A Sri Lankan high court judge who once convicted in absentia the leader of the Tamil Tiger rebel group has been shot and killed in Colombo.
Authorities say Judge Sarath Ambepitiya and his bodyguard were gunned down Friday outside his home. No arrests have been made.
In 2002, Judge Ambepitiya sentenced Tamil Tiger rebel leader Velupillai Prabhakaran to 200 years in prison after convicting him in absentia of planning a 1996 bombing in Colombo that killed 91 people.
It is not known if Judge Ambepitiya's killing was related to the Tamil Tigers, who have waged a 20-year campaign for greater autonomy for Sri Lanka's ethnic Tamil minority. The conflict claimed more than 60,000 lives before a 2002 cease-fire went into effect.
Some information for this report provided by AFP and AP.
