Colombo: Suspected Tamil Tiger rebels gunned down a political activist in Eastern Sri Lanka, raising to two the number of election-related killings, police said.

Gunmen believed to be from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) shot dead Ponniah Yogendran, 28, from Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP) in the district of Batticaloa yesterday night (Mar1, 2004), police said.

The EPDP alleged the slaying was the work of the LTTE, which was also suspected in yesterday's killing of ethnic Tamil candidate from Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's party, the first to be killed in the run-up to the polls.

"Yogendran had been under severe threat from the LTTE," the EPDP said in a statement adding, "Therefore, there cannot be any doubt that the killers were members of the LTTE."

"The LTTE is attempting to gain the status of sole representative by annihilating its political opponents as a means to achieve its fascist goals," it said.

The statement came as the US strongly condemned the killing of Tamil candidate Sinnathamby Sunderapillai and warned the LTTE they were behaving like a terror group.

No one has claimed responsibility for both shootings, which came two days after the London-based human rights watchdog Amnesty International, asked Tamil Tiger rebels not to kill opponents during the electoral campaign.