Candidate, Election Official Are Shot
Two people, including a former Cabinet minister, were shot as violence flared ahead of Sri Lanka’s general election this week, police said.
Thiyagarajah Maheswaran, Sri Lanka’s former Hindu religious affairs minister and a parliamentary candidate in the April 2 vote, was shot in the neck and head after a rally in the capital, an officer at the hospital said.
In eastern Batticaloa district, an assistant elections commissioner was shot as he drove his car. He was in critical condition.
It is not immediately clear who was responsible for the attacks. A key issue in the election is how to pursue peace with the island’s Tamil Tiger rebels.
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