Violence round up – week ending 15 April

 

● Armed men shot dead S. Gajendran, 21, at point blank at his house in Marakarampaarai, Vavuniya.

 

● The whereabouts of the Tamil youth, abducted by unidentified persons in a three-wheeler in Murunkan, are not known. However, Murunkan Police recovered the three-wheeler allegedly used in the abduction of Jesurajan Roshan, 21.

 

● The body of Kanthiah Manonmani alias Mala, 22, of Jeevapuram, Paalaiyadiththoni, who was beaten to death, was found buried at Paalaiyadiththoni, Santhivelin in Eravur, Batticaloa. She had been missing since Saturday, after leaving her house. Relatives looking for her found her partly buried body in shrub land next to a school.

 

● Two students who went swimming in Kaththankudy Sea died and another two were rescued in serious condition. Seven friends who went together swimming confronted dangerous currents, and five of them were rescued by area fishermen close to the Aeththukkal beach.

Subaitheen Barshath, 16, a student of Kaththankudy Central College and Atham Lebbai Riswan, ex student of the College, died.

 

 

● A Karuna Group paramilitary cadre was shot dead in Aarumukathan Kudiyiruppu, Eravur, Batticaloa. He had been returning to the Karuna Group office in Chenkaladi after visiting his mother's residence near Kaali temple in Aarumukathan Kudiyiruppu when he was shot dead, 50 meters from his mother's house. A young pedestrian, K Nireshkumar, 17, was also injured in the shooting.

 

● A six month old infant injured two weeks ago during artillery shelling by the SLA towards LTTE controlled Paduvankarai, Batticaloa, succumbed to her injuries. Saththary Thilliampalam was initially admitted to Batticaloa Hospital for treatment of a heart injury, and later transferred to a privately owned medical institution in Colombo for further treatment. Her internally displaced parents, presently residing at the Welfare Centre at Urani, had sought the assistance of the office of the Batticaloa regional office of Church of South India to obtain additional medical treatment.

 

● Armed men called a Tamil youth from his house at Anpuvallipuram, Trincomalee, and shot him.  Sounthararajan Thayalan, 22, who had been working in a biscuit manufacturing company in Mawanella as a driver, was seriously injured. He had gone to his native Anpuvallipuram to celebrate the Tamil / Sinhala New Year with his parents.

 

 

● Five people were shot and killed by a group of Sri Lankan troopers at Kanapathipillai village in Chenkaladi, Eravur, Batticaloa. The soldiers, who had taken cover alongside a road, had opened fire on two men, suspected to be carrying weapons, and killed them. Another three were caught in the fire and died, but the Sri Lankan military in Colombo claimed all 5 victims were civilians and blamed the Tigers for the killings. One of the victims, M. Ratnasingham, 60, succumbed to his injuries at hospital. A female, identified as Ms. Thamilchelvi, was admitted at the hospital. A 3-year-old boy and a 15-year-ld girl were also killed.

 

● Twenty-three people, majority of them Tamils, were taken into custody in cordon and search operations in Trincomalee town and its suburbs by SLA soldiers. The arrested were detained in police stations and interrogated because they allegedly failed to prove their identity.

 

● Armed men in a white van abducted Gopalasamy Kosalan, 20, a fisherman from Kolumbuththurai, Jaffna, relatives complained at the Jaffna SLHRC.

 

 

● Seven Sinhala villagers, including a boy and 6 women, were shot and killed by unknown gunmen at Awaranthalawa, Vavuniya. The Sinhala civilians, who were settled in the village before 1983, had resettled in the village after the Ceasefire Agreement in 2002.

 

● A young married man has been missing from his residence on Potpathi Road, Kudaththanai, Vadamaraadchi, Jaffna, according to a complaint filed by his wife at the Jaffna SLHRC. Selvaraja Mugunthan, alias Suresh, 34, father of one, had left his house on April 3and has not been seen since.

 

● Eravur Police arrested and detained 12 Tamil youths, including a woman, in a cordon and search operation at Division No 5 of Eravur, Batticaloa. A large number of police officers sealed off the entire area and conducted a door to door search for several hours, questioning every individual and scrutinising identity cards.

 

● Nine Tamil civilians were arrested in Iruthayapuram, a Tamil village in Muthur, during a cordon and search operation by security forces. All of the arrested were handed over to Muthur police for further questioning, on suspicion of being members of the LTTE.

