Sri Lanka's Minister of Highways and Road Development, Jeyaraj Fernandopulle, was killed in a bomb blast at the public playground in Weliweraya, located in the Gampaha district of Western Province, around 8:00 a.m. April 6.
Fourteen others were killed and 60 wounded in the attack that took place while the minister was waving a flag to start off a marathon race in connection with the Tamil and Sinhala New Year celebrations.
The minister had walked up to the starting line where more than 100 athletes had lined up and at the countdown a huge blast shattered the occasion.
"Ready, on your marks, steady...," the official had said over the public address system, moments before the huge explosion.
An athletic coach attached to the sports ministry, Luxman de Alvis, and an Olympic marathon runner, K. A. Karunaratne, who was formerly attached to Sri Lanka Army, were killed in the blast, according to initial reports. A police SSP was among the seriously wounded.
Police claimed that the blast was caused by a suicide attacker, charging that the LTTE was behind the attack. However, eyewitnesses saw a parcel being thrown just before the blast.
Fourteen-year-old Kavindu Nadishan, a participant at the marathon said he wanted to relieve himself and went to the cemetery close by when he saw a man throwing a parcel towards the road, reported the Daily Mirror.
He said the blast occurred just then. One of Nadishan’s hands was fractured from the impact of the blast, the paper reported.
The 55-year-old minister, who is also the chief government whip of the Sri Lankan parliament, has been elected to Sri Lankan parliament for five consecutive terms.
He was a close associate of the Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa and played a key role in strengthening Sri Lanka's relationship with Iran since 2006, when he was the minister of trade, commerce, consumer affairs and marketing development.
He was fluent in Sinhala, English and Tamil languages and functioned as a propaganda spokesman for Sri Lankan’s ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government.
Mr. Karunatne participated in the Olympic marathon in 1992 and in the 1993 World Championship. He has a gold medal in the marathon and 10,000 metres in the South Asian Games held in 1991.
Thusitha Neranjan, 22, said he was among the crowd watching the marathon organised by one of his tuition masters in collaboration with the Adishta Sports Club of Weliweriya, the Daily Mirror reported. “The marathon was to take the route of Weliweriya to Siyambalape junction, Sapugaskanda to Makola across Maturawa and back to Weliweriya. I was several metres away from where Minister Fernandopulle was. Just before the Minister flagged the race there was a huge explosion and we all fell,” he said.
Ten-year-old Sashishan, a grade five student of the Christ King College, Weliweriya was two metres away from the explosion but in the midst of the crowd, the paper said. “I felt I was hit with something on my chest and ran away for my dear life,” he said. A doctor at the emergency ward, CNH told Daily
Fourteen others were killed and 60 wounded in the attack that took place while the minister was waving a flag to start off a marathon race in connection with the Tamil and Sinhala New Year celebrations.
The minister had walked up to the starting line where more than 100 athletes had lined up and at the countdown a huge blast shattered the occasion.
"Ready, on your marks, steady...," the official had said over the public address system, moments before the huge explosion.
An athletic coach attached to the sports ministry, Luxman de Alvis, and an Olympic marathon runner, K. A. Karunaratne, who was formerly attached to Sri Lanka Army, were killed in the blast, according to initial reports. A police SSP was among the seriously wounded.
Police claimed that the blast was caused by a suicide attacker, charging that the LTTE was behind the attack. However, eyewitnesses saw a parcel being thrown just before the blast.
Fourteen-year-old Kavindu Nadishan, a participant at the marathon said he wanted to relieve himself and went to the cemetery close by when he saw a man throwing a parcel towards the road, reported the Daily Mirror.
He said the blast occurred just then. One of Nadishan’s hands was fractured from the impact of the blast, the paper reported.
The 55-year-old minister, who is also the chief government whip of the Sri Lankan parliament, has been elected to Sri Lankan parliament for five consecutive terms.
He was a close associate of the Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa and played a key role in strengthening Sri Lanka's relationship with Iran since 2006, when he was the minister of trade, commerce, consumer affairs and marketing development.
He was fluent in Sinhala, English and Tamil languages and functioned as a propaganda spokesman for Sri Lankan’s ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government.
Mr. Karunatne participated in the Olympic marathon in 1992 and in the 1993 World Championship. He has a gold medal in the marathon and 10,000 metres in the South Asian Games held in 1991.
Thusitha Neranjan, 22, said he was among the crowd watching the marathon organised by one of his tuition masters in collaboration with the Adishta Sports Club of Weliweriya, the Daily Mirror reported. “The marathon was to take the route of Weliweriya to Siyambalape junction, Sapugaskanda to Makola across Maturawa and back to Weliweriya. I was several metres away from where Minister Fernandopulle was. Just before the Minister flagged the race there was a huge explosion and we all fell,” he said.
Ten-year-old Sashishan, a grade five student of the Christ King College, Weliweriya was two metres away from the explosion but in the midst of the crowd, the paper said. “I felt I was hit with something on my chest and ran away for my dear life,” he said. A doctor at the emergency ward, CNH told Daily
