Tuesday, March 30, 2004

Tamil election candidate killed

Map of Sri LankaBBC NEWS | World | South Asia: "International election observers have condemned the murder of a Tamil candidate in Friday's general election. Mr Sathiyamoorthy was a candidate for the Tamil National Alliance, the party which supports the political aims of the Tamil Tiger rebels.

But he was loyal to the breakaway rebel commander in the east, Colonel Karuna. The mainstream leadership of the Tamil Tigers had recently described Mr Sathiyamoorthy as a traitor. But only the mainstream faction of the rebels could benefit from this killing and it comes as part of a trend of attacks on civilians associated with the breakaway rebel leader.

Last week the mainstream Tigers warned they wanted to remove Colonel Karuna from their soil - a comment widely interpreted as a threat to kill him. "

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