War within — Lanka Minister dies in suicide bomb attack

Police sources said the suspected woman suicide bomber waiting on the sidewalks pounced on 62-year-old Goonaratne and exploded herself near Ratmalana military airbase while he was participating in a War Heroes Day rally’ organised by government in memory of the soldiers killed during the 17-year-old ethnic conflict with the LTTE.

Goonaratne is the first Minister of the current government to be assassinated.

A severed head and limbs of the bomber were scattered at the scene, witnesses said.

Deputy Mayor of Mount Lavinia Municipal Council Anura Silva was among the killed in the attack that took place hours after President Chandrika Kumaratunga in an emotional address to the nation on the occasion of War Heroes Day’ expressed her desire to finish the war with LTTE at the earliest.

"We want to finish the war soon as the country has spent a lot of money and continues to spend more," she said accusing LTTE of not being interested in peace or democracy and indulging in killing of thousands of people.

A close confidant of Kumaratunga, Goonaratne attended the main ceremony of the Heroes Day held at the Galle Face Green in Colombo this morning in which the President herself took part. He later went to the rally to raise funds for the welfare of the soldiers and the families.

Son of a well-known academician, Goonaratne, served as a management consultant before he was elected Mayor of Mount Lavinia near Ratmalana. He was first elected to Parliament in 1989 and later in 1994.

Security officials expressed surprise over Goonaratne’s decision to take part in the public rally, where he virtually made himself a sitting duck for the suicide bomber.

The Minister had not taken any precautions despite a spate of intelligence tip-offs about a dozen LTTE suicide bombers stalking Colombo city planning to target senior cabinet ministers, the officials said.

Police officials later said not only Goonaratne but few other ministers and top army and police officials had taken part in the rallies organised in various locations of the city.

Rallies were held all over Sri Lanka today to whip up public sympathy for soldiers, who were fighting a do-or-die battle in northern Jaffna peninsula to ward off a sustained offensive by the LTTE to recapture it.

In an emotional address at a ceremony of the Heroes Day in Colombo, Chandrika said she was expediting her efforts to usher in a new Constitution to guarantee a new vision of nationhood, state based on multi-ethnicity, devolution of powers and functional democracy.

She said her first priority was to finish the war soon as it proved to be a major drain on the exchequer.

"We want to finish the war soon as the country spent a lot of money and continue to be spending more," she said, adding she fervently hoped the armed forces would finally put an "end to LTTE’s terrorism".

The country virtually came to a standstill today to observe two minute’s silence after the unfurling of the national flag by Chandrika. Traffic too stopped. This was the first time such a ceremony was organised in memory of soldiers killed in the war with the LTTE.

In an extempore address in Sinhala, televised live by the state television, she said the war continued "because the LTTE did not want peace or democracy and continued to kill thousands of people".

Chandrika said peace could only be achieved through political solution which guaranteed the dignity and honour of all citizens.

She also explained in detail the steps initiated by her government to provide monetary care and comfort to the wounded soldiers and the families of the troops killed in war and appealed to the people to understand the reasons for her government hiking the charges of essential services as there was no alternative but to divert resources to win the war.

During the ceremony she also received donations from industrialists and distributed gifts to children of security forces.