Investigations into the Akuressa Godapitiya suicide bomb blast took a new turn after police found evidence that the suicide bomber had arrived in a car along with the VIP convoy. It was earlier suspected that the bomber had travelled either on a bicycle or a motorcycle, Police Media Spokesman SSP Ranjith Gunasekera said.

Addressing a press conference at the Media Centre for National Security SSP Gunasekera said that there had been a VIP convoy and the terrorist was believed to have travelled in a vehicle in the VIP convoy to avoid being checked. "We have passed on to the CID all information we have got," Gunasekera said.

Police also searched all houses in nearby estates where the terrorist may have stayed, he said.

Police has published a sketch of the suicide bomber’s face based on the mutilated face found at the scene of the blast. It would help people in the area to remember if he had been seen earlier in the area.

At least fifteen persons were killed and 40 seriously injured when an LTTE suicide cadre blew himself up at the Godapitiya Jumma mosque in Akuressa, where a national festival was being held to mark the birthday of Prophet Mohammed on Tuesday (10).

Several ministers and local politicians attended the event and Posts and Telecommunications Minister Mahinda Wijesekera, who was critically injured in the blast is still under treatment in the Intensive Care Unit of the National Hospital.