Violence round up – week ending 25 March

● Armed men with hand guns chased Soosaithaas Thanaraaj, 19, as he was selling grapes on the pavement of Hospital Road and shot him dead while he was running for his life calling for help. Thanaraaj used to buy grapes from his native village of Ilavaalai and sell them on the pavements of Jaffna city.

● The owner of an ice-cream bar and his assistant were shot and killed behind the bus stand on Jaffna Power House Road. They were identified as Arulraaj Jeyantharoopan, 26, from Kokkuvil Kanthi Veethi and Yoakalingkam Chaarangkan, 23, Theatre Road, Inuvil.

● Two SLAF personnel, a group captain and a sergeant, were killed when their vehicle ran off the road and hit a bridge at Weerawila in Hambantota district. Six more SLAF personnel were injured in the accident.

● Two armed men on motorbikes shot dead the Batticaloa district Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) organiser at Erivil in Kalavanchikudy, Batticaloa. M. Sabaratnam, 65, a father of four, was shot dead as he was having breakfast at a food stall near his house.

● A plantation Tamil student at Nawalapitiya Balika Vidiyalayam has been reported missing since February 27, according to a complaint lodged with the Nawalapitya Police. D. Sellathurai said in his complaint that his son S. Krishnaraj, 16, left home to sit for his test and had not returned home. He was wearing green shirt and black trousers when last seen.

● Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) directors, returning after monitoring the relief assistance to the displaced civilians, following the SLA operation on the Mannar Vavuniya border, were attacked by a SLA DPU claymore. Humanitarian worker Mr. Muthuraja Aruleswaran, 30, was killed and 3 TRO directors, including the Assistant Executive Director of the TRO, Vadivel Ravichandran, 38, were wounded in the attack at Periyamadu in Mannar. Mr. Aruleswaran, from Mudkompan in Pooneryn, is the father of a 1-year-old child, TRO officials said. The Emergency Assistance worker was driving the TRO vehicle when the attack took place. International Planning Director of the TRO, Seenithamby Parameswaran, 41, and the Director of Akkarayan Development Organisation, Selvarajah Nixon, 37, from Silavattai, were also wounded in the claymore attack.

● Attackers lobbed a powerful hand bomb into a SLA check post near the SLA 51-2 Brigade Command in Jaffna city, killing a SLA soldier and wounding four. A civilian was wounded when SLA soldiers opened fire after the attack and was identified as Balasubramaniam Gajarooban, 21, of Thirunelvaeli. The attackers had escaped after throwing the bomb, which is believed to be a powerful hand grenade. Military officials in Colombo claimed that the attack was carried out by a suicide bomber, on a SLA road block.

● Mannar police recovered a grenade at a site opposite the telecommunication office along Mannar railway station road. The grenade was diffused by the SLA bomb disposal squad. Government troops rushed to the site on receipt of information from the Mannar Police and blocked all traffic and civilian movement along the road.

● LTTE officials in Kilinochchi charged that more than 300 SLA troopers had breached 2 km into LTTE territory and taken more than 120 villagers of Periyathampanai, on the Vavuniya Mannar border, as “human shields”. More than 300 SLA troopers were engaged in the ground offensive, which followed heavy artillery shelling by the SLA and a DPU claymore attack wounding 2 civilians in Parappukkandanthan. The troopers were forced to pull back from Thampanai and Sinna Pandivirichchan after 15 hours of heavy fighting. LTTE officials said they defeated the two pronged offensive, without harming the civilians who were in the hands of the SLA. Around 60 SLA soldiers were killed, the Tigers claimed. Official figures from Colombo said 14 soldiers were killed and 42 wounded. The LTTE said they lost 6 fighters.

● The SLA launched heavy artillery and Multi Barrel Rocket Launcher fire on Periya Pandivirichchan. Joseph Manuelpillai, 51, a watcher attached to the Madu Multi Purpose Co-Operative Society (MPCS) secretariat was killed in the artillery fire. Heavy artillery and MBRL rocket fire was stepped up on the settlement near Madu church from the SLA camp in Piramanalankulam Junction on Mannar - Vavuniya Road and Madu Road Junction on Mannar Madawachchi Road.

