One Sri Lankan political activist was killed on Tuesday after unidentified gunmen opened fire on a bus carrying carrying supporters of the main opposition candidate in the country's forthcoming presidential elections, according to officials.
The attack, which took place near the town of Hungama in the south of the island, targeted supporters of opposition presidential candidate Gen Sarath Fonseka, who is the main rival to President Mahinda Rajapakse in the 26th January presidential election.
It was reported that unidentified gunmen on a motorcycle opened fire on the the bus carrying the opposition activists, killing one activist and injuring four others. Though several minor incidents of violence have already erupted in the island nation in the run-up to the vote, Tuesday's was first incident that resulted in a fatality.
Meanwhile, the Center for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV) said in a statement released shortly after the incident that the attackers had shot at the tires of the bus before opening fire on its rear windows and passengers inside.
Separately, the U.S. embassy in Colombo condemned the killing of the opposition political activist and said in a statement was it was "deeply concerned" over the incident. The embassy also urged the Sri Lankan authorities to ensure that the "election is conducted freely, fairly and without violence."
"We urge the appropriate authorities to conduct a full investigation of this and other acts of violence and to protect those exercising their democratic right to support the candidate of their choice," the statement added.
Fonseka, a former general who was the chief of defense staff when the Sri Lankan army defeated the Tamil Tiger rebels in May 2009, had resigned from his post in November and joined politics, mainly over differences with President Rajapakse over who should take credit for defeating the Tamil Tiger rebels.
While Gen Fonseka accuses the president of mistrusting him and cutting his powers after the end of the war with the rebels, Rajapakse alleges that Fonseka tried to seize power after crushing separatist Tamil Tiger rebels.
Currently, both the rival presidential candidates are making all-out efforts at gaining the support of the country's minority Tamil population over fears that the majority Sinhalese vote could get split between them. While Gen Fonseka already enjoys the support of several Tamil political parties, Rajapakse recently proposed power-sharing arrangements for minority Tamils ahead of the elections.
Earlier, President Mahinda Rajapakse's government, which is riding on a strong public support after the defeat of the Tamil Tiger rebels last year, had called for early elections in an effort to cash in on its popularity among the island's Sinhalese majority over the subduing the rebel movement.
In May, the Sri Lankan military claimed victory in its 25-year civil war against the Tamil Tiger rebels after recapturing the rebel-held areas and eliminating major rebel leaders, including Tamil Tiger founder and leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, in an year-long final offensive.
Official figures indicate that the final military offensive against the Tamil Tiger rebels in the northeastern regions of the country left over 300,000 people homeless, while some 7,000 civilians were killed in the final months of the civil war. An estimated 80,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in the country's civil war after the Tamil Tiger rebels launched an armed rebellion in 1983, demanding an independent state for the Tamil minority in the island nation's northern and eastern regions.
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