3RD LEAD:

Vigneswaran shot dead in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Friday, 07 April 2006, 04:08 GMT]
Mr.Vanniasingham Vigneswaran, President of the Trincomalee District Tamil Peoples' Forum (TDTPF) was shot dead Friday around 9.30 a.m. by an unidentified person when he was about to enter the main branch of the Bank of Ceylon (BoC) located along Inner Harbor Road between the office of the Senior Superintendent of Police and Trincomalee Harbor Police. The assassination of the key Tamil activist has taken place when the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) was about to announce the appointment of Mr. Vigneswaran as the national list Parliamentarian to fill the position held by Joseph Pararajasingham MP who was slain in Batticaloa on Christmas eve, TNA sources said.

Tension prevails in Trincomalee town.

The incident took place inside the High Security Zone between two Sri Lanka Army (SLA) checkpoints, opposite to the Trincomalee Harbour, near the SLN Command in Trincomalee.

The TDTPF under the leadership of Mr.Vigneswaran has been spearheading the campaign for the removal of the controversial Buddha statue, which was erected in a land close to the Trincomalee central bus stand last year.

In June 2005, two grenades were lobbed into Mr. Vigneswaran's residence by an unidentified attacker.