The New Nation - Internet Edition

AP, Colombo

A suspected Tamil Tiger suicide bomber blew himself up near a convoy carrying a senior Sri Lankan Cabinet minister on Thursday, wounding his deputy and at least six others, the military said.

Maithripala Sirisena, the agricultural development minister, was unhurt in the blast in Boralwegamuwa, about six miles from the capital, Colombo, military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara said. The injured included his junior minister, Siripala Gamlath, Nanayakkara said, blaming separatist Tamil rebels for the blast. The bomber was killed. There was no immediate comment from the rebels.

The Tamil Tigers, who are banned in the United States and European Union as a terrorist organization, routinely deny involvement in suicide attacks. They are accused of having carried out more than 240 suicide bombings against political, military and economic targets since the early 1980s.

A similar suicide attack blamed on the rebels killed a popular former army general, Janaka Perera, and 26 others outside Colombo on Monday.

The rebels have been fighting since 1983 to create an independent homeland for the country's ethnic minority Tamils, who have faced marginalization by successive governments controlled by ethnic Sinhalese.

More than 70,000 people have been killed in the violence.