● An attempt by SLA to invade into LTTE territory, from their camps in Unnichai and Vavunathivu, was successfully thwarted said S. Seeralan, LTTE Batticaloa District Deputy head of the Political wing. An Unmanned aircraft had circled over the area, after which four SLAF kfir fighter jets bombed Vavunathivu area in an effort to lend support to the SLA troops. In addition, the SLA, from its camps in areas under its control in Batticaloa, launched heavy artillery and Multi Barrel Rocket Launcher fire on LTTE held areas, Seeralan said. A Buffel Armoured Personnel Carrier was damaged, and SLA troopers who tried to advance had withdrawn when LTTE launched retaliatory attacks on Vavunathivu SLA camp, he added.

● Armed men on motorbikes waylaid Nirmalanathan Mayooran, 19, an employee of Periannai Church in Jaffna and abducted him at gunpoint as he was coming out of his house at Bankshall street in Jaffna town.

● A group of masked men forcibly entered a house in Faizal Nagar in Kinniya and shot at the inmates, injuring a husband and wife Arumugam, 40, and his wife Vijerani, 37, were admitted to hospital. Trincomalee office of the SLMM was informed of the incident.

● The wife of a Tamil resident of Negombo complained to Negombo Police that her husband, Selliah Tharmarajah, 46, who was employed at a foreign employment agency, had not returned home after he left by bus with his national identity card to report for work in Colombo office. Mr. Selliah Tharmarajah, 46, a native of Kopay in Jaffna district has been missing since January 11, according to the complaint lodged by his wife Vishayanthi Kalpana, 40. The family has been residing at Wellawatte in Colombo and later in Negombo for several years.

● A SLA soldier went missing in Kinniya, Trincomalee. R. P. S. R. Wickramasinghe, 24, of Nawalapitya, disappeared while travelling with a group of soldiers from Palathoppur military detachment in Muttur to Upparu in Kinniya. A complaint was lodged by the SLA with Muttur Police that the soldier is presumed drowned while crossing Mahaweli Ganga to reach Upparu with fellow soldiers.

● A female employee of a pharmacy in front of Jaffna Teaching Hospital within a SLA HSZ was shot dead by two gunmen on a motorcycle and who pretended to buy medicine. Uthayajothika Kapilan, 27, from Kaithady was working at the Westco pharmacy, when she was killed. Local traders, who witnessed the escaping gunmen, said the gunmen rode with ease towards Vembadi Junction where there is a heavy presence of SLA troopers, and blamed the Sri Lanka intelligence operatives for the killing.

● SLA troopers abducted a labourer from his house at Mandan, Karaveddy in Vadamaradchy, Jaffna, knifed and strangled him, and dumped the body in Valaiveli area thinking he was dead. People who went in search of him the next morning found him severely injured fighting for life and brought him home. Thangathurai Thayaparan, 28, a father of one, testifying before Point Pedro Magistrate, said that he was abducted at gunpoint by SLA troopers and that he can identify his abductors. Thayaparan's younger brother, an auto driver aged 23, had received death threats from the SLA and Thayaparan's relatives speculate that Thayaparan was mistakenly abducted for his brother.

● Tharmaratnam Uthayasangar, 19, a student from Kudaniyan, Varani was found shot dead in Thenamradchy, Jaffna. Armed men shot him dead at his house.

● Sivapathasundaram Vijithas, 27, a father of one from Kokuvil, had married at Pommaiveli. His body was found dumped near his wife's house. Arasalingam Robinson, 18, was stabbed to death and burned with kerosene and was found in Annankai area in Kondavil. Both men were working as motor mechanics in a repair garage at Five Junction in Jaffna town from where both were abducted by armed men.

