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S.Lanka pro-rebel MP shot dead at Christmas service
(Reuters)
Updated: 2005-12-25 10:06
BATTICALOA, Sri Lanka (Reuters) - A pro-rebel politician was shot dead at a
Christmas service in Sri Lanka's east early on Sunday, police said, the latest
in a series of attacks that have raised fears of a return to civil war.
Joseph Pararajasingam, an MP for the Tamil National Alliance -- the
rebels' proxies in parliament -- was shot dead in the eastern district of
Batticaloa, police said.
It was unclear who was behind the shooting, but the Tamil Tiger rebels have
been locked in a feud with a renegade faction led by a commander called Karuna
who broke away accusing the rebels' northern leadership of sidelining cadres in
the east.
"He was shot inside St. Michael's Church in Batticaloa. The details are
unclear, but seven other people were injured including a number of children and
his wife," Police inspector Rohan Abeywardene told Reuters by telephone from
Batticaloa.
The shooting comes after a series of deadly ambushes on the military by
suspected Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) cadres in the island's north
in the worst violence since a 2002 truce halted a war that has already killed
over 64,000 people.
DIPLOMATS RUSH IN
Thirteen sailors were killed in an ambush by suspected Tigers using claymore
fragmentation mines and rocket-propelled grenades in the northwest on Friday,
prompting main donors Japan, the European Union and Norway to send a senior
delegation for emergency talks with the rebels.
"Sri Lanka faces a crucial choice today between mounting violence and
reinvigorating peace," the donors said in a statement issued late on Saturday.
"The Sri Lankan people clearly want peace -- it would be a tragic step backwards
if their desire was not heeded."
"The urgency of LTTE agreeing to hold talks on the implementation of the
ceasefire agreement was particularly stressed by the co-chairs (donors)," it
added. The Tigers pulled out of peace talks in 2003.
Friday's attack on the military came after the first direct exchange of fire
between the rebels and the navy at sea since the truce. The navy says three
sailors were killed when Tiger rebels hid among a fishing fleet and attacked a
patrol.
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