A government minister and his body guard were killed and a dozen others were wounded when suspected Tamil Tiger rebels exploded a claymore mine targeting his motorcade in the outskirts of the capital city of Colombo, defence sources said.
The non-Cabinet Minister for Nation Building, D M Dassanayake (54) was on his way to Colombo to attend the parliamentary sessions from his electorate at Anamaduwa in the Puttlam district when the powerful claymore hit his luxury jeep at Ja-Ela on the Colombo-Negombo main highway around 10.30 am.
The Defence Ministry said that the minister and his personal body guard succumbed to their injuries barely a couple of hours after admitting them to the Ragama Teaching Hospital. The attack comes a couple of days after the government elite troops ambushed and killed a top intelligence wing leader of the LTTE, ‘Colonel’ Charles along with three of his lieutenants in the rebel-held north-western Mannar region.
Tigers blamed
Military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara blamed the Tamil Tigers for the attack and said that two of the five critically wounded persons have been transferred to the Colombo national hospital.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa has vehemently condemned the assassination of his minister.