Sri Lanka politician denies killings link

The Sri Lankan opposition leader, Ranil Wickremesinghe, has denied reports in the state-run media that he was linked to a series of extra-judicial killings twelve years ago.

Speaking at a meeting of his United National Party, Mr Wickremesinghe described the allegations as ridiculous and accused the state-run media of launching a smear campaign against him, ahead of parliamentary elections to be held in November.

The allegations were made by a former senior police officer who said Mr Wickremesinghe had had links with groups involved in the suppression of a left-wing rebellion by the Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna party in the late-1980s.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service