A suspected Tamil Tiger suicide attacker bombed the opening ceremony of a marathon outside Sri Lanka's capital Sunday, killing a powerful government Minister, a former Olympian and 10 others, the military said. Scores were wounded, the Associated Press reported. On Sunday morning, scores of runners and onlookers gathered at the starting line of the marathon in Weliweriya, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) 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 yards away from the blast, but escaped unhurt. Television footage showed chaotic images of screaming people running through the bloodied streets.
