Military

DATE=3/30/04

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

NUMBER=2-314594

TITLE=SRI LANKA/VIOLENCE (L-ONLY)

BYLINE=ANJANA PASRICHA

DATELINE=NEW DELHI

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: In Sri Lanka, unidentified gunmen have shot dead a Tamil candidate for this week's parliamentary elections. The latest violence came as campaigning for the polls draws to a close. Anjana Pashricha has more from New Delhi.

TEXT: Police say the assassins gunned down Rajan Sathiyamoorthy and a relative in his home in the eastern town of Batticaloa early Tuesday. A third man was wounded in the attack.

Mr. Sathiyamoorthy is seen as the victim of a recent split within the Tamil Tiger rebel group. He was a candidate for the Tamil National Alliance, the party that promotes the political aims of the rebels.

But he is believed to have been a staunch supporter of a breakaway rebel commander, and had been described by the main Tamil Tiger leadership as a traitor. However, they have denied any role in the killing.

International election observers visiting Sri Lanka condemned the killing.

Sri Lanka holds national parliamentary elections on Friday. Political violence in some areas has increased in recent days - Tuesday's shooting was the third in three days.

A political analyst at Colombo's National Peace Council, Jehan Perera, says both rival factions of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam - the L-T-T-E - want to ensure that their supporters are elected.

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The violence is not on a day-to-day basis. It is not an open violence, it is not as if groups of people are clashing with one other, but there is a sense of terror in the east specially because of the recent split within the L-T-T-E.

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Authorities fear the rift within the Tamil Tiger leadership could trigger more violence in the rebel-controlled north and east before the country heads to the polls on Friday. Police say security has been stepped up in these areas.

However, campaigning in the rest of the country has been relatively peaceful compared with the last election, which was marred by clashes and killings.

The polls were called nearly four years ahead of schedule due to differences between the country's president and prime minister over how to handle peace negotiations with Tamil Tiger rebels.

The Tigers entered a peace process with the government two years ago after waging a 20-year battle for a separate Tamil homeland. They have now agreed to settle for autonomy, but the peace process has been stalled for nearly a year, although a ceasefire continues to hold. (signed)

NEB/HK/AP/KPD