“While calling on the people to be calm and collected in the face of such extreme provocation by the forces of terror, I wish to reiterate that this dastardly act will not weaken our resolve to eradicate terrorism from our midst.

The LTTE, which usually denies any involvement in such attacks, was not immediately available for comment.

Fernandopulle, 55, was a member of the government negotiating team for failed peace talks with the Tamil Tiger rebels two years ago. He was the second minister to be killed since January, when the minister for nation building, DM Dassanayake, died in a roadside blast in the same district, Gampaha. Foreign minister Lakshman Kadirgamar was the most senior government leader to be killed in recent years, shot dead at his home in Colombo by a suspected Tamil Tiger sniper in August 2005.