COLOMBO, April 6: A suspected Tamil Tiger suicide attacker bombed the opening ceremony of a marathon race outside Sri Lanka’s capital on Sunday, killing a powerful government minister, a former Olympian and 12 others, the military said. Nearly 100 were wounded.

The bombing, the second this year to kill a senior government official, showed while the rebels might be on the defensive against a military onslaught on their heartland in the north, they retained the ability to launch devastating attacks deep in government territory.

The rebels have fought since 1983 for an independent homeland for ethnic minority

Tamils after decades of marginalisation by governments run by the Sinhalese majority. More than 70,000 people have been killed.

On Sunday morning, scores of runners and onlookers gathered at the starting line of the marathon in Weliweriya, about 20km from Colombo, part of the national celebration of the upcoming Sinhalese New Year.

Jeyaraj Fernandopulle, the minister of highways and the ruling party’s chief whip, approached the starting line with a flag he planned to wave to start the race when the bomb exploded, witnesses said.

“There was a sound of huge explosion and I saw a fireball,” said Nishan Priyantha, a local journalist who was a few metres away from the blast, but escaped unhurt.

Television footage showed chaotic images of screaming people running through the bloodied streets.

“I saw severed heads, hands and legs,” witness Nalin Warnasooriya told The Associated Press. “Blood and body parts were everywhere. It was a horrible scene.”

Fernandopulle, an acid-tongued politician who acted as the government’s chief political enforcer and was considered a top rebel target, died on the spot, said government spokesman Lakshman Hulugalle, blaming the rebels.

“I saw the minister’s body. It had been torn into pieces below the waist and there were other bodies without heads and legs,” Priyantha said by telephone.

Fernandopulle was also a member of a government delegation involved in failed peace talks with Tamil rebels two years ago. His funeral is scheduled for Thursday with state honours.—AP