COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s parliament erupted in brawls between rival lawmakers on Tuesday, after a former army chief said a bomb blast apparently targeting ex-president Mahinda Rajapakse’s brother 10 years ago was an “inside job”.

Legislators from Sri Lanka’s ruling party traded blows with those loyal to Rajapakse who became enraged after Sarath Fonseka said the 2006 bombing was aimed at winning sympathy for the then-ruling family.

Speaker Karu Jayasuriya said several lawmakers were injured and one was later taken to hospital suffering a black eye after the worst melee seen in the legislature in more than a decade.

“I am deeply saddened by the behaviour of MPs in storming the well of the House and attacking each other while Field Marshal Fonseka was explaining (security arrangements for the former president),” said Jayasuriya, who was forced to suspend proceedings for the day. Fonseka said the December 2006 bomb attack blamed on separatist Tamil Tiger rebels had been stage-managed by the president’s brother Gotabhaya Rajapakse, who was defence secretary at the

Published in Dawn, May 4th, 2016