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Tamil leader shot dead

V.S. Sambandan

COLOMBO: A pro-LTTE Tamil activist and two Muslim home guards were killed in Sri Lanka in separate incidents on Friday. Vanniasingham Vigneswaran, the head of the Trincomalee District Tamil People's Forum, was shot dead in the eastern town at point blank range on Friday morning. Mr. Vigneswaran, a bank employee, was shot dead by "unidentified gunmen" who were on a motorcycle, the Government said. Vehemently condemning the killing, the Government said it was "deeply concerned about politically-motivated killings at a time when the Geneva talks are to begin in a few days." The second round of Geneva talks between the Government and the LTTE is scheduled to start on April 19. According to a report in the TamilNet, Mr. Vigneswaran was likely to be named as a National List MP to take the place of the assassinated Joseph Pararajasingham, who was shot dead at point blank range inside a church in the eastern Batticaloa town on Christmas Eve 2005. In another incident hours before Mr. Vigneswaran's killing, two Muslim home guards were shot in Welikanda, adjoining the eastern Batticaloa district. The motives behind the two killings have not been established, nor has the identity of the killers. The IGP of Sri Lanka, Chandra Fernando, who flew to Trincomalee, has ordered a special team to investigate the killing of Mr. Vigneswaran.

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Tamil leader shot dead

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