COLOMBO, Sri Lanka -- Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga escaped with slight injuries when a suicide bomber attacked a central Colombo election rally, but 23 people died and 170 were wounded in two explosions.
The woman bomber, killed in the explosion, struck only days before a presidential poll in which Kumaratunga is seeking re-election. The president was taken to hospital but was not seriously injured, presidential secretary K. Balapetabendi said.Police and witnesses said the bomber tried to jump over a barrier to get close to Kumaratunga while the president was walking back to her car after she had finished speaking at a meeting of her ruling People's Alliance on the last day of campaigning before Tuesday's vote.
That explosion killed 15 people and wounded more than 100. Soon afterward a second bomb exploded at a meeting of Sri Lanka's main opposition United National Party (UNP) in Ja-Ela, a Colombo suburb, killing at least eight people and injuring 70.
A senior police official died in the first blast and a former army commander died in the second explosion.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but the spotlight fell on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), separatists fighting for a homeland for minority Tamils in Sri Lanka's north and east since 1983.
More than 55,000 people have been killed in the war, and the LTTE has been accused of previous attacks on presidents, including one in 1993 in which President Ranasinghe Premadasa was killed.
After Saturday's explosions, hundreds of troops were deployed on the streets of Colombo. Authorities imposed a curfew in the capital and the adjoining Gamapaha district.
At least three senior ministers and some foreign journalists, including a Japanese television crew and a Reuters photographer, were among the injured at the ruling party's rally.
At least 10 bodies, including that of the suicide bomber, were still lying at the scene of the blast several hours after the explosion. A fireworks display was taking place near the rally when the bomb exploded, witnesses said.
British Foreign Minister Robin Cook condemned the explosions.
"I am concerned by reports of injuries to the president. I wish her a speedy recovery. There is no place for violence in the democratic process.
"It is essential that the forthcoming elections are held peacefully in an atmosphere free of intimidation and violence," Cook said.