Scores rounded up as Sri Lanka hunts minister’s assassins

Sri Lanka has rounded up scores of potential suspects during a massive hunt for Tamil Tiger rebels suspected of gunning down the foreign minister in an attack that has strained an already shaky ceasefire.



Sri Lanka has rounded up scores of potential suspects during a massive hunt for Tamil Tiger rebels suspected of gunning down the foreign minister in an attack that has strained an already shaky ceasefire. Some 1,000 police were deployed for a house-to-house search after the assassination of Lakshman Kadirgamar, shot dead Friday in the highest-level political killing in this island nation in more than a decade.

"We don't think the attackers were able to get out of the area," police chief Chandra Fernando said on Sunday. "If we have the cooperation of the public, we can get at the killers."

Deputy police Inspector General Pujith Jayasundara said "scores" of people were detained and questioned but no one had been formally arrested over the killing that prompted the government to declare a state of emergency on Saturday.

"We have not been able to get at the murder weapon yet," Jayasundara told AFP.

"We are also a long way from making any arrests. But we are detaining people. We question them. An