Sri Lankan lawmakers brawl over presidential bomb allegations

Rival politicians have brawled on the floor of the Sri Lankan Parliament amid bizarre claims that the president had carried a bomb into a cabinet meeting.

Scuffling broke out when opposition members from President Chandrika Kumaratunga's Peoples' Alliance party tried to grab the ceremonial mace in the legislature.

No one was seriously injured in the melee, which started after opposition politicians demanded the resignation of the Commerce Minister Ravi Karunanayake.

Last week, the president claimed the commerce minister had falsely accused her of having a bomb in her handbag.

She called on him to be fired, a demand which has been echoed by her opposition and allies.

However, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, a longtime and bitter rival of President Kumaratunga, rejected this and says the minister had only alleged that the president had secretly brought a video camera into last week's cabinet meeting.

The incident is the latest in a series of spats between the president and Mr Wickremesinghe, whose United National Party won government by defeating Ms Kumaratunga's party in a December general election.

Despite her party's loss, Kumaratunga remains the head of state until 2005.