Tamil Leader's Killing May Spark Renewed Civil War

Fears of a full-scale civil war in Sri Lanka grew today after the assassination of a prominent Tamil politician in broad daylight in the capital Colombo.

Nadaraja Raviraj, a member of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), was leaving his house when he was shot at close range, said K Sivajilingam, a fellow member of parliament. Mr Raviraj's bodyguard was also killed.

The president, Mahinda Rajapakse, condemned the killing calling it a "cowardly and heinous act" by "those opposed to dissent and political pluralism in a democratic society." He said he wanted Britain's Scotland Yard to investigate the murder, adding that it appeared designed to discredit the government.

The Tamil party blamed the government for the killing.

"We understand that a whole magazine has been emptied on them in broad daylight," TNA politician Suresh Premachandran told The Associated Press. "This is a clear message to Tamil parliamentarians ... 'Don't open your mouth.'"

The TNA is widely believed to be a proxy of the Tamil Tigers, the rebel group fighting for a separate Tamil homeland in the country's north and east since 1983, citing discrimination by the majority Sinhalese.

Mr Raviraj became mayor of the city of Jaffna in the Tamil heartland in 1999 following the assassination of his two predecessors. He was elected to parliament as a rebel-backed TNA representative in 2001 and 2004 and was a leading campaigner for Tamil self-rule.

He was among TNA members who took part in a demonstration outside the local UN refugee agency yesterday, urging it to help protect thousands of refugees in the east who had fled their homes after military shelling killed at least 23 Tamil civilians.

In other violence, the Sri Lankan navy destroyed two Tamil Tiger naval boats, killing six rebels, said a navy spokesman, Commander DKP Dassanayake.

The naval patrol detected the rebel boats mingling with dozens of boats of fishermen returning with their morning catch in the outer harbour of the north-eastern port of Trincomalee, he said. The incident followed a sea clash yesterday, where the rebels claimed to have killed 26 Sri Lankan sailors.

More than 65,000 people have died in Sir Lanka's civil war before a Norwegian-brokered truce was adopted in 2002. But subsequent peace talks failed and a rise in violence this year has left more than 2,000 civilians, soldiers and rebel fighters dead.