LTTE blast kills minister, marathoner

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, April 6 (UPI) -- A suicide attack in Sri Lanka Sunday killed a highway minister and 12 marathon runners and injured 90 others north of Colombo, government officials said

A member of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam dressed as a marathon runner and detonated his explosives during the event, the Colombo Page reported.

Among the dead were Sri Lankan coach Lakshman De Alwis and national record holder and Olympian, K.A. Karunaratna. Minister of Highways and Road Development Jeyaraj Fernandopulle died in the blast as well, China's Xinhua news agency reported.

Fernandopulle is the fourth member of the Sri Lankan parliament to die in 2008 from violence linked to the Tamil Tigers, who are seeking an autonomous region in the island nation.