Suicide Bombing Kills 11 in Capital

A suspected separatist Tamil rebel detonated powerful explosives strapped to her body near the prime minister’s office today, killing herself and 10 others, police said. Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike was not in the building in Colombo, Sri Lanka’s capital, at the time of the explosion. Police stopped the bomber near the office building. “Our people found her movement suspicious, and they tried to check her when she exploded herself,” a police official said. At least four police officers were among those killed, and 24 other people were hospitalized. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. The explosion damaged the outside of the building housing the office of Bandaranaike. She is the mother of President Chandrika Kumaratunga, who was hurt in an assassination attempt last month. Later in the day, Kumar Ponnambalam, a lawyer and prominent Tamil politician seen to be close to the rebels, was shot dead in a Colombo suburb, police and officials said.