Tangalle is 100 miles (161km) south of Colombo and among those arrested was the chairman of the local council, Sampath Chandrapushpa Vidanapathirana, 24.

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He was shot and stabbed when he and his Russian girlfriend, Victoria Aleksandrovna Tkacheva, were attacked while on holiday in the resort of Tangalle.

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Sleep in Colombo's colonial era Park Street Hotel, bed down at the immaculately restored Illuketia estate near Galle, or, if urges for the beach are simply too strong to ignore, opt for an extended stay at the Dutch colonial Beach House bungalow near Tangalle, where, amid antiques and attentive staff and a personal stretch of private beach, you can experience history and hedonism in equal, enchanting measure.

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