At least three people have been reported killed in violence in eastern Sri Lanka, defense officials said Saturday.

In the first incident, two 23-year-old youth were gunned down around 11:45 p.m. local time on Friday at Valaichchenai, 299 Kms from Colombo in the Batticaloa district.

The two who worked in the local Hindu temple and were on the road opposite the temple when two gunmen on a motorcycle fired at them using a T56 assault rifle, the police said.

Another who was injured is being treated at the Batticaloa hospital.

In the second firing incident, a 40-year-old ice cream seller was gunned down at 6:30 a.m. local time Saturday at Kalmunai town, 368 kms from Colombo in the Ampara district.

Although no one had claimed responsibility the security forces said the killing was the result of internecine rivalry between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) factions.

The former eastern commander of the LTTE, Vinayagamurthi Muralitharan alias Karuna broke ranks with the mainstream group in March 2004.

Since then scores of people have been killed and the deteriorating security situation has impacted on the February 2002 ceasefire brokered by the Norwegian peace facilitators.

Source: China Daily