Lanka tightens security for PM after FM killing

Top Sri Lankan politicians, including the prime minister, have had their security stepped up and public appearances curtailed after the assassination of the foreign minister, officials said yesterday.

Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse skipped a press conference in the capital Colombo Tuesday and stayed away from a series of public meetings in central province over the weekend because of a security threat, an official in his office said.

"Where an advance party is unable to clear the area and declare it sterile, the prime minister will not go," the official said. "We cancelled several small public meetings over the weekend because of this."