COLOMBO, Dec. 25 (Xinhuanet) -- A legislator of Sri Lanka's Tamil party Tamil National Alliance (TNA) was shot dead at a midnight mass in the Eastern Province, police said Sunday.

    The 71-year-old Joseph Pararajasingham was shot at about 1:20 a.m. (1920 GMT) at close range by two gunmen at St. Mary's co-cathedral church at Batticaloa, about 303 km east of the capital Colombo.

    Eight others, including Pararajasingham's wife were injured at the midnight mass, said the police.

    No organization had claimed responsibility for the assassination and no arrests had been made, the police said.

    Pararajasingham entered parliament in 1990 and had been a legislator since then.

    The TNA, with 22 seats in the 225-member national parliament, is a proxy of the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

    Shortly before Pararajasingham's killing, 4 LTTE members were killed in an exchange of fire with the government troops in the northern Jaffna city.

    The Tigers on Friday killed 13 Sri Lankan Navy men in a claymore mine attack, the third such attack on the security forcesthis month in the northern province.

    The international truce monitors have condemned the circle of violence and have asked for restrain from the government and the LTTE.

    The two parties entered into a cease-fire in 2002, but the peace process was stalled in April 2003 as the LTTE withdrew talkswith the government. Enditem