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15 killed, minister hurt in SL mosque attack

Injured postal minister recovering

AFP, Akuressa
Fifteen people were killed and another 60, including a government minister, wounded on Tuesday in a suicide bombing at a Muslim celebration in Sri Lanka, officials said.
Military spokesman Udaya Nanayakkara blamed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) for the attack. "It is an LTTE suicide bombing," hesaid.
The Lankan Postal Services Minister Mahinda Wijesekera, 66, critically wounded in the deadly suicide bombing was in an improved condition in hospital Wednesday, officials said.
Wijesekera suffered head injuries in the attack in the southern town of Akuressa and was airlifted to the capital where he underwent four hours of surgery.
"The life support system has now been taken off and there is an improvement in his
condition," a spokesman for the Colombo National Hospital said. "He remains in the intensive care unit of the neurosurgical section."
Postal Services Minister Mahinda Wijesekera underwent a four-hour surgery after he was airlifted to the main medical facility in Colombo after suffering a head injury, hospital director HectorWeerasinghe said.
No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.
The bombing targeted politicians attending a ceremony at a mosque in the town of Akuressa and came as the Tigers steadily lost ground in the face of a fierce government offensive on their shrinking northeastern stronghold.
Four local politicians were among those killed in the blast carried out by a male suicide bomber, the military spokesman said.
Culture Minister Mahinda Ya pa
Aoeywaraene, wno was initially listed as injured, said the blood splatterea on his clothes came from other victims and that he was unhurt.
"We were walking in a procession and just passing the entrance to the mosque when there was a blast. I thought it was a big firecracker," Abeywardene told AFP.
"My clothes were covered in blood and I started running. Later 1 realised that I was not hurt, but 1 had blood from someone who was hit in the blast."
Muslim men were playing hand drums and performing a dance when the bomber detonated the explosives in Akuressa, 160 kilometres (100 miles) south of Colombo, witnesses said.
"We had just cleared the main entrance for VIPs when the blast went off," Chandrasiri Gajadeera, one of the politicians present, said. "I fell on the ground and was taken away by a security guard."
There were large crowds at the ceremony, held on a national holiday marking the Milad-un-Nabi festival, the birthday of the Prophet Mohammed.
The blast came as President Mahinda Rajapakse told the country’s minority Muslim community that the celebrations in Akuressa were of national importance.
"The Muslims of Sri Lanka will have greater joy in these celebrations this year...," the President said in his message delivered just before the attack. The government said the bombing only strengthened its resolve to finish off the Tigers, who are cornered in the northeast of the island.
Although no group has claimed responsibility, the Tigers carried out an attack similar to today's strike in April 2008, which killed a government minister as he took part in celebrations ahead of the traditional New Year.
The pro-rebel Tamilnet website instead reported that at least 129 civilians had been killed and 200 others wounded in army shelling of the remaining LTTE-controlled territory on TUesday, a charge denied by the military.
The government insists it is trying to protect civilians and accuses the Tigers of using them as "human shields."
Military officials said heavy fighting continued in the conflict zone after 250 rebels were killed over the weekend.
Sri Lankan authorities ban most journalists and aid workers from the entire north, meaning such claims and counter-claims cannot be verified.
Iwo years ago, the ligers --who have a long and bloody record of suicide attacks --