Slain FM's body taken home, govt reax

(13 Aug 2005)

QUALITY AS INCOMING

1. Exterior of funeral parlour where Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar body is being kept
2. Mid shot of security guard
3. Wide of security and funeral procession taking the coffin to the Foreign Minister's official residence
4. Wide of street with funeral procession carrying coffin to Foreign Minister's official residence in Colombo
5. Close up of coffin inside funeral car
6. Wide of funeral car entering Foreign Minister's official residence
7. Wide of Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakshe's car driving into residence
8. Wide of Rajapakshe (in white shirt) surrounded by news cameras and journalists
9. Pan of Rajapakshe entering Foreign Minister's residence surrounded by journalists
10. Wide of crowd and security guarding official residence
11. Sri Lankan military
12. SOUNDBITE: (English) Senior Minister AHM Fouzy, Minister of Environment:
++AUDIO AS INCOMING++
"The peace process must continue because more killing can happen, but we must still protect the peace in order to see the people of this country live peacefully... And the sovereignty safeguarded."
13. Various of Sri Lankan navy marching outside residence
14. Wide of Sri Lankan navy entering Foreign Minister's compound

STORYLINE

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakshe paid his respects to the assassinated foreign minister Lakshman Kadirgamar after his coffin was taken to his official residence in Colombo.

Officials said the late foreign minister's body would be kept at his residence from Saturday evening for public viewing until Monday, when he was to be publicly cremated with state honours.

Sri Lanka declared a state of emergency and soldiers searched homes and vehicles in Colombo for suspects Saturday following the shooting of the country's foreign minister on Friday, which put the island's fragile peace process at risk.

At least seven people were detained over the killing.

The government said Saturday it had not taken any action that would violate the cease-fire with the Tamil Tiger rebels, whom the military blames for the fatal attack on 73-year-old foreign minister.

The Tigers deny any role in the killing.

Kadirgamar, an Oxford-educated lawyer and an ethnic Tamil who led efforts to ban the Tigers as a terrorist organisation but later backed peace efforts, was shot in the head and chest at about 11pm on Friday and died in the National Hospital in Colombo, after midnight.

The Tigers began fighting in 1983 for a separate homeland for ethnic Tamils, claiming discrimination by the majority Sinhalese.

The conflict killed nearly 65,000 people before a Norwegian-brokered cease-fire in 2002.

Troops took up positions around the capital, Colombo, and a military spokesman said the military was checking all vehicles coming in and out of the city.

Police said Kadirgamar was killed by two snipers who hid in a building near his heavily guarded home in Colombo's diplomatic district and fired through a ventilation hole in an upper floor.

He was shot while emerging from his swimming pool.

Kadirgamar was appointed foreign minister in April 2004. He also held the position from 1994 to 2001.

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