One person has died and two were injured after the bodyguards of a Sri Lankan government minister opened fire on a crowd amid a deepening constitutional crisis in the island nation. Arjuna Ranatunga, the petroleum minister and a former Sri Lankan cricket captain, was trying to enter a government agency in the capital, Colombo, at about 3pm on Sunday when he was confronted by supporters of the president, Maithripala Sirisena.

Amid jostling, Ranatunga’s bodyguards opened fire, injuring three people, two of them critically, according to the police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekera. One of the injured died later in a Colombo hospital. Ranatunga was rushed into the building in the aftermath of the shooting and had to be rescued by paramilitary police units. He was ushered out in a police uniform and wearing a bulletproof vest and helmet.

Sunday’s incident is the first outbreak of violence since Sirasena shocked the country on Friday night by announcing the dismissal of the prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, with whom Ranatunga was aligned. Wickremesinghe says his dismissal is unconstitutional and has refused to vacate Temple Trees, the prime ministerial residence that was surrounded by his supporters.

One of Ranatunga’s bodyguards was arrested and the area around the government office was tense on Sunday night with a heavy police presence and crowds protesting against the shooting. Police leave has been cancelled and soldiers were deployed in parts of Colombo in what was seen as a show of strength.(theguardian)…[+]