The president of Sri Lanka, Mrs Chandrika Kumaratunga, yesterday appealed for calm after twin bomb attacks which injured her and killed 34 people at the weekend.
Moments after her statement was broadcast, dramatic television pictures showed the moment of one explosion in the capital, Colombo. In a slow motion replay, the president was seen approaching her car under the glare of television lights. Then a loud bang sounded. Screams could be heard as the camera shook before finally fixing on the crumpled figure of the president surrounded by her entourage.
The injured Mrs Kumaratunga could profit from sympathy votes in tomorrow's election. She was initially viewed as the almost certain winner but her United National Party rival is felt to have closed the gap in recent weeks.
The attack on the president and another at an opposition rally are believed to have been carried out by Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) separatists.
In a statement from her hospital bed after surgery to remove shrapnel from her head, Mrs Kumaratunga said her life was "not in any danger" and that presidential elections would be held as scheduled tomorrow. Her message was read out by an announcer on radio and television last night.
"The final moment of truth has now come for all Sri Lankans," it said. "The Tamil people firstly have clearly and without any hesitations to decide whether they are going to continue to strengthen the hand of terror and murder by their secret or partial support of the LTTE."
The president called on Sri Lankans to desist from attacks on the Tamil community.
The attempted assassination of Mrs Kumaratunga was carried out by a female suicide bomber during the closing stages of a rally of the ruling People's Alliance. The other attack took place almost simultaneously at a rally for her main rival, Ranil Wickramsinghe, on the outskirts of the city. Some of the 130 people injured in the blasts are still in a critical condition.
Medical sources in Colombo said last night that Mrs Kumaratunga "may risk losing her right eye". The president still has shrapnel lodged close to her brain.
Inquiries have been launched to determine how the bombers could have breached security checks at the rallies.
Sri Lankan television yesterday broadcast pictures of the severed head of the woman believed to have been the suicide bomber at the People's Alliance rally. A photograph taken by a local photographer shortly before the explosion shows the same woman dressed in a jacket in the third row from the podium on which Mrs Kumaratunga made her speech.
It appears that the president was partly protected by her bullet-proof Mercedes which she was entering at the time of the explosion. The bomber got to within 10 metres of Mrs Kumaratunga and would have got closer, it is thought, had it not been for two presidential bodyguards who stopped the woman. The guards along with Mrs Kumaratunga's driver were among those killed.
The bomb attacks are believed to have been carried out by Tamil Tiger separatists who have been fighting since 1983 for their own homeland in the north and east of the island. Fighting near the northern Jaffna peninsula has increased in recent months.