state and the Tamil Tigers.
A sharp spike in violence this year has killed at least 3,500 fighters and civilians and imperiled a 2002 ceasefire.
The Tiger's top leader earlier this week called the Oslo-brokered ceasefire "defunct," but the rebels later clarified they would abide by the truce.
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