{Sri Lankan police appealed for information Saturday to track down four gunmen who opened fire at a ruling party rally in the capital, killing a woman and wounding 12 other people.}<\/p>\n
Several teams of detective were assembled Saturday, a day after the daring attack on Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake’s campaign rally for the August 17 parliamentary elections, police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekera said.<\/p>\n
The minister who escaped unhurt accused the opposition United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) of carrying out the attack, a charge denied by the party.<\/p>\n
“We are investigating the motive for the attack,” the police spokesman said adding that no arrests had been made 24 hours after the attack in a commercial area of the capital.<\/p>\n
Friday’s shooting was the worst attack against a campaign rally in the run up to this month’s election.<\/p>\n
The 52-year-old finance minister is one of the most senior members of the UNP, which backed former president Mahinda Rajapakse’s successor Maithripala Sirisena in January’s presidential election.<\/p>\n
He had initiated several investigations into alleged fraud by members of the Rajapakse regime.<\/p>\n
But Rajapakse’s UPFA denied any involvement, alleging an “internal clash” within the ruling party.<\/p>\n
This year’s campaign had been largely peaceful and local election monitors expressed surprise at Friday’s shooting.<\/p>\n
Almost all previous elections have been marred by allegations that government workers colluded with the ruling party to give them an undue advantage.<\/p>\n
Ahead of January’s presidential poll, election chief Mahinda Deshapriya had ordered police to shoot anyone trying to disrupt the vote.<\/p>\n
The presidential election passed off relatively peacefully, although one Sirisena supporter was killed in a drive-by shooting.<\/p>\n
AFP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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