An election official marks the finger of a voter at a polling booth in northern Jaffna town during local goverment elections Janauary 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. Most shops were closed and there was little trafic in Jaffna, which has been put under tight security for the local goverment elections, the first such polls in the north for 17 years.

SRILANKA ELECTIONS