Tamil Sri Lankan politician assassinated

A prominent Sri Lankan politician has died in hospital after he was shot near his home today. One of his guards was also killed.

Nadaraja Raviraj, of the Tamil National Alliance was shot as he left his house in the capital Colombo, said K Sivajilingam, a fellow member of Parliament.

Sivajilingam said that Raviraj also worked as a lawyer and was going to the court “…when some people came and fired at him”.

Dr Anil Jasinghe, a director at the National Hospital said Raviraj died after he was admitted to the hospital, while one of his guard’s died on arrival.

Raviraj was one of the 22 deputies from the alliance – a political party widely believed to be a proxy of the Tamil Tiger rebels – who had joined a demonstration outside the UNHCR office in Colombo yesterday, urging the agency to help protect thousands of refugees after Sri Lankan military shelling had killed at least 23 Tamil civilians in the east on Wednesday.

The TNA said 41,000 Tamil civilians have been displaced in Batticaloa region.