TMVP's Karuna faction accuses LTTE on carrying out the attack

They said the assailants have fled away after the attack on the office of Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Puligal (TMVP) in Sorikalmunai, Ampara.

A TMVP member providing security in a bunker and three others who were in the office were killed and the attackers have taken their weapons, police said.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s co-ordinating secretary in Ampara, K Pushpakumar, widely known as Iniyabharathie, told BBC Sandeshaya that the attack was carried out by the Tamil Tigers.

'LTTE attack'

Mr. Pushpakumar is a senior leader of the Karuna faction of the TMVP. The group led by Vinayagamurthy Muralitharan (Karuna), MP, joined President Rajapaksa’s Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), last week, with thousands of other cadres.

He was then appointed as the minister for national integration.

The office that came under attack was controlled by Minister Muralitharan’s faction, currently members of the SLFP. The other faction is led by eastern province chief minister, Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan (Pillayan).

An old woman in Sorikalmunai, in Samanthurai police division, told BBC Sandeshaya that she heard gunshots in early morning after a heavy rain overnight.

The Special Task Force (STF) has begun a search operation after the incident.