A minority Tamil legislator was shot dead in the capital Colombo during the morning rush hours on Friday, police and party sources said.

Nadarajah Raviraj, a member of parliament belonging to the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) was driving in Colombo when unidentified gunmen opened fire at his car around 8:30 a.m. local time (0300 GMT).

Raviraj was rushed to the National Hospital in Colombo with serious head injuries, hospital sources said.

Raviraj was the Mayor of Jaffna, the main Tamil city in the north of the country before entering parliament through the TNA which is seen as a proxy party of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam rebels.

Source: Xinhua