Sri Lanka president wins

SRI Lankan state TV on Wednesday proclaimed President Mahinda Rajapaksa the winner of a historic post-war vote, as his chief rival hunkered down in a luxury hotel surrounded by troops he said he feared would arrest him.

Final results from Tuesday's poll were not due until after 4pm (1030G), but an estimated two-thirds of all ballots already officially released showed Rajapaksa with 4.2 million votes to 2.8 million for former army commander General Sarath Fonseka.

The two allies who laid claim to the total defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) became rivals in a close-fought, bloody campaign that culminated in a relatively peaceful election on Tuesday with heavy turnout.

'The president has recorded a remarkable victory, with a more than 1.8 million vote majority,' state-run Rupavahini said.

Mr Rajapaksa said he wanted to seek a new mandate for his plans to develop Sri Lanka by exploiting its geographically strategic position astride air and sea lanes, rebuilding infrastructure and encouraging foreign investment and local productivity.

Moments before the state TV declaration, two people were killed and four wounded in a grenade attack on a Buddhist temple in the central town of Gampola, military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said. It was not immediately clear if the blast was poll-related, he said