Death toll rises in suicide blast at marathon

A suspected Tamil Tiger suicide attacker bombed the opening ceremony of a marathon outside Sri Lanka’s capital today, killing a powerful government minister, a former Olympian and 12 others, the military said. Nearly 100 were wounded.

The bombing, the second this year to kill a senior government official, showed while the rebels might be on the defensive against a military onslaught on their heartland in the north, they retained the ability to launch devastating attacks deep in government territory.

The rebels have fought since 1983 for an independent homeland for ethnic minority Tamils after decades of marginalisation by governments run by the Sinhalese majority. More than 70,000 people have been killed.

This morning, scores of runners and onlookers gathered at the starting line of the marathon in Weliweriya, about 12 mile) from Colombo, part of the national celebration of the upcoming Sinhalese New Year.

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 yards away from the blast, but escaped unhurt.

Television footage showed chaotic images of screaming people running through the bloodied streets.

“I saw severed heads, hands and legs,” said witness Nalin Warnasooriya. “Blood and body parts were everywhere. It was a horrible scene.”

Fernandopulle, a politician who acted as the government’s chief political enforcer and was considered a top rebel target, died on the spot, said government spokesman Lakshman Hulugalle, blaming the rebels.

“I saw the minister’s body. It had been torn into pieces below the waist and there were other bodies without heads and legs,” Priyantha said by telephone.

Fernandopulle was also a member of a government delegation involved in failed peace talks with Tamil rebels two years ago.

Thirteen others were killed – including former Olympic marathoner K.A. Karunaratne and national athletics coach Lakshman de Alwis – and more than 90 were wounded, Hulugalle said.

Karunaratne competed in the 1992 Olympic marathon and the 1993 World Championships. He won gold in the marathon and 10,000m at the 1991 South Asian Games.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa condemned the attack as an act of savagery and vowed to push ahead with the war on the rebels.

“This dastardly act will not weaken our resolve to eradicate terrorism from our midst, and bring peace, harmony and democracy to all our people,” he said in a statement.

Rebel spokesman Rasiah Ilanthirayan could not be reached for comment.

The rebels have been blamed for more than 240 suicide attacks in recent decades and are listed as a terror group by the US, European Union and India.

The violence was part of a heavy increase in fighting in the country’s civil war since the government officially ended a six year cease-fire in January. The truce had been faltering for more than two years as escalating violence killed about 5,000 people.