A Sri Lankan cabinet minister and 21 other people were killed in a suicide bomb blast in southern Colombo yesterday, the day the country remembered its war dead with two minutes' silence.
The suicide bomber blew himself up in Ratmalana, killing the Industrial Development Minister, Mr C.V. Gunaratne, instantly.
The Minister had been mingling with crowds during a procession of the ruling People's Alliance to mark the country's first War Heroes' Day, honouring soldiers killed in the long-running war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
At least 60 people were injured in the blast, said Dr W.G. Gunawardena, director of the Kalubowila-Dehiwala hospital. The Minister's wife was critically injured in the blast. Mr Gunaratne, a close confidant of President Chandrika Kumaratunga, was the first member of her cabinet to be killed.
"I heard a huge explosion and then saw parts of bodies flying around," said Mr K.G. Karunadasa, a People's Alliance activist. Body parts and shattered glass covered the blast site, one kilometre from Ratmalana airport, which is used by the air force. Police cordoned off the area and reinforcements were sent in.
"This act, on War Heroes' Day, clearly shows that the LTTE, which is facing reversals in the north, is trying to provoke unrest," a government statement said.
India condemned the attack, saying such acts of terrorism had no place in a democratic society.
"This is an act of terrorism, an attack on the forces of democracy and a coercive attempt to achieve political objectives through violence," a foreign ministry statement said.
The LTTE, led by its reclusive leader, Mr Velupillai Prabhakaran, has been fighting for a separate homeland for minority Tamils in Sri Lanka's north and east since 1983. More than 60,000 people have been killed in the conflict.
The rebels tried to recapture their former stronghold of northern Jaffna in March, but there has been a lull in fighting for the past two weeks.