"A sporting event planned to build community ended with an abrupt and violent shattering of community," lamented Anglican Bishop Duleep de Chickera of Colombo in an April 7 statement in which he deplored the "brutal killing" of the minister for roads, and of others who lost their lives in the attack which has been blamed on the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

The rebels have fought successive governments run by majority ethnic Sinhalese, seeking autonomy for Tamil-majority areas in the north and east of the island.

Fernandopulle died with 13 others when he was about to start a marathon race on April 6. Marathon runner K. A. Karunaratne, who represented Sri Lanka at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992, and national athletic coach Lakshman de Alwis were also killed in the blast.

"Such provocative acts of violence spread fear, suspicion and anger," said Chickera. "They further widen the gap between our communities and further reduce whatever chances may have existed for peace conversations."

The Catholic Church in Sri Lanka placed a photograph of the slain minister with Pope John Paul II on its archdiocesan website.

"Killings like this only strengthen the war mongers," Ainslie Joseph, a Catholic and convener of the ecumenical Christian Alliance for Social Action, told Ecumenical News International. "This is a big loss to the government."

Fernandopulle is the second senior government minister to die in a bomb explosion during 2008. In January, the minister for nation building, D. M. Dassanayake, was killed shortly after the government scrapped a fragile ceasefire with the Tamil rebels.

More than 8,000 people, mostly Tamil rebels and civilians, have been killed, and more than one million people have been displaced in renewed fighting since Mahinda Rajapaksa won a presidential election in 2005 with the support of Sinhala nationalist parties.