Paris-based Reporters Without Borders highlighted the assassination of Rohana Kumara, editor of Satana (battle), a Sinhalese-language newspaper. The group alleged an elite force assigned to provide security for Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga was implicated in the killing.

``He (Kumara) had been regularly publishing what some deemed to be harsh, and often sensationalistic, criticisms of the government,'' a statement from the group said.

``(The) state has committed large sums of money to protect the obviously high-ranking officials who ordered this crime,'' the statement said.

Kumara's wife claimed he was killed because he reported on a bribery scandal involving an adviser to Kumaratunga, the statement said.

Presidential aide Janadasa Peiris Friday rejected the allegations.

On the web: http://www.rsf.org Published: Fri Mar 26 12:20:22 EST 2004

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COLOMBO, March 26 (Xinhua) -- The breakaway faction of the Tamil Tiger rebels in the east of Sri Lanka - Friday warned a leading Tamil candidate to withdraw from contesting the April 2 parliamentary election. Joseph Pararajasingham, a veteran legislator from the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), told journalists that the renegade eastern leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Karuna's faction had issued orders on him to withdraw and stop campaigning. I told them that according to election laws I cannot withdraw but I will agree to stop campaigning, Pararajasingham, who is a known loyalist of the LTTE supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran said. Karuna, the once powerful eastern commander of the rebels, was sacked by the LTTE early this month for defying the LTTE leadership.

He was branded by the LTTE rebels a traitor to the Tamil national cause. The TNA has fielded candidates in the war-torn north and east with the objective of strengthening the rebels' hands. However, with the ongoing rift in the LTTE the eastern candidates have come under pressure from the renegade Karuna. The eastern commander defied the LTTE leadership and wanted him treated as a separate entity. He warned the TNA candidates that they could only highlight the problems in the eastern region and should not focus on the main demand of the rebels, the Tamil homeland concept.

Copyright 2004 XINHUA all rights reserved as distributed by WorldSources, Inc. Published: Fri Mar 26 15:07:17 EST 2004