Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister Kadirgamar assassinated

Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar was assassinated on Friday night by unidentified snipers in the capital, the military and hospital sources said.





Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar was assassinated on Friday night by unidentified snipers in the capital, the military and hospital sources said. Kadirgamar, 73, was hit by several bullets in the head and chest as he returned to his tightly-guarded private residence in the centre of Colombo, army chief Shantha Kottegoda told AFP.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the killing, but Kadirgamar himself had often publicly said he was a target of the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

Police said they found spent ammunition near the scene in an upmarket Colombo suburb and launched a large-scale manhunt for two snipers, with police setting up road blocks and air force helicopters circling the sky.

Kadirgamar had been a key figure in President Chandrika Kumaratunga's government, leading an international campaign against the Tigers, who have been outlawed in several countries, including the United States and Britain.

The minister had attended an