A suspected Tamil Tiger suicide bomber attacked a convoy ferrying a Sri Lankan cabinet minister outside the capital Colombo yesterday, killing ar least one person while 45 rebels and eight soldiers were killed in fighting in the country's north, a military spokesman said.

Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said a woman suicide bomber believed to be from the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) triggered the blast at the passing convoy escorting Agriculture Minister Maithripala Sirisena.

The minister was not hurt, but the vehicle carrying his secretary was damaged in the attack and the deputy agriculture minister, Siripala Gamlath, was among seven people injured.

"As our group of vehicles passed by, I noticed a woman running towards our vehicles and then there was a very loud explosion," Sirisena told state television.

An AFP photographer at the

scene said two jeeps were damaged. . 1 Nanayakkara said the minister'IM

had been returning to the capital I after attending a harvest festival j event.

There was no immediate claim | of responsibility, although Tiger I suicide bombers have carried out | similar attacks in the past.

The explosion came just days 1 after a Tiger rebel suicide bomber I killed 29 people including a retired I army general in the northern town I ofAnuradhapura.

It was not rhe first time that I Sirisena-secretary of the rulingSri 1 Lanka Freedom Party -- has 1 escaped an assassination bid.

Earlier this year, police arrested a suicide bomber mingling with the crowds at a political rally the minister was about to address in the north central town of Polonnaruwa.

In January, the Tigers killed the ^buildings minister, DM Dassanayake, in a roadside mine attack, while highways minister 1 Jeyraj Femandopulle was killed in j April by a suicide bomber.

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The LITE have been fighting for a separate Tamil state in Sri Lanka since 1972.

Fighting is currently centered around the north where troops are advancing on the rebels' headquarters in the town of Kilinochchi, 330 kilometres (208 miles) north of Colombo.

A Sri Lankan military advance on the stronghold of the rebel Tamil Tigers in the island's northeast triggered heavy fighting that claimed casualties on both sides, the defence ministry said yesterday.

Ground troops backed by warplanes inched towards the rebel capital of Kilinochchi on Wednesday killing 45 guerrillas and wounding 30 more, the ministry said. It placed government troop losses at eight dead and48 injured.

The government is looking to deal the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) a major psychological blow by taking control of Kilinochchi, which has been the rebels' administrative centre for the past decade.

Having wrestled the east from the rebels in July 2007, Sri Lanka's army chief said over the weekend that his soldiers had reached the outskirts of the town.

The United Nations estimates 230,000 people have been displaced in the recent wave of fighting in Kilinochchi and Mullaittivu districts

The head of the LITE'S political wing, B. Nadesan, accused the Sri Lankan government on Thursday of launchinga "genocidal war".

He said thousands of Tamils had been uprooted from their homes and villages and forced to seek refuge in the open as a result of the military offensive.

Sri I^nka pulled out of a six-year Norwegian-brokered truce in January, since when the military says 7,303 rebels and 715 soldiers have been killed.