The World - News from Dec. 23, 1987

The secretary general of Sri Lanka’s ruling United National Party and three others were killed by attackers as they were driving in Colombo, Sri Lanka’s capital, police and hospital sources said. They said assailants, riding a motorbike, opened fire with a machine-gun and hurled hand grenades at a car carrying Harsha Abeywardene, in his late 40’s, and three of his employees. The victims were rushed to Colombo’s general hospital but were dead on arrival, hospital sources said. Police had no immediate leads on the identities of the attackers.