He was pronounced dead after four surgeons struggled to save his life for more than an hour, Soysa said.

Kadirgamar, 73, was shot at his tightly-guarded private residence in Colombo, army chief Shantha Kottegoda told AFP.

"He was at his home when he was hit by a sniper," Kottegoda said. "He had just returned from an official function near his house when the attack took place."

"He was rushed to the National Hospital, and he has chest and abdominal injuries," said the hospital's director, Doctor Hector Weerasinghe.

A doctor at the hospital earlier said Kadirgamar had suffered a head injury and was in critical condition. He was undergoing emergency surgery involving two neurosurgeons and two cardiothoracic surgeons.

The exact circumstances of the attack were not immediately clear, but official sources said Kadirgamar was returning to his private residence in Colombo by car when he was shot.

Kadirgamar, a close confidante of President Chandrika Kumaratunga and one of the most tightly guarded ministers in the Sri Lankan cabinet, had nearly 100 elite bodyguards deployed to protect him.

Police had said a few days before the shooting that there was a plan to step up his security with the deployment of additional guards.

Kadirgamar had often publicly said that he was a potential target of the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

The minister had claimed credit for getting the separatist Tigers outlawed in several other countries, including in the United States and Britain.

Earlier, in another incident yesterday, suspected Tamil Tiger rebels shot dead a Tamil television presenter and her political activist husband Colombo, police said.

Two gunmen pumped five bullets in to the four-month pregnent Relanki Selvarajah at the couple's communications centre in Bambalapitiya area.

Her husband, S. Selvarajah was shot in the head and killed with a single bullet.