 

● SLA and paramilitary cadres forcibly entered a house at Sivapuram in Kanguveli, Muthur south, and shot and killed the owner, Thamotharampillai, 50, a farmer.

 

● Following the ambush of a SLA foot patrol in Sakkotai, Vadamaradchy north, Jaffna, SLA soldiers cordoned off and searched large areas in Valvettiturai and Udupiddy. SLA soldiers in Buffel APCs, and soldiers of SLA's field bike units participated in the search. This followed searches of Sakkottai and Polykandy villages, along northern Vadaramaradchy where the attack took place, the previous afternoon following the attack.

 

● Armed men on motor cycles shot dead a young family man and seriously injured his friend at a house at Saanthai, Chankanai, Jaffna. Thavarasa Moorthy, 24, was on his way home with Manikkam Mathanaraja, 21, a tailor. They were returning from hospital where Moorthy had given blood to his wife who had been operated on after delivering their first child. The killers chased Moorthy and shot him dead at point blank range as he tried to escape into his house while his friend was injured but managed to escape.

 

 

● The LTTE said they recovered eight bodies after repulsing a SLA ground operation that attempted to move towards Paalamoddai, Vavuniya. Three LTTE fighters were also killed.

 

● The SLA was busy deploying military hardware and additional troops towards FDLs in Jaffna. Cell phone link to the peninsula, operated via Palali base, was also cut off. Truck loads of supplies were rushed from Palali military base towards the Northern Front throughout the day.

 

● A group of armed men, alleged to be paramilitary cadres working for the SLA, shot dead three persons and injured two others at Kumankulam in Vavuniya. Chandrakumar Rajakopal, 20, was on his way to buy groceries. Arulappu Ketheeswaran, 48, was shot when he went out to make a telephone call. The third victim was identified as Subramaniam Chandramathy, 68. The attackers had hit a shop owner in the vicinity with gun butts. There have been at least five similar killings where 10 persons have been killed in the villages surrounding Veppankulam military camp. Relatives allege the killers were Tamil speaking paramilitary cadres employed by the SLA. Vavuniya Police had claimed that three LTTE cadres were shot dead in a playground in Kumankulam. The police had further claimed that they had recovered arms from the victims.

 

● Armed persons opened fire on a SLA patrol unit at Sakkottai, Polykandy in Vadamaradchy north. Following the attack, the dead and injured were air lifted to Palay SLA Base hospital twice in a military helicopter. SLA troopers cordoned off and searched Sakkottai, Polykandy villages. The number of SLA troopers dead or injured is suspected to be high.

 

● The bullet ridden body of young married man was discovered by his wife in an abandoned house in a border village in a SLA HSZ in Ampanai, Alaveddy in Valigamam North, Jaffna. Balasubramaniam Sivaganeshan, 31, a father of three and a resident of Sithankerny, Ulavaththai of Vaddukoddai, left for work the previous morning and had not returned. The victim is believed to have been abducted by unidentified men and tortured before being shot dead.

 

● A close friend of Balasubramaniam Sivaganeshan, also a resident of Sithankerny, Vaddukoddai, surrendered himself at the Jaffna SLHRC office seeking protection for his life. He complained that he and the deceased have been receiving death threats in the recent days.

 

● The SLN, engaged in setting up a large guard post at Point Pedro Munai (light house), has ordered 33 resettled families affected by 2004 Boxing Day tsunami, to vacate their new homes. The SLN officials had told the villagers that the Sri Lankan Government would provide alternate accommodation elsewhere. However, the officials at Jaffna District Secretariat were not aware of any initiative for alternate accommodation for the affected families. District Secretariat officials coordinating tsunami resettlement in the peninsula have expressed fear that the move could affect hundreds of resettled families in the area. The fishermen expressed fear that they would be left without any viable alternatives, as thousands of families, already affected by the military HSZs in the peninsula, were not provided any alternative arrangements by the Sri Lankan government.

 

● Masked armed men opened fire with a T56 rifle, killing a trader and seriously injuring a youth, at the trader's house in Eravur, Batticaloa. The trader was identified as A. K. Aslam, 28, a father of two and a resident of Kudiyirrupu in Eravur. The wounded was identified as Jahnkir, 18. The masked killers disconnected the electricity supply to Aslam's house and entered the house where they locked up the rest of the family in a room before opening fire on the victims.

