Lanka president says PM sacked over murder plot!

• One dead in bid to take minister Ranatunga hostage.

A constitutional crisis gripping Sri Lanka took a new turn on Sunday with President Maithripala Sirisena clarifying that the main reason he decided to sack his prime minister was the alleged involvement of a cabinet minister in a plot to assassinate him.

In a televised address to the nation, Sirisena said a person questioned by investigators had revealed the name of a minister in an alleged plot to assassinate him and a former defence secretary.
He said the only choice for him under the circumstances was to dismiss Ranil Wickremesinghe and invite his former nemesis and ex-strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa to take over as prime minister and form a new government.

"This information (received by investigators) contains a number of details hitherto hidden to the people," Sirisena said. "The informant has made a statement regarding a cabinet minister involved in the conspiracy to assassinate me."

He did not reveal the name of the minister.

A police informant named Namal Kumara, who first came out with the alleged assassination plot, told reporters on Sunday that Wickremesinghe and his cabinet colleague, former army commander Sarath Fonseka, were behind the assassination plot.

Meanwhile, one person died and two others were wounded in a shooting at the Petroleum Ministry, in the first violent incident since the political turmoil began on Friday with the sacking of Wickremesinghe.

Arjuna Ranatunga, who was petroleum minister under Wickremesinghe, said one of his security guards opened fire when Rajapaksa supporters mobbed him and tried to take him hostage at the ministry premises.