Sri Lankans mourn dead minister

The minister and his wife were among 21 people killed

By Mike Wooldridge in Colombo

Large numbers of people in the Sri Lankan capital are paying their respects to the cabinet minister who was assassinated by a suicide bomber on Wednesday.

The coffin containing CV Gooneratne's body, together with that of his wife, who died last night of her injuries in the blast, was put on display for public viewing ahead of the state funeral on Saturday.

The search is continuing for the bombers

Queues were already growing outside the municipal offices in the Colombo suburb Mr Gooneratne represented politically and where he died, as the two coffins were brought in for what will be a day and night of public viewing.

The minister's body will then be taken to parliament for a period of lying in state there before the funeral in a park back in his own district.

More than 20 other people were killed as well in the attack - assumed to be the work of the Tamil Tigers.

Seventeen people are now said to be in custody as the police continue their hunt for those involved in the blast.

Facing risks

There were groups of schoolchildren among the first of the mourners to file past the coffins.

Mr Gooneratne's coffin remained closed - with a photograph of him on the top - while his wife's was open.

CV Gooneratne: Liked to mix with the people

Mr Gooneratne's family has had long political connections with the Dehiwala- Mount Lavinia district.

His father was mayor.

The present mayor said he had advised Mr Gooneratne not to go further on foot during the war heroes' day procession, but he said he was a political leader who liked to mix with people, and this was probably what made him continue, to his death as it turned out.

Another government minister who was there for the arrival of the coffins, Alavi Moulana , the minister of local government, said of the risks faced by Sri Lanka's politicians that they had been there for the past 20 years.

Loyal supporter

The secretary to the president, K Balapatabandi, also present, said President Chandrika Kumaratunga felt she had lost one of her most loyal supporters.

But Mr Gooneratne's assassination would not affect the government's two-pronged approach to the Tamil question - pursuing the war against the Tamil Tigers while seeking a political solution through negotiations, he said.

Mr Balapatabandi said the door remained open for the Tamil Tigers to meet the government as long as they did so unconditionally and were sincerely interested in negotiations.

The government's latest report on the current fighting in the Jaffna peninsular speaks of three actions by government troops against the Tamil Tigers.

It says two soldiers were killed and 12 wounded.

Rebel casualties are unspecified, but put at at least six killed or wounded.