Kadirgamar took hardline on LTTE

Kadirgamar, 73, was an ethnic Tamil and a top adviser to President Chandrika Kumaratunga in a protracted effort to bring about a permanent peace with the Tigers, who have been fighting for a separate state in the north and east of the Indian Ocean island since 1983.

He was thought to have been shot twice in the head, once in the throat and once in the body while in a car near his Colombo home, which was normally surrounded by high security. He died soon after in the National Hospital in Colombo.

"The foreign minister passed away," Justice Minister John Senevirathne told reporters outside the hospital early on Saturday. "It is a great loss."

Government officials declined to comment on who was to blame for the shooting, but Inspector General of Police Chandra Fernando said it was the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

"It's the Tigers," he told reporters.

The Tigers, who have repeatedly warned that Sri Lanka is on the brink of a return to the island's two-decade civil war following a rash of attacks in the restive east which the rebels and the military each blame on the other, were not immediately available for comment.