A rival member of a group opposed to the Tamil Tigers was shot dead in eastern Sri Lanka, police said Thursday.

An Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP) member was walking out of his office around 10:00 a.m. local time (0400 GMT) in the eastern port town of Trincomalee when pistol gang members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) shot him dead.

A few hours earlier the EPDP newspaper office in the capital Colombo was the scene of an explosion.

A vehicle parked near the office of "Thinamurasu" newspaper, the official organ of the EPDP in the Colombo south area of Wellawatta, was severely damaged, causing slight injuries to a EPDP member, police said.

The damaged vehicle belonged to the EPDP leader Douglas Devananda.

The cause of the explosion which happened around 7:30 a.m. local time is still not known, the police added.

Source: Xinhua