26 December, 2011  |
| Hoteliers express concern over the incident at a time the tourism industry is re-emerging |
The chairman of the Tangalle local government body has been arrested in suspicion for the murder of a British tourist in Sri Lanka.
Police spokesman SP Ajith Rohana told BBC Sandeshaya that Tangalle Pradeshiya Sabha Chairman Sampath Chandrapushpa, 24, the main suspect of the attack in Tangalle in which a British tourist was killed has been arrested, police said.
The suspect was arrested after he surrendered to Tangalle police station, said the police spokesman.
Three Sri Lankan men have earlier been arrested on suspicion of killing, Kuram Shaikah Zaman, a British national of Israeli origin, an ICRC volunteer working in the Gaza strip.
'Afraid of safety'
Victoria Alexandrovna, 23, is being treated in Karapitiya hospital, Galle at the intensive care unit.
 |  I came to know that the next morning that it was a group that included the chairman of Tangalle Pradeshaaya Sabha that assaulted me |
Hoteliers in Tangalle, meanwhile, say foreign tourists have been leaving the resorts after an assault on tourists that killed a British national and injured a Russian female.
They have expressed concern over the incident at a time the tourism industry is re-emerging after decades of armed conflict.
A partner of Nature Secret restaurant in Tangalle, Rayan Akalanka, who was also assaulted in the attack, told the BBC that the attackers focused on Mr Zaman as the latter tried to intervene.
"I am provided with three policemen for security at the hospital but I feel afraid of doing business in the area any longer after this attack," he told BBC sandeshaya from his hospital bed.
