COLOMBO: A Sri Lankan opposition politician was shot dead in his office on Wednesday, police said, the latest in a wave of assassinations and the first to target a political figure.
Lasantha Wickramasekara, 38, the council chairman of the coastal city of Weligama, was meeting with constituents when a gunman burst in and fired multiple times with a revolver.
No one else was wounded, and the gunman fled the scene.
“An investigation is underway to track down the killer,” police said in a statement, adding that the motive for the attack remains unclear.
Wickramasekara was a member of the opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) party, which has been locked in a bitter power struggle with the ruling party over control of the Weligama council.
