Fifteen dead, minister hurt in Sri Lanka suicide attack

International Media: So do you still think the GOSL should ceasefire and negotiate with these LTTE terrorists? - Sinhaya

COLOMBO (AFP) – At least 15 people were killed and another 60, including a government minister, wounded on Tuesday in a suicide bombing in southern Sri Lanka blamed on Tamil Tiger rebels, officials said. The attacker targeted politicians attending a function at a mosque in the town of Akuressa, and came as the ethnic rebels continue to lose ground in the face of a fierce government offensive on their shrinking northeast base.

Postal Services Minister Mahinda Wijesekera suffered a head injury in the attack and arrangements were being to airlift him to Colombo for emergency treatment. Culture Minister Mahinda Yapa Abeywardene was initially listed as wounded because he was covered in blood but was given the all-clear after the blood was found to have been from other victims.

"We were walking in procession and just passing the entrance to the mosque when there was a blast. I thought it was a big firecracker," Abeywardene told AFP by telephone from Akuressa, 160 kilometres (100 miles) south of Colombo.

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