A Tamil Tigers' suicide squad crashed through roadblocks and set off a lorry bomb outside Sri Lanka's holiest Buddhist temple in central Kandy yesterday, killing 13 people and wounding 23.
The attack came days before the ancient capital was due to mark 50 years of independence in Sri Lanka, with celebrations to be attended by Britain's Prince Charles and other foreign dignitaries. Prince Charles is due to arrive in Sri Lanka on February 3rd.
The dead included the threemember suicide squad of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), according to the Defence Ministry.
It said a rocket-propelled grenade launcher, two automatic rifles and ammunition were recovered at the blast site.
The lorry exploded opposite the sacred Temple of the Tooth, Dalada Maligawa, which houses a sacred tooth of the Buddha. The tooth relic was safe, police said.
A Defence Ministry statement said: "A suicide squad of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam had proceeded in a lorry along Raja Veediya (road) and had fired at the roadblocks. The lorry crashed through the gate and exploded in front of the Dalada Maligawa," it added.
The entrance and the roof of Dalada Maligawa were damaged in the blast, but the inner chamber was intact, it said.
"There was a serious security lapse," the Deputy Defence Minister, Mr Anuruddha Ratwatte, said at the site.
The director of the Kandy General Hospital said that 10 civilians, including a two-year-old girl and her seven-year-old brother, were also killed in the blast. He said 23 people had been wounded, of whom two were in serious condition. The tourist season is at its peak in Sri Lanka.
Afterwards, Kandy was tense as hundreds of protesting youths waving national flags took to the streets and pelted stones at a Hindu temple and shops. Riot police fired tear-gas shells and dispersed the crowd, residents said.
A government spokesman said that the attack would not alter the plans to celebrate the anniversary.
The mayor of Kandy, Mr Harindhanath Dhunuwila, said that damage to the temple was extensive and it was unlikely it could be repaired in time for the celebrations.
"The feeling is one of outrage. We see it as an attempt to disrupt the celebrations and provoke a backlash." The LTTE group has fought for a separate homeland for Tamils in Sri Lanka's north and east since 1983 in a conflict that has cost at least 50,000 lives.
This was the first time since the ethnic war broke out in 1983 that it has attacked Sri Lanka's holiest Buddhist shrine, hitting at the religious seat of the majority Sinhalese community. The attack raised fears of an ethnic backlash against the minority.