A Sri Lankan police officer shot dead three people, include a constable from the same police station, before turning his rifle on himself and committing suicide.

According to the Sri Lankan police, the 42-year-old shot dead killing a 33-year-old policeman, before going on to kill a 54-year-old woman and her 17-year-old daughter in the Eastern Province.

After weeks of deliberating on who the presidential candidate would be for the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna, the party was forced to make its announcement following the withdrawal of business tycoon Dhammika Perera who voluntarily backed out. 

Sri Lanka’s president Ranil Wickremesinghe undertook a visit to Jaffna last week, where he told an audience of Tamils that “the majority Sinhalese and Buddhist people hold a prominent position” on the island, as he continued electioneering ahead of next month’s polls.

The Supreme Court of Sri Lanka has set October 14 as the date to hear petitions against the Indian backed Adani wind power project case in Mannar.

This week Sri Lanka’s Navy arrested 22 Indian fishermen deepening the rift between the two nations over the illegal fishing row. 

Civil society in Mannar has called upon the Sri Lankan authorities to expedite a swift investigation into the untimely death of a 27-year-old pregnant woman who bled to death, adding that most investigations in the North-East have been swept under the carpet with no accountability and arrests. 

The issues faced by the people in Mannar due to the occupation of land has left thousands feeling helpless, said Fr. S. Marcus, President of the Mannar Citizens Committee.

35 years ago, up to 64 Tamil civilians were killed by the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) in Valvettithurai in a massacre that was termed “India’s My Lai”.