SRI LANKA: A prominent Tamil MP is killed in the Sri Lankan capital, as the military says it sank rebel boats

A prominent MP from Sri Lanka's rebel-endorsed Tamil National Alliance was shot dead in Colombo on Friday (November 10), as escalating violence stokes fears of a return to full-blown civil war. The Tamil National Alliance is widely seen as the Tiger's proxy in parliament. "MP for Jaffna Mr. Nadarajah Raviraj who is living in the Manningtown flats, while he was leaving from his home to his office, I think he was going to court today, on the way someone has come and shot him. He and his driver died on the spot," said Nazir Ameen, a journalist and neighbour of Raviraj. The shooting came just hours after a second naval clash in as many days between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and the military. "About half an hour ago honorable MP (Nadarajah) Raviraj was admitted to the hospital with very severe head injuries. There was a team of doctors who tried to resuscitate him, but at the end we had to pronounce him dead," said Dr. Hector Weerasinghe, Director of Colombo's National Hospital. Raviraj's driver was killed too, according to Dr. Weerasinghe. "I think this is an indication of the situation prevailing in this country at the moment. I doubt whether we have a government. We have law and order, we have police. The government is answerable to this," said Mano Ganeshan, a Tamil Member of Parliament. The island is suffering the worst violence since a now-tattered 2002 truce. Military officials said the navy had spotted two rebel suicide boats hidden among fishing boats in seas off the eastern district of Trincomalee. The officials say they opened fire on the rebel boats. Many in Sri Lanka fear the fighting could herald a full-blown return to a war that has killed well over 65,000 people since 1983. The rebels and the military have been battling since Wednesday (November 8), when the army bombed a refugee camp in Tamil territory in the volatile east, killing dozens of civilians, wounding at least 125 and prompting a mass exodus. The navy was still searching for the crew of two navy attack boats, one sunk and one damaged in a battle on Thursday (November 9). Five sailors had been rescued, officials said, but said nothing of any dead or wounded. The Tiger rebels accuse the navy of provoking Thursday's battle, saying their vessels were attacked while conducting exercises at sea. They said their boats had all returned safely to shore. The United Nations has condemned the military's shelling of Tamil refugee camp in the restive east, urging both army and rebels to respect the lives and rights of the thousands of civilians caught in the middle of the conflict.

ITN Source | November 10, 2006

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