FACTBOX-Sri Lankan leaders, long a target of rebels

A suspected Tamil Tiger rebel killed Sri Lanka's highways minister and nine others in a suicide attack near Colombo on Sunday, the military said.

Following are some of the high-profile killings of top leaders blamed on the Tamil Tigers on the war-scarred island.

March 1991: Defense Minister Ranjan Wijeratne is among 19 killed when a car bomb is detonated in Colombo, the first major killing of a top leader.

May 1991: Former Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi is killed in southern India by a suspected woman LTTE suicide bomber during an election rally.

May 1993: President Ranasinghe Premadasa and 23 others are killed by a suicide bomber during a May Day march.

December 1999: President Chandrika Kumaratunga is wounded in an attempted assassination by a suicide bomber in Colombo just as she is getting into her car following an election rally. At least 34 are killed in two explosions. She loses an eye.

June 2000: Industrial Development Minister C.V. Gunaratne and 21 others are killed in a suicide bomb blast in Colombo. The minister was involved in raising funds for the war against the LTTE.

August 2005: Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar is shot dead at his home in Colombo by a suspected Tamil Tiger sniper.

April 2006: Army Commander Major General Sarath Fonseka is badly hurt in an abortive suicide attack inside the Army headquarters in Colombo.

December 2006: Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, defence secretary and brother of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, narrowly escapes a suicide attack by Tamil Tiger rebels in Colombo.

January 8, 2008: Nation Building Minister D.M. Dassanayake is killed by a roadside bomb planted by the rebels in the town of Ja-Ela, 19 km (12 miles) north of Colombo.

April 6: Suicide bomb blast kills Highways Minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle and at least 11 other people in the western town of Weliveriya, 30 km (19 miles) from Colombo.

Source: Reuters