Grenade Kills 4, Wounds 20 at Election Rally in Sri Lanka

A grenade exploded at an election rally of Sri Lanka’s governing party near this capital, killing at least four people and wounding 20 others, police and a party official said Saturday.

Sri Lanka goes to the polls March 20-25 to elect provincial councils. The election will also be a test of the popularity of the United National Front, which won violence-plagued parliamentary elections Dec. 5.

“Someone threw a grenade,” Rajitha Senaratne, the government minister for land reforms, said of the blast, which occurred late Friday. He said he was told by rally organizers that at least four people were killed.

A senior police official said 20 people were injured, three of them seriously. The officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said no arrests had been made. All the victims were supporters of the United National Front.

The front’s main rival in the provincial council elections is President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s People’s Alliance.

In the parliamentary elections, the front won 129 of 225 seats. The People’s Alliance and its allies secured 96 seats.

Elections in Sri Lanka are often violent. The December parliamentary vote was the most violent ever, with 62 people killed and more than 300 wounded.

Sri Lanka, an island off the tip of India, has been a parliamentary democracy since winning independence from Britain in 1948.

Since 1983, Sri Lanka has fought an insurgency with guerrillas who are pressing for a separate homeland. The government signed a cease-fire with the rebels last month, renewing hopes for peace. More than 64,000 people have been killed in 18 years of terrorism and government retaliation.