At least four killed in Tamil Tiger suicide attack

A Tamil Tiger suicide bomber has killed himself and at least four others after detonating an explosion at a checkpoint in the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo, today.

14 others were wounded in the attack, six of them seriously. Police said the bomber’s target may have been Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayake, who was in the area addressing an election rally at the time.

The attack happened when a man in his 20s passed through a police checkpoint on a motorcycle and refused to stop.

He set off an explosion when three police officers tried to apprehend him. Police said the bombing had all the hallmarks of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, who have been fighting for an independent homeland on the mainly Sinhalese island of Sri Lanka for the last 18 years.