Former Sri Lankan army commander Sarath Fonseka was questioned on Thursday by the police regarding a 2006 assassination attempt on his life.

A spokesman for Fonseka said that officers of the Criminal Investigations Department questioned Fonseka regarding the suicide attack at the army headquarters.

A female suicide bomber who had managed to slip into the army headquarters premises jumped onto his motorcade when it was leaving the premises.

The explosion killed 11 people and injured many others including Fonseka who was in serious condition and recovered several months later.

The military had blamed the Tamil Tigers for the attack and launched air strikes on their positions in the east. That eventually led to an all-out war in which the east was first captured and then the north before the rebels were completely defeated in 2009.

Fonseka led the army after recovering from his injuries but during the latter part of 2009 a rift emerged between him and the government and he eventually announced his intention to contest the 2010 presidential elections against the incumbent President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

He lost the elections and was later found guilty by an army court in an arms deal and was stripped of all his medals and eventually jailed over.

He was freed last year by the government and recently he announced his return to politics with the formation of a new political party.