Colombo: Gunmen shot dead a Tamil candidate in Eastern Sri Lanka today (Mar 30, 2004) at the end of the election campaign, triggering fears that Tiger guerrillas were ready to unleash a factional war, official sources said.

The assailants killed candidate Rajan Sathyamoorthy at his home in Batticaloa, even as the head of the European election-monitoring mission, John Cushnahan was on a visit in the region, officials said.

They entered Sathyamoorthy's house in the heart of the Batticaloa town, 300 kms East of the capital Colombo and escaped after spraying bullets on him and his son-in-law, they said.

Sathyamoorthy, a candidate from the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), had been a staunch supporter of breakaway Tiger leader V Muralitharan, better known as Karuna, who led an unprecedented split in the main rebel group earlier this month.

Karuna's spokesman Varadan said the killing was the handiwork of the main Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) based in North Island.

"Choosing civilian targets is highly provocative," Varadan said.

"In spite of all these provocation we try to be patient. We fear the consequences of these activities of Prabhakaran and his intelligence chief Pottu Amman," he said.

However, Tiger officials in the island's North denied any involvement in the killing. The main Tiger leadership had earlier warned those who supported Karuna that they too would be treated as traitors. Tigers are known to kill people whom they label as "traitors".

Chief election monitor Cushnahan paid a visit to the residence of Sathyamoorthy and offered condolence to the family of the bereaved, a spokesman for the monitors said.

Sathyamoorthy had organised several protests in the region in support of Karuna after the main rebel organisation expelled him and labelled him a traitor.

Military officials in the area fear that there could be more attacks against Karuna supporters.

The latest killings came amid a series of shootings that have targeted top electoral candidates in Batticaloa in recent weeks. A candidate was murdered on March 1 and two days later the Tiger movement split with both sides blaming each other for the murder.

Today's killing comes as private poll monitors expressed fears of spurt in attacks before Friday's (Mar 26, 2004) elections. Political parties fear that voting itself could be marred by violence.

Meanwhile, spokesman of Election Commissioner said, "There is a two-day cooling period during which there can be no campaigning. All arrangements are now in place to conduct the election."

Independent surveys have placed the two main contenders, President Chandrika Kumaratunga's leftist Freedom Alliance (FA) and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's right-wing United National Party (UNP) neck-to-neck.

The President called the election four years ahead of schedule after a feud with the premier over the handling of the Norwegian-backed peace bid.