Suicide bomber strikes Sri Lanka convoy

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- A suicide bomber attacked a Sri Lanka convoy carrying the defense secretary and brother of the president, it was reported Friday.

Gothabaya Rajapaksa escaped injury in the Colombo blast but 14 others were hurt, CNN said.

Rajapaksa was heading to a meeting of the National Security Council when the bomber, believed to be in a taxi, pulled alongside and detonated his explosives.

The attack came three days after Velupillai Prabhakaran, the Tamil Tiger rebel leader, said that a nearly five-year-old ceasefire was over.