A Sri Lankan general was assassinated in a powerful bomb attack outside the capital, Colombo, on Monday.

Three others were killed in the explosion, which hit the car of Major General Parami Kulatunga at Colombo's suburban Pannipitiya during the morning rush hour. Kulatunga died on the spot as his car took the full impact of the blast, police said.

• Image: Shattered peace in Lanka

The bomb was rigged to a motorcycle. Passengers of nearby vehicles were also injured.

Police said that a hospital in the city had received an anonymous telephone call warning that there would be a big attack an hour before the fatal attack on a top Army general. "A caller who spoke in faulty Sinhalese told National Hospital staff that there would be extra work for them and they should expect a 'superior job' to carry out," they said.

Hospital authorities alerted the police as well as the Army soon after the telephone call was received.

• Complete Coverage: The war in Lanka

In April, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam attacked army chief Sarath Fonseka inside the army complex in Colombo leaving 11 dead.

Fonseka is now in Singapore undergoing treatment.

Monday's incident comes a day after President Mahinda Rajapaksa sought a direct deal with the Tigers to halt attacks in the island in return for containing a breakaway rebel faction.'