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Sri Lankan minister killed in blast, rebels blamed

Sat Apr 5, 2008 11:40pm EDT
COLOMBO, April 6 (Reuters) - Sri Lanka's highways minister and at least nine other people were killed by an explosion in a town in the western district of Gampaha on Sunday, a security official said.

"Minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle is dead from the explosion," Laksman Hulugalla, director general of the media centre for national security, told Reuters.

The military said 10 people were killed and 25 injured in the explosion, which they blamed on the Tamil Tiger rebels, who are fighting to create an independent state in the north and east of the war-scarred island.

Minister of Highways Jeyaraj Fernandopulle had been attending a public function in the Gampaha district town. (Reporting by Ranga Sirilal; Editing by John Chalmers)


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