At least four soldiers and a policeman were injured Wednesday night in the eastern town of Batticaloa on the eve of Sri Lanka's presidential poll, defense officials said.

An unidentified group threw bombs at the military check points near two polling stations not far from Batticaloa town around 7:00 p.m. local time (13:00 GMT).

The leader of the main Muslim party Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), Rauff Hakeem, said that two of his supporters had been gunned down during the day in two separate incidents of shooting at Kalmunai also in the Eastern Province.

Hakeem said there was an organized attempt to prevent the Muslim community from voting in the Muslim dominated areas in the multi-ethnic Eastern Province by perpetrating violence.

He appealed to the Muslims to go and vote Thursday despite violence.

The free and fair nature of the presidential poll in the Northern and Eastern provinces is very much in doubt following a decision by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels to take no part in the election.

The LTTE said they had no faith in the two main candidates, Mahinda Rajapakse of the ruling coalition and Ranil Wickremesinghe of the main opposition.

The incidents came to be reported as an address to the nation was being made by the outgoing President Chandrika Kumaratunga.

In her television address she appealed to the members of the security forces to extend all assistance to ensure a free and fair presidential election.

Source: Xinhua