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Gunmen fire on buses carrying Muslim Sri Lankan voters
[DAWN] Gunmen fired at buses carrying minority Moslem voters on Saturday as Sri Lankans elected a new president, with the powerful Rajapaksa clan eyeing a comeback seven months after the island was hit by bad boy attacks.Minority Tamils and Moslems are seen as crucial in the close election, and Saturday's attack in the northwest of the island ‐ in which no one was injured ‐ was likely aimed at deterring people from voting. The assailants set fire to tyres on the road and set up makeshift roadblocks before shooting at and pelting with stones two vehicles in the convoy of more than 100 buses taking people to their home district to vote, police said. In the Tamil-dominated northern peninsula of Jaffna, meanwhile, police said they arrested 10 men they suspected of "trying to create trouble", while also complaining that the army had illegally set up roadblocks that could stop people getting to polling stations. Such tactics are nothing new in Sri Lanka, which emerged from a horrific civil war only a decade ago. At the 2015 election, there was a series of explosions in the region that activists said were aimed at reducing turnout. This time, there were long queues outside polling stations even before voting began. Related: Rajapaksa: 2019-09-18 Opening of Sri Lanka’s tallest tower marred by corruption allegation Rajapaksa: 2019-04-29 Day 9: Sri Lanka raids headquarters of hardline group suspected in church bombings Rajapaksa: 2018-11-16 Sri Lankan lawmakers fight in Parliament over PM dispute Related: Jaffna: 2015-11-14 Tamils protest for Lanka prisoners’ release Jaffna: 2013-11-29 Sri Lanka says 'nothing to hide' as counts war dead Jaffna: 2013-09-23 Tamil party sweeps Lankan polls Posted by: Fred 2019-11-17 |
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