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Bomber kills Sri Lankan general

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Sri Lanka

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (CNN) -- A suicide bomber targeted a top Sri Lankan military officer Monday as he traveled to work in southern Colombo, killing the general and three others, police and military sources said.

A suicide bomber targeted a top Sri Lankan military officer Monday morning as he traveled to work in southern Colombo, killing the general and three others, according to a government statement.

Sri Lanka blamed the Tamil Tiger rebels for the attack, but there has been no claim of responsibility.

Maj. Gen. Parami Kulatunga -- who died after he was taken to a hospital -- was the army's deputy chief of staff, the third highest ranking official in Sri Lanka's army.

Two of his military escorts and a bystander were also killed, the government said.

The suicide bomber rammed his motorcycle into the army vehicle carrying Kulatunga and detonated, police and military sources said.

Several vehicles were torched in the explosion, and bystanders helped douse the fires.

The attack happened in Panagoda, a southern suburb of Colombo, around 7:45 a.m. (0215 GMT Monday), police sources said.

Kulatunga was driving to army headquarters from a garrison in Panagoda, where he lived.

In its statement, the government said the attack was carried out "with total disregard for the international community's repeated calls on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to cease all violence and acts of terrorism."

Rebel attacks and government reprisals against Tamil strongholds have been frequent over the past few months, in violation of a cease-fire brokered by Norway in 2002.

On April 25, a suicide bomber infiltrated Sri Lanka's army headquarters in an attempt to kill army commander, Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka, who was seriously wounded in the attack, blamed on Tamil Tigers.

-- From journalist Iqbal Athas

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