A suspected Tamil Tiger suicide bomber killed at least 14 people and wounded 35, including Sri Lanka's telecommunications minister, during a Muslim festival in the Indian Ocean island's south on Tuesday, officials said. The blast happened in front of a mosque in Godapitiya in Matara district, about 160 km (100 miles) south of the capital, Colombo, during a festival to celebrate the birthday of Prophet Mohammad. “Six ministers were there and terrorists used this opportunity to target us. Only one minister, Mahinda Wijesekara, got injured. Seven bodies have been found at the spot,” Oil Resources Minister A.H.M. Fowzie told Reuters from the scene. Wijesekara is minister for post and telecommunications. “Around 35 injured had been admitted to hospital and among them four are seriously injured. The minister is in the ICU and we are making arrangements to airlift him to Colombo,” Matara hospital's director, Dr. Aruna Jayasekara, told Reuters. A defense spokesman, Lakshman Hullugalle, said 10 people were killed and he blamed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). “It is a suicide blast so it must be the LTTE,” he said. The Tigers could not be reached for comment.
