TORONTO -- A suspicious overnight fire that gutted a Sri Lankan restaurant is evidence that the Tamil Tigers are "on the rampage in Toronto," charged Sri Lanka's consul general, who said the Sinhalese eatery had been previously targeted and harassed by Tiger flag-waving motorists.

Consul General Bandula Jayasekara claimed that last week's firebombing of a Scarborough Sri Lankan Buddhist temple and yesterday's 2:45 a.m. restaurant fire in Brampton make it clear that Tamil Tiger-style violent extremism is a reality in Toronto.

"People here are under threat," Jayasekara said. "It's really about what the Tamil Tigers are up to. They're on the rampage here in Toronto."

But the Sinhalese family who owns the Lanka Gardens restaurant downplayed the Tamil Tiger speculation and called for calm while the facts emerge.

Peel Regional Police also warned against jumping to conclusions because cops couldn't yet confirm yesterday if the fire was deliberately set or not.

"We can never speak on opinions," said Peel Const. Adam Minnion. "We have to speak on the facts."

But still, the blaze was "suspicious," according to police and fire officials, who removed an undisclosed material from the charred Wexford Rd. restaurant to be tested at the Centre for Forensic Sciences.

Brampton Fire District Chief Dan Quennel said the material would be tested to determine if an accelerant had been used in the blaze -- testing that could take several weeks to complete.

The consul general, who arrived in a black tinted car with two RCMP escorts, was driven to the Brampton restaurant from a meeting in Scarborough, where he met with Immigration Minister Jason Kenney's chief of staff, Agop Everklian, to discuss the temple firebombing.

The Sri Lankan diplomat said Lanka Gardens owner Ranjith Tilakaratne told him in a 4:30 a.m. phone call that people waving Tamil Tiger flags had driven around his restaurant in previous weeks, honking their horns and shouting out the window.

As well, the glass on the restaurant's front door was smashed about two weeks ago, Tilakaratne's wife Chandrika confirmed at the scene, adding that motorists had driven by on at least one occasion waving Tiger flags.

Members of the Sinhalese community who were at the fire scene said the blaze is a sign that tensions arising from Sri Lanka's 26-year civil war have spilled over to Toronto and have escalated to violence.

Since January, thousands of Tamils and their allies have been regularly protesting in downtown Toronto against what they say is systemic discrimination against Tamils in their homeland from the majority Sinhalese.

Chandrika Tilakaratne, who with her husband opened the restaurant in December 2007, said, "At this point, I'm scared."

BRETT.CLARKSON@SUNMEDIA.CA