Sri Lanka Minister dies in blast

B. Muralidhar Reddy

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka Minister for Nation Building D.M. Dassanayake and his security officer were killed on Tuesday after a roadside bomb was set off by suspected Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) cadres.

The blast occurred at 10.35 a.m. near the Rukmani Devi statue on the Negombo-Colombo main road, 18 km from here.

The Minister was on his way to attend the year’s first Parliament session. Two of the five persons injured in the blast were stated to be in a critical condition.

Third blast this year

This is the third explosion in 2008 by suspected LTTE cadres in and around Colombo and the first since the government notified to Norway, the official facilitator of the peace talks, that it was withdrawing from the 2002 Cease Fire Agreement with the LTTE.

Condemning the attack, President Mahinda Rajapaksa, in a statement, said it was a reminder of the need to redouble efforts to rid the island nation of terrorism and the use of violence to achieve political ends.

“It also draws attention to the constant threats faced by all those who stand for the democratic way of life from the forces of terror that have been strengthened for too long through the politics of appeasement.”

Mr. Rajapaksa said Mr. Dassanayake was targeted for spearheading the rehabilitation and reconstruction work in the Eastern Province since its “liberation” from the LTTE clutches.

The pro-LTTE TamilNet, in a report, said: “Dassanayake, United People’s Freedom Alliance parliamentarian and non-Cabinet Minister, was a hardliner in the Rajapaksa government. He was elected from Puththa’lam district.”

10 LTTE men killed

Separately, the military claimed that at least 10 LTTE cadres were killed in clashes on Tuesday when troops forced their way into “non-liberated territory” in Mullikulama and Periyathampanae.

Simultaneously, the Air Force claimed to have destroyed a “nerve centre” of the LTTE in precision raids north of Palampiddi, Mullikulama.

According to the Defence Ministry, the pilots confirmed that the LTTE base had been destroyed though estimates of casualty figures were not immediately available.

News Source : Samachar