● SLA troopers in Buffel Armoured Personnel Carrier and motorbikes, accompanied by armed men in a white van, forcibly abducted a youth and a 16 year old student at gunpoint from the youth's house at Vayatkarai Lane in Vannarpannai, Jaffna. Masilamany Ajanthan, 24, is married and the abducted student, Vigneswaran Krishanthan, 16, is a student at Jaffna Illayathamby Vidyalayam. The latter, a relative and neighbour of Ajanthan, had gone to Ajanthan's house to get help with his lessons.

● Meikandathevar, 47, from Mirusuvil north, admitted to Jaffna Teaching hospital with serious gunshot wounds, succumbed to his injuries.

● The LTTE launched heavy artillery shelling on SLA camps in Morakkoddanchenai and Mavadivembu, and on check posts along Trincomalee Batticaloa A-15 road inflicting damage to the SLA positions north of Batticaloa. LTTE fighters raided at least one SLA camp at Mavadivembu. The SLA claimed to have located 8 bodies of LTTE fighters after the raid which lasted for more than 2 hours. At least 4 SLA troopers were killed and 8 SLA troopers were seriously wounded in LTTE shelling. Two civilians, Kathamuthu Marimuthu, 54, Soudararajah Saraswathy, 42, were killed in retaliatory fire by the SLA. A SLA mini camp in Mavadivembu was almost destroyed in the raid and the Morakkoddanchenai SLA base sustained significant damage due to heavy artillery firing. SLA troopers fired mortars and artillery shells into SLA controlled areas infiltrated by the LTTE fighters in small groups. 28 civilians, sustained wounds in shelling, were admitted at Batticaloa hospital.

● Armed men on a motorbike shot dead a 27 year old Tamil man in the heart of Trincomalee town. He is a resident of Killikunchchumalai area in Kanniya village. The men had stopped a three-wheeler driven by the victim along Main Street in Trincomalee town and shot him dead.

● Sri Lanka Armed Forces along the coastal belt of Vadamaradchy, Jaffna, reinstated the ban on fishing on Vadamaradchy north and east seas until further notice. The SLA stopped fishermen going fishing and said the ban will remain until they receive orders from high command to lift the ban.

● Unknown persons set fire to the SLA mini camp at Chullipuram, Valigamam, Jaffna, when the troopers were out on patrol. Additional troops were deployed at the site while the camp continued to burn. SLA troopers cordoned off and searched areas in Chullipuram and directed residents to gather at a public place for interrogation. The SLA troopers also forced passers by to rebuild the camp. In an earlier incident, the same SLA mini camp was burnt by armed men and in the cordon off and search by the SLA troopers following the burning many innocent civilians were beaten and subjected to harassment.

● SLA troopers arrested a youth during a cordon off and search at s school area in Sakkottai, Vadamaradchy north, Jafffna, but denied arresting the youth when contacted for information. The search was triggered after noise of gunshots being fired in the area. SLA troopers rounded up all the fishermen in the vicinity and had them gathered on the main street where they were subjected to many hours of interrogation.

● Kopay police recovered the body of a family man, with severe injuries to his body inflicted by sharp blows from a blunt instrument. The body of Chelliah Jegatheeswaran, 42, from Kattaipirai in Irupalai, was found along New Chemmany Road in Kalviyankadu, within Jaffna Muncipal council limits. His wife identified the body and said he had been missing since going out on Tuesday evening.

● Armed men on a motorcycle shot dead Gnanapragasam Joseph, 46, a trader, and Velautham Deeswaran, 35, his associate, spraying bullets at them near the trader's house at Pothisumaku road in Vavuniya and escaped. The killers had called Joseph out of his house by name and when he came out with Deeswaran, who had been talking to him, fired rapidly at close range, killing both on the spot. Joseph’s relatives told officials Joseph had paid a ransom of 300,000 rupees to an undisclosed person, and again had paid 75,000 rupees on a further demand. The victims had no connection either to Tamil groups or military or police. Two months earlier Joseph's shop had been searched twice by police on tips-off that there was a bomb in the shop.

