Hundreds of Sri Lankan troops surrounded the hotel where the opposition candidate was holed up today as early returns from the nation’s hard-fought presidential election gave the incumbent a comfortable lead.

Sri Lankans crowded voting stations throughout Colombo today in a hard-fought election to decide whether the incumbent president or his former army chief should lead the nation’s recovery from a brutal civil war.

A video purportedly showing troops shooting blindfolded, naked Tamils in the final months of Sri Lanka’s civil war has revived calls for a war crimes investigation and cast a shadow over the upcoming presidential election.

A female suicide bomber, believed to be a Tamil Tiger rebel, exploded a bomb in front of a car that was taking Sri Lanka’s top military general inside the army headquarters in Colombo today.

Sri Lanka’s newly-appointed top military general today said his forces were ready to meet any threat from Tamil Tiger rebels, but he would guard against “falling prey” to rebel provocations.