COLOMBO, June 26: A suspected Tamil Tiger suicide bomber assassinated the Sri Lankan army’s deputy chief of staff on Monday, dealing another blow to the island’s unravelling peace process. Maj-Gen Parami Kulatunga, the army’s number three, was driving on a main highway in a Colombo suburb when the bomber rammed a motorcycle into his car after riding parallel to his convoy for more than a kilometer police special task force officers said.

The blast killed Kulatunga and three others plus the bomber, and wounded at least six more people, including the general’s guards who were following in a second vehicle.

Special task force officers said late Monday they had recovered the bomber’s head from a nearby rooftop.

Kulatunga is the highest ranking army officer to be killed in three decades of ethnic conflict which have claimed more than 60,000 lives since 1972.

“The bodyguards who brought in Gen Kulatunga identified his body,” hospital spokeswoman told AFP.

She said the hospital was warned by an anonymous caller to expect extra work about an hour before the attack.

It is used extensively by troops because a major military cantonment is located at nearby Panagoda.

Kulatunga’s white Peugeot 406 car took the full force of the explosion and caught fire.—AFP