● Sri Lanka armed forces took into custody 72 civilians, most of them Tamils, in a cordon and search operation in Uddapu, a Tamil village in Chilaw district. The police said most of them were taken into custody when they failed to produce their National Identity Card and some failed to justify their presence in the location. Police took them to Munthal police station and subjected them to severe interrogation. Later the police released 67 of them and five have been further detained.

● Residents and traders in Puttalam observed a general shut down condemning the killing and abducting of civilians for ransom. Shops were closed, public transport came to a standstill and normal life in the town was disrupted. A demonstration was also held in the town with the participation of large number of people. Several speakers at the demonstration said the police have not been taking prompt action to stop abductions and killings of civilians in Puttalam. Puttalam Jemiyath Ulama Council and Al-Sura Council organized the general shut down and demonstration.

● Five people – a Hindu priest, two teen aged sisters, and two IDP youths from LTTE held areas in Batticaloa district – have been taken away by paramilitary Karuna Group personnel and soldiers of the SLA Intelligence wing within the last 10 days, according to complaints lodged with Batticaloa SLHRC by their relatives. Alaguthurai Yogarajah, 23, of Kardiyanaru, Raveenthiran Gopinath, 21, of Ampilanthurai, Mylapodi Mehanathan, 45, a Hindu priest, Navaratnam Anjaladevi, 18, and Navaratnam Jeyalalitha, 16, two sisters from Unnichchai, were taken away forcefully from the temporary camps, schools and other public buildings, relatives said.

● Armed men abducted Mahalingam Baskaran, 34, a father of two, at gunpoint from his house in Tholpuram, Chullipuram, Jafffna.

● An SLA street patrol unit opened indiscriminate firing on youths who stood talking along Udupitty-Valvettithurai road at Valvetty area in Valvettithurai, Jaffna. The youths fled leaving their motorbikes and bicycles behind and the troopers took all the vehicles into cusyody.

● A fifty-seven year old resident of Sirupitty, Valligamam, Jaffna, sought protection from SLA troopers and their collaborating paramilitary members at Jaffna police station through the Jaffna office of the SLHRC. The man said that two youths had been killed at Nilavarai in his area and that he too feared being abducted SLA troopers.

● A private house functioning as an extension of Jaffna prison – where persons under protective custody are lodged – has become overcrowded and unhygienic conditions prevail for want of adequate space and basic facilities, according to prison officials. More than 200 inmates, including nearly 60 placed under protective custody, live in this house capable of accommodating less than a hundred persons. Chickenpox has spread nearly to all, as those infected cannot be segregated from the rest for lack of space.

● Armed men shot dead a carpenter in his house at Murganoor in Vavuniya. The victim was identified as Ragu, 47. His daughter and son were abducted two years ago. The son had managed to escape from the abductors but the fate of the daughter remains unknown.

● Gunmen shot dead M. Ramesh, 26, the president of the Panankadu Auto Drivers' Union, while he was driving his auto in Akkaraipattu, Amparai.

● Villagers of Mulli at Varani discovered two corpses in partly burnt state dumped in shrub land along Kodikamam-Point Pedro road between Thenmaradchy and Vadamaradchi. The victims appeared to have been killed elsewhere, brought to Varani and burnt. Villagers fear there may be other corpses near the where the two bodies were found. A search by the police the next night ended in failure. Military boot tracks were found on the marshy ground and residents allege that the burnt corpses were removed during the night by the troopers who the villagers accuse of dumping the bodies there.

● Unidentified persons lobbed a grenade on a sentry manned by home guards at Mudcove, Trincomalee. No one was injured in the attack, but home guards and army troops rushed to the scene opened fire in retaliation. Later government security forces and police conducted a cordon and search operation in the area and took about 19 civilians into custody.

● Veersingham Nishanthan, 29, and Arasan Sahayanathan, 39, two fishermen who went night fishing in Muhathuvaram sea in Batticaloa did not return home.