Suspected Tamil Tiger rebels yesterday fatally shot a senior military intelligence official in the capital -- the highest ranking officer killed since the government and guerrillas signed a ceasefire in 2002, the Defense Ministry said.
Gunmen opened fire on Major Nizam Muthalif at a traffic stop while he was in the back seat of his chauffeur-driven car heading to a function at a military academy, military spokesman Brigadier Daya Ratnayake.
Muthalif, 39, was the commander of the first battalion of the Military Intelligence Corps and previously was posted in Vavuniya, a northern town near the frontier between government- and rebel-held territory.
Witnesses, who declined to give their names, said bullets were fired from the front and the left side of the car, suggesting that there could have been two teams of assassins.
His driver sped away, taking Muthalif to a nearby hospital where he died before doctors could operate. He had multiple gunshot wounds to his vital organs.
"It was a well planned operation," Ratnayake said. "All indications suggest it was the work of the LTT [Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam]," Ratnayake said.
The rebels and the military have observed the 2002 ceasefire, but the guerrillas have been blamed for several killings, especially after the Tamil Tigers split last year with the mainstream rebels blaming the military for supporting the renegade leader. The military denies the charge.
The military accuses the rebels of killing 10 army soldiers since the ceasefire.
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