 

● Armed men forcibly entered a house and shot dead a family man, seriously injuring his wife, at Aathimoddai, Samballthivu, Trincomalee. The victim was identified as M. Srikantha, 48, a father of two, and a resident of Aathimoddai, in Sambalthivu.

 

● Armed men opened fire on a SLA sentry post in Thiriyai, Trincomalee, injuring two troopers. The SLA cordoned off and searched the area immediately after the attack but no one was arrested.

 

● Armed men shot dead Sithamparapillai Muraleetharan, 27, a family man, in Pandiruppu, Kalmunai, Amparai.

 

● The Education Ministry Secretary of the de-merged East Provincial Council (EPC), L. S. C. Siriwardene, who was a former Government Agent of Amparai district, was arrested in his office in Orr's Hill, Trincomalee town, by a team of Bribery and Corruption Commission officials when he was allegedly accepting a bribe. Commission officials arrested Mr. Siriwardene on a complaint that he had demanded fifty thousand rupees for appointing a volunteer teacher on permanent basis as teacher-assistant. Mr. Siriwardene earlier served as the Secretary of the Health Services Ministry of the merged North East Provincial Council (NEPC) till it was de-merged three months ago on an order by the Supreme Court.

 

● The UNP parliamentarian for Kurunagala district, Johnston Fernando, who had criticized Gotabhaya Rajapakse, the Sri Lankan Defence Secretary, complained to the Police and to the Speaker of parliament that he received death threats over the telephone. One anonymous caller had threatened Mr. Fernando that he would face the same fate as the sacked UPFA minister Sripathi Sooriyarachi.

 

 

● Two Tamil youths from Jaffna, arrested and detained in Colombo on suspicion that they were members of the LTTE, were released on the instruction of the Colombo Chief Magistrate. Fort Police took them into custody on April 2 when they were walking along a road. The Police submitted a report to court that the youths, identified as Gunaratnam Rajkamal, 20, and Poopalasingham Gajendran, 22, of Jaffna, were not involved in LTTE activities and were staying in Colombo to go to Saudi Arabia for employment.

 

● An Arts Faculty student of Jaffna University, abducted in Jaffna city Monday, was released the next night along a desolate roadside after severe torture. The abductors, travelling in a white van, had released Nagenthiram Rajaluxman, 25. He told hospital authorities that he was waylaid outside his home and abducted by the SLA military intelligence (MI) section and later interrogated and tortured in a military camp before release. Mr. Rajaluxmanm, a resident of Naavalar Veethi, Ariyaalai, is a 3rd year art student of Jaffna University.

 

● Persons, believed to be SLA soldiers, abducted a family man riding in motor bike from in front of Skanthavarothaya College, Chunnakam in Valikamam North, Jaffna. His wife lodged a complaint with the Jaffna office of the SLHRC saying relatives had witnessed her husband being taken away by SLA soldiers. She visited all SLA camps in the region in search of her husband, Pathinathan Christie Gnanaroopan, 25, a father of one, but she was not successful in locating him.

 

● The SLA and police took away 6 Tamils in a search in 4th, 5th and 6th Unit areas in Pavatkulam in Vavuniya, in which all males in the areas were transported to Varikuttiyoor junction on Poovarasankulam-Chettikulam road, where they were produced before a person whose face and head were hooded. The hooded person identified five local males and one internally displaced person by nodding his head and the SLA and police took the six civilians to Vavuniya. T. Venugopal, 21, Ganeshan Uthayan, 26, and Packiyarasa Puvi, 26, are being detained at Vavuniya police station for further interrogation.

 

● Two ambulances from Kilinochchi district hospital, carrying 11 patients in need of urgent medical transportation to Vavuniya hospital, were forced to return to Kilinochchi as the ambulances were not allowed to proceed beyond Omanthai SLA checkpost due to the closure of the entry point. Exchange of artillery fire following Sri Lankan troops attempt to move into LTTE territory had caused the closure of Omanthai gateway. The patients denied access to treatment included Vinijia Sarojini, 41, Rajendran Kantharuby, 34, Vinayagamoorthy Vasanthy, 46, Kunaratnam Rajeswary, 58, in one ambulance, and Maheswary's baby, Thinninayakam Annalaxmy, 76, Mohanaraj Kavithas, 6, Selvananthan Sinthuja, 21, Nagalingam Sarojini, 35 and Paramalingam Sinthija, 10, in the other ambulance.

