MP murdered at church service

A PRO-TAMIL politician was murdered during midnight Mass in a Sri Lankan cathedral yesterday, a possible step on the road back to civil war.

Joseph Pararajasingam, MP for the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) - political proxies of the Tamil Tiger rebels - had just received communion when an unidentified gunman slipped through hundreds of worshippers to shoot him and wound eight others, including children, early on Christmas Day.

"Immediately, there was panic," Batticaloa cathedral priest Father Ignace Joseph said, standing on the steps of the altar by the MP's blood. "Some people were running, some threw themselves to the floor. The service stopped. Afterwards, the bishop just gave a blessing and people went home."

Growing numbers say they fear a return to a two-decade civil war after a string of breaches of a 2002 ceasefire culminating in a suspected Tiger ambush that killed 13 sailors on Friday.

That attack sent diplomats rushing to the northern rebel capital Kilinochchi to push for urgent peace talks.

Sporadic attacks continued in the north and east. Four soldiers were injured in grenade attacks by suspected Tigers in the Jaffna peninsula and a police officer was shot and injured in the eastern port of Trincomalee.

Two civilians were shot dead in separate attacks along the east coast overnight on Christmas Eve.

"It is an unhappy Christmas," said one Batticaloa man, sitting dejectedly outside in a city that has seen much violence, though never in its cathedral.

"The people want peace, but the LTTE are going for war."

In the northern army-held city of Jaffna some churches cancelled services amid fears the conflict might re-ignite.

No-one suggests it was the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) who gunned down Mr Pararajasingam.

While the rebels have no official link to the TNA, they meet frequently to discuss policy and the Tigers back them in parliamentary elections.

Police said it was unclear who was behind the killing but the Tigers have been battling a renegade faction in the east led by a commander named Karuna.

The rebels say the government backs Karuna, while truce monitors say the government at least turns a blind eye to him.