From correspondents in Colombo, Sri Lanka, 12:02 AM IST

A top member of the Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP) and human rights lawyer Maheswari Velauthan was shot dead in her native northern Jaffna peninsula Tuesday evening, party and military source said.

Velauthan was also a senior advisor to Social Welfare and Social Development Minister Douglas Devananda.

'Ms. Maheshwari Velauthan (53), advisor to Minister Douglas Devananda, was shot at Karaveddi in Jaffna Tuesday evening,' Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara said.

Minister Devananda, who has survived several assassination attempts by the LTTE, blamed the Tamil Tiger rebels for the assassination.

'She went to Jaffna to visit her aging mother who was ailing for sometime. The LTTE cadres who had come in a military uniform shot her dead at her mother's residence at Karaveddi in Point Pedro Tuesday evening,' Minister Devananda told IANS by phone.

(Staff Writer, © IANS)