A Sri Lankan soldier stands alert near political posters during polling for local goverment elections in the northern town of Jaffna January 29. Voters started trickling out to polling booths in Sri Lanka's former northern Tamil Tiger rebel stronghold of Jaffna on Thursday after staying home earlier in the day for fear of rebel attacks. But most shops were closed and there was little traffic in Jaffna, which has been put under tight security for the local government elections, the first such polls in the north for 17 years.

SRILANKA ELECTIONS