Six dead in Sri Lanka blast

January 5, 2000
Web posted at: 11:52 a.m. HKT (0352 GMT)

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (CNN) -- An apparent suicide bomb exploded Wednesday near the Sri Lankan prime minister's residence in the capital, killing at least six people, including the bomber.

Two of the dead are believed to be police. Officials said 29 others outside the building were injured, including four seriously.

Witnesses said the suicide bomber, described as a woman strapped with explosives, tried to gain access through the main gate of the residence just before the explosion.

Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike was not injured in the attack.

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Suicide bombers are a trademark of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, fighting for a separate homeland in the north and east.

Emergency workers were racing to the scene and early reports from Reuters said witnesses claimed at least six people were dead.

On Tuesday, investigators identified the Tamil Tiger guerrilla who detonated explosives strapped to her body that killed 23 people and wounded the president last month, police said.

President Kumaratunga escaped the assassination attempt during an election rally, but her right eye was seriously injured.

Police identified the suicide bomber -- who was killed in the blast in Colombo -- as Gunanayagam Leela Lakshmi, a resident of the eastern town of Batticaloa, which has a Tamil majority.

She joined the Tamil rebel group 10 years ago, a senior police official said on condition of anonymity.

The militants have been fighting for 16 years to create a homeland called Eelam in the northeast, where most of the Tamil minority live. The battle has left an estimated 61,000 people dead so far. They say Tamils are discriminated against by the majority Sinhalese.

Federal investigators visited Ms. Lakshmi's home over the weekend and questioned her mother and younger sister. They also visited the school where she studied and questioned the principal and other teachers. Police did not say what they told the investigators.

Ms. Lakshmi was a member of the rebel Black Tigers squad of suicide bombers, authorities said. The rebels reportedly targeted Mrs. Kumaratunga because of her military campaign against them in the past five years.

Reuters contributed to this report.