Indika Pathinivasan, a camera assistant for Sri Lanka’s privately owned
Maharaja Television Network, and Anura Priyantha, a camera assistant for the
state-owned Independent Television Network, were fatally wounded by
shrapnel from a suicide bomb aimed at President Chandrika Bandaranaike
Kumaratunga at an election rally in Colombo. Five other journalists
were injured by the blast, along with Kumaratunga and scores of
onlookers.
The bomb exploded at around 10 p.m. near a barrier separating
journalists, including Pathinivasan and Priyantha, from Kumaratunga and
a car that had arrived to pick her up. At least 22 people were killed
in the assassination attempt, according to police.
Pathinivasan died instantly of shrapnel wounds. Priyantha died later at a Colombo hospital.