Politician gunned down in hospital

A candidate in Sri Lanka's parliamentary elections was shot dead yesterday in the first political killing in the run-up to next month's poll, police said, as the incident was blamed on Tamil rebels.

A political party expressed fears that the slaying of the ruling party candidate could herald more to come. At least 41 people were killed around the last parliamentary election in December 2001.

Two gunmen shot dead Sinnathamby Sunderapillai while he was in a hospital in the town of Batticaloa receiving treatment for a gunshot wound he suffered in an attack on Saturday, police said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the killing, which came two days after the London-based human rights watchdog Amnesty International asked Tamil Tiger rebels not to kill opponents during the electoral campaign.

Local officials said they suspected Tamil Tiger rebels may have been involved in the killing. There was no immediate reaction from the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

"A police investigation is under way," spokesman for Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's party, G.L. Peiris, told reporters in Colombo shortly after the slaying.

"We cannot at this stage speculate as to who was responsible," he said.

Sunderapillai, from the minority Tamil community, had sought to represent the prime minister's United National Party at the April 2 vote despite threats from pro-rebel groups for him to keep out of the contest.

The LTTE has its own political wing, but is not contesting the election, instead backing the moderate Tamil National Alliance (TNA) which includes guerrilla proxies.

Private election monitors said they have received complaints of widespread violence in the southern and north-central regions of the island and feared there could be an escalation of politically motivated attacks ahead of the poll.

Amnesty noted there were reports of more than 100 election-related incidents of violence, including 40 party activists who have been injured in clashes in southern and north-central regions, after the close of nominations last Tuesday.

Four people have also allegedly been abducted by the LTTE in the east of the island since the elections were announced, Amnesty said.

Buddhist monks contesting the elections said they feared more election-related killings, but were not taking extra precautions for their candidates despite the deteriorating security environment.

"This is just the first killing and unfortunately it won't be the last," monk Athuraliya Ratana said. "There is a already smear campaign against our candidates and they may want to eliminate us, but we pray for them too."

President Chandrika Kumaratunga called the election nearly four years ahead of schedule after accusing Wickremesinghe of making too many concessions to the Tigers in his bid to end an ethnic conflict which has claimed over 60,000 lives since 1972.

The election campaign for the December 2001 parliamentary election was marred by violence that left at least 41 people killed and over 700 wounded. Nine people were killed in a single incident on voting day.