December 6, 2001	Thursday	Ramazan 20, 1422

COLOMBO, Dec 5: At least 10 people, including seven Muslims and a seven-year-old boy, were killed in clashes during polling for general election in Sri Lanka on Wednesday, police said.

A night curfew was imposed across the island.

Seven members of the minority Muslim community were killed in a single incident when unidentified gunmen sprayed bullets into a jeep, police said.

The victims, members of the pro-opposition Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) party, were killed at Udathalavinna, in the central district of Kandy, shortly after voting ended in the parliamentary elections.

The killing, the worst single attack on Wednesday, come one day after SLMC leader Rauf Hakeem warned that the ruling party was “hell bent” on creating trouble in the region and said he feared a “bloodbath”.

President Chandrika Kumaratunga ordered a special investigation amid fears that the massacre could lead to intercommunal tensions between Muslims and the majority Sinhalese in Kandy, her spokesman Ariya Rubasinghe said.

The seven-year-old boy was killed in the crossfire during a gunfight between ruling People’s Alliance (PA) supporters and opposition United National Party (UNP) activists at Anamaduwa, in northwestern Sri Lanka.

Another man was killed in a police shooting at Kumaratunga’s home constituency of Gampaha, near Colombo, police said. The third victim was gunned down by suspected PA supporters in the island’s south.

MOBILE BALLOT: Sri Lanka’s election officials sent ballot boxes to the tightly guarded residences of the president and the prime minister so they could vote without fear of attack.

Election commission officials said polling staff called on both President Chandrika Kumaratunga and Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake so they could cast their ballot in the safety of their own homes.—AFP