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Sri Lanka bomb targets minister

From Iqbal Athas

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COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (CNN) -- A suicide bomber attacked the convoy of Sri Lankan defense secretary and brother to the president, Gothabaya Rajapaksa Friday, wounding 14 people, police said. Rajapaksa escaped unhurt.

Rajapaksa was heading to a meeting of the National Security Council when it's believed the bomber, traveling in a taxi, pulled up along side the convoy and detonated, setting fire to a number of vehicles.

According to police, Sri Lankan forces have stepped up security in the entire area and reportedly exchanged gunfire with suspected Tamil Tiger rebels.

The attack comes just three days after Tamil Tiger rebel leader Velupillai Prabhakaran declared that a nearly five-year-old ceasefire was now defunct.

In his annual "Maveerar (Great Heroes) Day" address which coincided with his 52nd birthday, he said the cease-fire has been buried by the Rajapaksa administration.

The Tamil Tigers have been fighting since 1983 for a separate homeland for the Tamil minority in the north and east, citing decades of discrimination by the majority Sinhalese. About 65,000 people were killed before the 2002 cease-fire.

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