COLOMBO(PTI): Sri Lankan resident Ranasinghe Premadasa ‘was killed May 1 when a suicide bomber riding a motor cycle ‘rammed into his motor cade in north Colombo, official news “agency “Lankapuvath” said.

 At least six security personnel of the president were among 40 persons who were killed in the blast in the midst of the “midday “rally Which president Premadasa was leading,

‘The 69yearold president was “killed in the blast which also killed six of his security personnel including a senior superintendent of police, Ronnie Gunasinghe.

An indefinite curfew has been “imposed throughout Sri Lanka ‘from 1600 hours.

President Premadasa’s assassination comes barely a week after the assassination of the former national security minister Lalith Athulathmudali by an unknown gunman on April! 23 while addressing an election rally in Colombo suburb.

‘There was no immediate official ‘comment about the possible assailant although suicide bombing is generally attributed to the LTTE which is waging a decade old war for an independent Tamil state in northeastern Lanka.

Meanwhile Sri Lankan Prime Minister D.B Wijetunge has been sworn in as the president of the country.

According to the Sn Lankan constitution, the prime minister fakes over as president if the president dies.

‘The 69 year old Premadasa was  blown up and killed along with at least 17 others, including six bodyguards, in the massive explosion set off by the suicide bomber who, eyewitnesses said, rammed his motorcycle into president’s motorcade at a north Colombo road junction, over 60 others were injured.

Coorey, the official spokesman, who was accompanying Premadasa at the rally, said he had gone a few yards away to answer a telephone call when he heard a thundering blast. There was chaos and nothing could be made out in the melee, he said.

There was no sign of the president and some said he had been rushed to safety, Coorey stated adding that a little later it was found that Premadasa had been killed.

The scene at the explosion site was gory, with arms, limbs and human flesh all over the place.

State run radio earlier announced a curfew did not give any reason for it. Troops were deployed on the streets of Colombo before announcement of the assassination of Premadasa, the second top Sri Lankan leader to be killed in office after Prime Minister Solomon Bandaranaike was shot dead by a Buddhist Monk.

Security on full alert as army warns of more attacks

Security forces Saturday tightened security around vital installations in the capital and elsewhere in the island nation following the assassination of President Ranasinghe Premadasa by a suicide bomber earlier. The official news agency “Lankapuvath” quoted senior police officials as saying that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was the main suspect behind the assassination.

The modus operandi of the killer was the one used by the guerilla Organization for carrying out assassinations, it said, the agency also said that police had warned people that there were at least five to six suicide bombers of the LTTE in the Lankan capital assigned to Carry Out assassinations.

Intelligence reports appearing in the local newspapers last week had said that two Toyota cars laden with explosives had entered Colombo on bombing missions, Security around the defence ministry and the army headquarters had been beefed up by the authorities in view of the threat.

Article extracted from this publication >>  May 7, 1993