COLOMBO: A suspected Tamil Tiger suicide attacker bombed the opening ceremony of a marathon outside Sri Lanka's capital on Sunday, killing a senior Minister, a former Olympian and 12 others, the military said. Scores were wounded.
 

The bombing, the second this year to kill a senior Government official, showed that 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.
 
On Sunday morning, scores of runners and onlookers gathered at the starting line of the marathon in Weliweriya, about 20 km 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.
 
Fernandopulle, an acid-tongued 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.
 
Eleven others were killed, including former Olympic marathoner KA Karunaratne and national athletics coach Lakshman de Alwis, and more than 90 were wounded, he said.
 
Karunaratne competed in the 1992 Olympic marathon and the 1993 World Championships. He won gold in the marathon and 10,000 meters at the 1991 South Asian Games, defending his marathon title in 1993.
 
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 immediately be reached for comment. The group routinely denies attacks on civilians.
 
The rebels have been blamed for more than 240 suicide attacks in recent decades and are listed as a terror group by the United States, European Union and India.