COLOMBO, July 6: Security was bolstered in Sri Lanka today after the death of a Tamil parliamentary deputy in a grenade attack, as the country braced for possible further assaults in what is an important month for Tamil Tiger rebels as they commemorate their first suicide bomber.

Bandula Wickramasinghe, deputy Chief of the police Criminal Investigation Department, was quoted by the Sunday Times as saying that police had received information about several LTTE suicide bombers infiltrating Colombo.

Several new military checkposts sprung up overnight and the police and Army had cordoned off key civil and military installations.

Police blamed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) for the killing of Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) legislator Arunasalam Thangathurai and four others in a grenade attack in Trincomalee yesterday.

They said Thangathurai, his bodyguard, and three others were killed when LTTE rebels lobbed a grenade at them at a function to inaugurate a new school building in Trincomalee. At least 15 people were also wounded in the attack.

``We are not taking any chances and a top security alert is being maintained,'' a top police official said. Military officials said troops attempting to open a strategic highway to link Jaffna with the rest of the island through the brush jungles of the northern Wanni region were also on high alert.

Tamil Tiger militants assassinated the Tamil legislator and others yesterday to mark the 10th anniversary of their first suicide attack, officials said.Gunmen of the rebel LTTE exploded a powerful bomb and then opened fire at a school ceremony in the port town of Trincomalee.

Thangathurai, 61, from the moderate Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) was killed instantly, an official said adding that his bodyguard was also killed.Officials said four others were also killed in yesterday's explosion and the victims included the woman principal, Regeshwari Dhanabalsingham and two parents.

Thangathurai was the chief guest at the opening of a library at he Shanmuga Vidyalayam Girls School. At least 15 people were seriously injured and taken to the local hospital, officials said. The attack came despite the red alert in Trincomalee and rest of the country amid fears of just such an attack by the LTTE.

The extraordinary measures were taken because the authorities expected the LTTE to strike again to commemorate their first human bomb attack or the ``Black Tiger Day''. On the eve of last year's Tiger suicide bombing anniversary, a woman strapped with explosive committed suicide in front of Housing Minister Nimal Siripala De Silva in the northern Jaffna.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.