 

● Unidentified persons abducted Kuttan Piraruban, a fifteen year-old student and a member of a resettled family, in Thiriyai, a traditional Tamil village in Trincomalee. He had been studying in Thiriyai Tamil Maha Vidiyalayam in Year 9. Unidentified persons had entered his house and took him away forcibly, according to a complaint filed with the police and SLMM.

 

● Thirty passengers were killed and 41 injured when a passenger bus collided with a container lorry at Induruwa, Galle. The bus had been heading to Colombo from Udugama along A 2 while the container which was carrying beer was heading from Colombo to Galle.

 

● Thalaimannar police arrested a man following a complaint by parents of a missing person that he had been murdered by fellow fishermen. Earlier, Nelson Tharcius was reported disappeared on April 5 when the SLN fired at the boat he was travelling on with two others. The suspect, identified as Wimal, had told Police he, along with Nelson Tharcius and Rajan, transported refugees to Tamil Nadu from Pesalai on April 5 and the SLN had fired at the boat when they were returning to Pesalai. Nelson Tharcius died due to gunshot injuries and they threw his body into the sea, according to Wimal’s statement. However Tharcius’ parents told the Police that he did not die due to Navy firing, but was killed by his fellow fishermen, Wimal and Rajan. The police later recovered a sharp knife buried in a sandbank in Talaimannar Sea and are now taking steps to arrest Rajan.

 

 

● A diplomatic van belonging to the Indian High Commission, on it's way to receive a diplomat from the International Airport in Colombo, was hijacked and the driver of the vehicle, Mr. S. Vishvanathan, was abducted by two attackers Seeduwa, southeast of Katunayake Airport. The driver, badly beaten by the attackers, lost his two teeth and was released early the next morning. The vehicle which left Colombo around 11:00 p.m., had been chased by a car from Peliyagoda and obstructed near Dandugama bridge. The attackers in the car bound Mr. Vishvanathan, and took him away in their car. The van was driven away by one of the men. In 2005, Indian Deputy High Commissioner A. Manikkam's Jeep was robbed at gun point at Abeypussa rest house. The vehicle was never recovered.

 

● A ten year old girl in Mankumaban, an islet off the coast of Jaffna, was raped by two SLN soldiers. The girl had just gone outside her home to play when she was grabbed by the Navy soldiers and raped. When her parents attempted to leave the islet and go to Jaffna, they were threatened and prevented from leaving Mankumban by the SLN.

 

● A triangular area covering East Ariyaalai, Naavatkuzhi and Kaeratheevu in Jaffna was targeted by LTTE artillery guns when exchange of artillery fire was reported along the FDLs in Jaffna. The SLA suffered heavy casualties in artillery shelling by the Tigers. Although local SLA command put the casualty figures at 6 wounded, 3 military ambulances were seen transporting wounded troopers after imposing an unusual block halting all civilian traffic along Jaffna - Palaali Road for more than an hour.

 

● Four armed men in military fatigue, riding in a white van, forcibly abducted a young labourer at gun point from his residence in Koyyaththoaddam, Jaffna. The father of Rajendram Uthayakumar, 24, in his testimony to the SLHRC in Jaffna, said he was prepared to identify the perpetrators if an identity parade is held and alleged that the perpetrators were SLA soldiers.

 

● In Vavuniya, one SLA soldier was killed and three others wounded near Omanthai entry - exit point during an exchange of artillery fire between the SLA and LTTE.

 

● Gnanaseelan Ravi, 24, a carpenter by profession from Crusoe Road in Chundukuli, Jaffna, has been missing since he left for work to Jaffna town on his motor cycle.

 

● Rajenthiram Uthayakumar, 26, from Navatkuli housing scheme, was abducted, according to a complaint lodged with the Jaffna SLHRC

 

● The annual celebrations at the historic Panrithalaichi Amman Temple in Manthuvil, Thenmaradchy, Jaffna, was disrupted when SLA soldiers conducted a cordon and search operation. Thousands of devotees who thronged the area were prevented from proceeding towards the temple. "Pangunithingal" festival is conducted each year after the cultivation is over and when the agricultural crops are at their peak production. The feast draws around twenty five thousand devotees from areas throughout the peninsula. The public bring in their farm produce to the temple and cook meals in the premises where many of them stay overnight. In a pre dawn operation, thousands of SLA troops searched Madduvil, Chavakachcheri, Sarasalai, Kangampuliyady Junction and desolate shrub lands in Kapoothu areas, preventing devotees from proceeding towards the temple.