COLOMBO, JANUARY 5: A woman Tamil rebel detonated explosives strapped to her body near the Sri Lankan Prime Minister's Office (PMO) in the high security area here killing herself along with 12 others and hours later a pro-LTTE politician was killed by unidentified gunmen.Six members, including two women, of the Prime Minister's security division at Flower's Road in central Colombo died in the attack which also left 20 people, mostly passers-by and security staff, injured. Six others later succumbed to wounds.What was believed to be the mutilated head of the woman suicide bomber in her late 20s lay outside the gate of PMO along with shreds of blue shirt and black trousers which she was apparently wearing.The suicide bomber triggered the explosion near the PMO though Prime Minister Sirimao Bandaranaike has stopped coming to office for the last three years due to her ill health and is functioning from her residence. This led to the security officials, who survived the blast, to believe that the bomber's intended target was Deputy Defence Minister Gen Anirudha Ratwatte, who was supposed to pass through the route around the time.Hardly had the shock of the blast died down, gunmen shot dead Tamil leader Kumar Ponnambalam in Wellawatte area here. No group has yet claimed responsibility for the killing.Meanwhile, President Chandrika Kumaratunga held a high-level meeting to review the security in the capital.Kumaratunga herself survived a bid on life on December 18 when a suicide bomber triggered explosion, killing 34 people and injuring the President.Expressing shock at the blast one of the aides of Bandaranaike told newsmen that the Prime Minister was not at all scheduled for office.The Prime Minister's Security Division (PMSD) intercepted the bomber, who could only speak Tamil, when she was nervously pacing up and down in front of the main gate of the PMO.The suicide bomber, who looked tense and confused, was reportedly replied in Tamil to the queries of PMSD forcing the latter to seek help from a civilian interpreter. She finally triggered the explosion when a security guard grabbed her by her hair.While her head with half blown neck was recovered from the scene, several parts of her body, including her arms and legs, were blown to pieces.Parts of flesh was seen hanging on trees both inside the PMO and the Russian embassy, while partially blown up faces of the bodies of two male constables and a 60-year-old woman cited at the spot.As the LTTE suicide bombers failed to hit their intended targets for the second time within a month, an official, seeking anonymity, said "We think her target today was some VVIP and she too missed her victim. But this has caused a lot of devastation all around."Though the blast reverberated across the capital, there was no damage caused to PMO building and embassies of Russian, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.It seems the visit of Norwegian Foreign Minister Knutvalleback later this month to revive peace talks between the government and the LTTE is in jeopardy after today's blast.Ponnamblam (52), the pro-LTTE politician who was shot down by unidentified assailants was known for vigorously defending the Sri Lankans right for self-determination.The general secretary of the All Ceylone Tamil Congress, Ponnambalam was killed when he stopped his car to talk to some known persons.AFP adds: On being stopped and questioned the woman suicide bomber outside the PMO "produced an identity card but the photograph on it did not look like her," a police officer who narrowly escaped the bombing said. "We then felt suspicious and called a woman constable to check her.""The woman started weeping and tried to show that she had an injury in her leg. As she was about to move away, a police constable stopped her and then there was a big bang."The suicide bomber had pretended that she was seeking a visa to enter Iran and was trying to locate the Iranian embassy. There are many foreign missions located in the area.Police say they believe the woman may have been waiting for a motorcade of a senior government Minister attending today's weekly Cabinet meeting chaired by Chandrika Kumartunga."We have posthumously promoted the six PMSD staff," a police spokesman said. "If not for their alertness, there would have been a bigger catastrophe."He said most of the ministers were in the habit of using Flower Road to travel to Kumaratunga's tightly-guarded Temple Trees residence.Police have said 10 suicide bombers of the separatist LTTE have infiltrated the capital to carry out more attacks.
