Shooting spree leaves 1 dead at Sri Lanka election rally

Unidentified gunmen have killed a person and injured 12 others in an attack at an election campaign rally in Sri Lanka ahead of the upcoming parliamentary elections in the South Asian country.

The attack took place on Friday in the capital Colombo when the assailants opened fire on the crowd after Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake left the venue.

“The gunmen traveled in two vehicles and escaped in the same vehicles after the shooting spree,” police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekera said.

The wounded were taken to the hospital following the incident, he added.

The attack marks the first act of violence ahead of the August 17 vote despite tight security in the country.

“We are puzzled by this latest turn of events in Colombo because so far it has been relatively calm and even the level of violence in other areas has been very low,” said Keerthi Tennakoon, head of the Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE).

According to the monitor, over 50 incidences of clashes have taken place in Sri Lank since June 26 when President Maithripala Sirisena dissolved the parliament and called for early general elections.

Under Sri Lanka’s law, elections should be held between 52 and 66 days after the parliament’s dissolution.

Sirisena was elected on January 8, replacing his predecessor and strongman Mahinda Rajapakse.

The move to dissolve the parliament came after Rajapakse’s loyalists repeatedly blocked the reforms pushed by the new government.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s United National Party (UNP), which faces three separate no-confidence motions from the opposition United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA), has also supported the parliament’s dissolution.

Rajapaksa first took office in 2005 and was re-elected in 2010 due to a popular wave of support for leading a military offensive to defeat Tamil Tiger rebels.

The United Nations has estimated that at least 100,000 people were killed in Sri Lanka’s separatist war between 1972 and 2009, when the government crushed the Tamil Tiger rebellion.

The new Sri Lankan government has been taking action to enhance the human rights situation in the country by introducing reforms and opening up the political atmosphere in the country.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk