We could not save the minister, say the police

He said a weapon used by the assassins was found and, police is now in the process of knitting together the information gathered.

"We have finalised the initial observations at the crime scene" DIG Jayasundara said.

DIG Jayasundera said that the Police are not going to blame anyone until the investigations are complete . However, he said that the Police would accept the negligence and failure to give sufficient protection to the Foreign Minister.

Security lapses

However,he claimed that the Police had given the maximum security to the Minister including bullet-proof vehicles for his use.

DIG Jayasundara hinted out that the Police security searches were not conducted in a manner that could have prevented assassin to succeed in their mission.

In a separate interview with BBC Sandeshaya, Army spokesperson Brigadier Daya Ratnayake said that there were security lapses but the blame could not be levelled against the security forces alone.

"We have given maximum security but a terrorist group like LTTE has been able by pass the security network and carry out their mission", he said.

Army spokesman was confident that LTTE carried out this assassination and said that Minister Kadirgamar was a top target of the LTTE for a long time.