COLOMBO: Unidentified gunmen opened fire at an election campaign rally in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo on Friday, killing a woman and wounding at least 12 people, police said.
The attackers sprayed bullets into the crowd just after Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake left the venue, marking the first major violence ahead of the August 17 parliamentary elections.
"The gunmen travelled in two vehicles and escaped in the same vehicles after the shooting spree," police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekera told AFP.
"A woman was killed and 12 wounded persons have been admitted to the Colombo National hospital."
Election monitors expressed surprise at the shooting in Colombo, where security is tight and campaigning had been mostly peaceful.
"We are puzzled by this latest turn of events in Colombo because so far it has been relatively calm and even the level of violence in other areas has been very low," said Keerthi Tennakoon, head of the Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE).
The CaFFE said there had been about 55 incidences of clashes since President Maithripala Sirisena sacked parliament on June 26 and called general elections nearly a year ahead of schedule.
Election Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya has said he will strictly enforce poll laws and has pledged to ensure a free and fair election in August.
Next month's election will be the first vote since a recent constitutional amendment that gave more powers to Deshapriya to run the process independently.
Police said they had launched an operation to track down the gunmen behind the attack.
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