Rebel-backed Tamil MP shot in Sri Lanka capital--police

COLOMBO, Nov 10 (Reuters) A prominent MP from Sri Lanka's rebel-endorsed Tamil National Alliance was shot in the head and badly wounded in Colombo today, police said, as escalating violence stokes fears of a return to full-blown civil war.

''Nadarajah Raviraj was shot and admitted to hospital,'' an official at the police emergency hotline said. Doctors said he had been shot in the head and was in serious condition.

The shooting came just hours after the second naval clash in as many days between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and the military. The island is suffering the worst violence since a now-tattered 2002 truce.

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