Tamil lawmaker Thyagaraja Maheswaran assassinated
The unidentified attacker opened fire at ethnic Tamil lawmaker Thyagaraja Maheswaran of the opposition United National Party at a Hindu temple near Colombo, a police official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to media.He belonged to the minority Tamil community for whom the separatist Tamil Tigers have been waging a war against government forces since 1983. The conflict has killed more than 70,000 people.
In 2006, Tamil lawmaker Nadarajah Raviraj, another government critic, also was gunned down in Colombo.
