Sri Lanka suicide attack kills government minister, 13 others

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
A suspected Tamil Tiger suicide attacker bombed the opening ceremony of a marathon outside Sri Lanka's capital, killing a powerful government minister, a former Olympian and 12 others, the military said. Nearly 100 were wounded. Jeyaraj Fernandopulle, the minister of highways and the ruling party's chief whip, approached the starting line with a flag he planned to wave to start the race when the bomb exploded, witnesses said. There was a sound of huge explosion and I saw a fireball," said Nishan Priyantha, a local journalist who was a few meters (yards) away from the blast, but escaped unhurt.