Lankan housewife found murdered in Saudi Arabia

A Sri Lankan housewife was found murdered Wednesday in her apartment in Malaz, in Riyadh when her husband was at work. The Sri Lankan embassy here which confirmed the death said that it could not give further details since the case was under police investigation.

Dilruskshi, 22, was stabbed to death on the second birthday of her only daughter Oshara Dilyanjali. On suspicion, the Police arrested her husband , Susil Priyantha who works as a private employee in a canteen at a commercial bank in Riyadh.

The killing was detected when the deceased's nephew, Indika had gone home and found no response from Dilrukshi who was the only inmate in the house. He had rung the doorbell several times.

Subsequently, he had informed the husband who rushed to the spot from his office on a call from Indika saying that Dilrukshi was not answering the calls from her doorbell. On the day of the incident, while going to his office in the morning, it was alleged that the husband had left his daughter, Oshara, with his sister who was living in a separate house in the neighborhood.

On hearing the death of her daughter-in-law, W.M.Premawathie, from Gorakapitiya, Pilyandala, 10 kms from Colombo, returned to the capital this week cutting short her vacation. She had gone to Colombo only one week before the homicide.

According to Premawathie, the couple was happily married four years ago and she was responsible in bringing his son and his daughter-in-law to the Kingdom under the sponsorship of her Saudi employer. " It was really shocking to hear this sad news," Premawathie said, adding that her son was a quiet boy who thinks of no harm to others.

Premawathie has been working for her sponsor, Khalid Al Ali, as a nanny for the past 25 years. Baby Oshara would continue to stay under the care of her father's sister till the investigations are over.

Dilrukshi's body lies in the mortuary at the city hospital in the capital.

A.Z. Omardeen, former Director of Education being honored by SLMC Leader Rauff Hakeem with a Golden Shawl  

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Former village guard fatally shot in Sri Lanka 's volatile east

Unidentified gunmen on a motorcycle fatally shot a former village guard on Tuesday as he waited for a bus with his wife and child in Sri Lanka's volatile east, the military said. Nalaka Sampath Kumara, 23, was at a bus stop with his family when the gunmen opened fire in Welikanda village, 215 kilometers (135 miles) northeast of the capital, Colombo, said military spokesman Brig. Daya Ratnayake.

The attackers sped away on the motorcycle, Ratnayake said. He said Kumara was rushed to a hospital and later died from six bullet wounds to the chest. Kumara's wife and child were not hurt, Ratnayake said.Violence has surged in eastern Sri Lanka since a faction of the Tamil Tiger rebels broke away from the main group more than a year ago. Clashes have since killed scores of people, including security personnel and rebels from both factions.

The mainstream rebels accuse the army of supporting the breakaway faction, a charge the military denies. Ratnayake said it was not immediately known if the latest attack was linked to the growing factional fighting. Police were investigating, he said.