Inspector-general of police Khalid Abu Bakar has confirmed that Sri Lanka's High Commissioner to Malaysia Ibrahim Ansar was assaulted at the KL International Airport yesterday.

"Yes, I confirm it," Bernama quoted Khalid as saying today.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka, in a statement posted on its website yesterday, said the high commissioner was assaulted by a group.

"The High Commission of Sri Lanka in Kuala Lumpur is coordinating with local law enforcement authorities in Malaysia and other relevant local authorities to identify the perpetrators and assist with investigations," it said in the statement.

According to a report by Sri Lanka’s Daily Mirror, the high commissioner had suffered head injuries, while another official was also injured.

The report said the group of Sri Lankan officials had encountered the protesters at the airport, as they arrived to send off a Sri Lankan MP who had been accompanying former Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa.

It quoted former Sri Lankan minister Johnston Fernando saying that the attack was carried out by a group of protesters opposed to the former president.

“The protesters had asked the whereabouts of former president Rajapaksa from the high commissioner and he had told the protesters to contact the police and inquire about it.

“The protesters who were irritated by his response, attacked the ambassador until he bled from his forehead,” the report said.

Rajapaksa is reportedly visiting Malaysia until tomorrow, and he and his delegation have yet to face any attacks.

His presence at a conference in Kuala Lumpur last Friday, however, drew protestors to the Putra World Trade Centre venue to call for his deportation.

Rajapaksa’s administration has been credited with defeating the armed insurgency by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in 2009, ending 26 years of civil war.

However, critics have accused his administration of perpetrating war crimes, including raping and kidnapping ethnic Tamils in northern Sri Lanka.