A mosque in Sri Lanka has been forced to abandon Friday prayers amid community tensions in the central town of Dambulla. About 2,000 Buddhists, including monks, marched to the mosque and held a demonstration demanding its demolition. A mosque official told the BBC he and several dozen companions were trapped inside and feared the crowd would destroy the building.
Overnight the mosque had been targeted by a fire-bombing - no-one was hurt.
The BBC's Charles Haviland in Colombo says the tensions have been growing in the neighbourhood. Shortly after the protest the mosque was evacuated and its Friday prayers cancelled.
Parliamentarian A.H.M. Azwer issuing a condolence message on the death of SLBC Marketing Unit Director Nooraniya Fouzul Hassen said, 'It is with a deep sense of sorrow I condole the sudden demise of SLBC Marketing Unit Director Nooraniya Fouzul Hassen.
'He met with a fatal accident at Rambawa yesterday morning while travelling to Jaffna with his colleagues on an official assignment.
Fatayaat Leadership Program(FLP) with the slogan, ‘Empowering Tomorrow’s Family Leaders’ commenced on the 16th April 2012 and is in full swing at Ayesha Siddeeqa Educational Institute (ASEI). Forty eight ladies in the age range of 18-25 are actively participating. Prof. Dato’ Sahol Hamid, President / Vice Chancellor, University Teknologi MARA, & Assistant Police Commissioner of Malaysia, who graced the occasion as Chief Guest, delivered the keynote address on ‘My Mother’. He related his life story, on how as the first child of a downtrodden family, his mother painstakingly helped him to rise to the position he is now in. The story contained full of inspirations and emotionally touched the hearts of the listeners.