Authorities have in two days captured and killed the three main leaders of the ultra-nationalist Sinhalese group that has been trying to overthrow the government, a Cabinet minister said Tuesday.

Upatissa Gamanayake, second-in-comand of the People's Liberation Front, was shot to death Monday night when he tried to escape, Foreign Minister Ranjan Wijeratne said.Gamanayake's reported killing came less than 24 hours after the government said its forces had killed both the front's supreme leader and founder, Rohana Wijeweera, and its third-in-command.

Gamanayake, 36, was regarded as heir apparent to Wijeweera.

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