Colombo, Mar 10 : At least ten people were killed and 20 others, including Cabinet Minister Mahinda Wijesekara, injured in a suicide attack near a mosque here on Tuesday.

According to defence ministry sources, the suicide attack by a suspected LTTE bomber occurred during a ceremony to mark Eid-e-Milad-ud-Nabi, the birth anniversary of Prophet Mohammad, near the mosque in the Akuresha area in Matara.

All injured, including Wijesekara, were rushed to a local hospital.

The Tamil Tigers have been fighting for a separate homeland for the ethnic Tamil minority in the north and east of the country for a quarter of a century.

In recent weeks, a major Sri Lankan army offensive has inflicted a series of defeats on the Tamil Tiger forces, pushing the rebels into a narrow area of jungle in the north of Sri Lanka. (ANI)