Woman killed, 13 injured in Sri Lanka election violence

Masked gunmen on Friday gunned down a woman activist of Sri Lanka’s ruling party and injured 13 others as they opened indiscriminate fire at a campaign rally attended by the finance minister here, in the first major violence ahead of the August 17 parliamentary elections.

The gunmen reportedly reached the venue of the rally in Bloemendhal area in two vehicles and sprayed bullets into the crowd of around 600 people campaigning for Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake of the United National Party (UNP).

The attack took place soon after Karunanayake left the venue.

A 52-year-old mother of three was killed in the shooting while 13 others were injured in the worst incident of election violence leading to the polls that will elect a 225-member parliament for a five-year term.

No group claimed responsibility for the attack so far but Karunanayake blamed supporters of former strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa, looking to stage a political comeback, for the incident.