Senior army official shot dead in Sri Lanka

A gunman shot dead Major Nizam Mutalif, 39, during the morning rush hour along a main highway in the capital, a military spokesman said adding that they suspected the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was responsible.

"It is obvious that this is the work of the LTTE," Brigadier Daya Ratnayake said. "We have begun a joint police and army investigation."

There was no immediate reaction from the guerrillas to the allegations.

Mutalif, the commanding officer of the First Military Intelligence Corps, is the most senior military officer to be killed since the government and Tamil Tiger rebels entered into a ceasefire in February 2002.