Sir Lankan Nation Building Minister DM. Dassanayake, who was injured in the road side bomb blast in the Colombo suburb of JaEla, died in a hospital on Tuesday, military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said.

 

A road side bomb reportedly planted by the Tamil Tiger exploded on the main road to Colombo international airport around 10.35 a.m. local time (0505 GMT) Tuesday.

 

The Nation Building Minister DM Dassanayake's motorcade was the target, defense officials said.

 

The minister's vehicle was hit by the blast on Tuesday morning in the town of Ja-Ela, 19 km north of Colombo on the road to the island's only international airport, died in a nearby hospital.

 

"He died a short while ago," said Lalini Gurusinghe, deputy director of the government teaching hospital in the nearby town of Ragama. Ten others were injured in the blast.

 

Dassanayake was critically injured in the blast as his white sports utility vehicle was caught in the claymore mine explosion.

 

Deputy Director of the nearby Ragama hospital Dr Mrs Lalani Gunasinghe said that Dassanayake was rushed to the intensive care unit of the hospital after he was injured in the bomb explosion.

 

The explosion planted by suspected the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels was the first such attack by the rebels since the government on Jan. 2 announced that it would pull out from the Norwegian backed ceasefire on January 16.

 

(Xinhua News Agency January 8, 2008)