Violence continued to escalate across Sri Lanka’s Northeast over the past fortnight with claymore attacks, indiscriminate shooting, the sinking of gunboats and shelling of villages. Over 100 people, mainly civilians, were killed in the last two weeks alone across the Tamil regions.
Whilst the major incidents are reported elsewhere in this edition, the numerous other incidents are detailed below:
Two Tamil youths travelling in a two-wheel tractor were shot dead by unidentified armed men at Periyapalam, a village in the Sri Lanka government controlled territory in Muttur town, Trincomalee, Sunday.
Three Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers were seriously wounded when unknown assailants threw hand grenades at their foot patrol near the Post Office Junction along Jaffna-Palaly Road Saturday. Assailants had approached the junction through the road that runs behind the Jaffna Campus and escaped after hurling the grenades at the SLA troopers. Soldiers indiscriminately fired after the incident, seriously injuring an elderly civilian who was passing by along the Palaly Road.
In Batticaloa, two unidentified gunmen shot and killed a cadre from the paramilitary Karuna Group who was riding on a motorbike with another cadre. A T-56 rifle and a 9 mm gun were recovered by the Police from the site, in front of Kattankudy bus stand on Batticaloa Kalmunai main street.
A total of six and a half million rupees worth of books, computer equipment and property were destroyed when Sri Lankan troops burnt the International Students Association of Tamileelam (ISATE) building and the office of the Jaffna MP Mr. S. Kajendran, Friday night. This is the fifth attack of this kind on the same building, the MP wrote in a letter to the Head of Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM).
“International Students Union provides extensive services to the students in Jaffna. It hosts a library of 2000 books for the University as well as for the Advanced Level school students. Some computers and valuable office equipments were stolen by the forces and the rest were burnt,” the letter further said.
An armed paramilitary group that arrived in motorbikes from Urelu doused the building with gasoline and set fire to it while SLA soldiers from the field motorbike unit provided security, local residents said. SLA soldiers stationed at Palaly Road blocked the fire-brigade and the locals from approaching the building to extinguish the fire.
A SLA soldier with a road patrol was shot dead by an unknown gunman on Jaffna Main Street near Chundukili Girls School Saturday morning. The gunman was hiding behind a building in the Main street and escaped after the shooting.
Seventeen-year-old student Balakumar was shot dead last Friday morning in Muttur town by unidentified people on cycles. Another Tamil student was seriously injured in the attack. Separately, two motorbike riding gunmen shot and wounded a 25-year-old youth at the entrance of Valaichenai Church Friday at 7:00 p.m., Police said.
In Jaffna, the body of Rasan Santhakumar 26, a fisherman from Karainagar, was recovered from a fresh grave found in the vicinity of the SLN camp in Karainagar area Friday afternoon. Santhaumar went missing Wednesday after he went out with his bike, relatives said. Kayts police recovered the body and had handed it to the Jaffna Teaching Hospital for postmortem examinations.
Two civilians from Mankumban, 5th District area, in Kayts were seriously injured Friday when four unidentified gunmen entered their house scaling the perimeter wall, and fired indiscriminately inside the house Friday. P.Sunderalingam, 54, and his daughter S.Jeyaranee, 29, suffered serious gunshot wounds.
Separately, two gunmen on a motorbike shot and killed Mr. Gnanam, 45, owner of a hair dressing saloon in Atchuveli north in Valigamam east, Friday as he was opening his saloon. Meanwhile, a relative of another disappeared saloon owner was held in Atchuvely checkpoint by SLA soldiers, tortured and threatened with death. The fate of Vellautham Gopi, 26, a hairdressing saloon owner in Point Pedro abducted by unidentified gunmen Tuesday, 09 May, is yet unknown.
A SLA trooper was seriously injured in a hand grenade attack on the SLA street patrol unit by an unidentified person at Urikadu on the Valvettiturai- Thondaimanaru road in Jaffna Thursday. Though the SLA soldiers opened fire on the attacker, neither the attacker nor other people on the site were hit.
On Thursday morning Mr.Surendran alias Surya, (22) owner of a hairdressing saloon in Muttur was shot dead by unidentified armed persons on a motorcycle. He died on the spot inside his saloon with injuries on his head and chest. The saloon is located about one hundred yards away from the Kaddaiparichchan army camp in the government-controlled territory.
In Jaffna, SLA soldiers detained six youths, all below 25 years, Thursday afternoon from a restaurant at Kalady junction near Jaffna University. The youths, two from Point Pedro and four residents of Jaffna town, were standing in front of the restaurant when they were rounded by SLA soldiers who arrived on motorbikes. The students were blind folded and were taken to the Atchelu SLA camp, witnesses said, but the SLA had not report on the missing youth.
Two SLN troopers were seriously wounded in a claymore attack in the Jaffna islet of Velanai last Wednesday. The SLN conducted a large scale cordon and search operation in Velani Vangalavadi area where the explosion took place and arrested an elderly civilian.
In Mannar, the mothers of two students lodged separate complaints with the Mannar Citizen Committee about the disappearance of their sons. Ms L.Thangarasa (44) of Kallimoddai in Murunkan in her complaint said that her son Johnson (13) a student who went for school on April 14 this year did not return thereafter. Ms B.Soosaiammah (52) of Panankattikottu in Mannar in her complaint said her son Antony Sureshkumar (17) who left home on April 24 morning had not returned thereafter.
Two civilian employees of Forestry Resources Protection unit attached to the civil administration in Vanni, were found shot dead in Panikkankulam jungle, 5 km west of A9 road northwest of Mankulam Tuesday last week. The employees who went to the jungle Tuesday, 02 May, were reported missing on 05 May, Tamileelam police officials said.
In Valaichenai, Seenithamby Logeswaran, 25, of Panichankerny, riding with a friend on his motorbike, was seriously injured and later died when he was fired at by gunmen allegedly belonging to Karuna group in Kayankerny. The gunmen who had lain in ambush near Kayankerny bridge escaped after shooting Logeswaran, reports said.
In the Jaffna peninsula, unidentified gunmen in a white Hiace van abducted two traders in Pt. Pedro town, in an SLA high security zone. The men were abducted when they were getting ready to go home after closing their shops. Also on Tuesday, a Jaffna student on his way abroad was reported missing together with his driver and the vehicle after reaching the Omanthai SLA checkpost on 6 May.
Monday last week, SLA soldiers closed entry points to the A9 at Omanthai and the Muhamalai crossing also remained closed as SLA imposed a curfew. The SLA also closed down Uyilankulam and Madhu entry points to the Liberation Tigers controlled territory in the Mannar district. Soldiers also began moving towards Forward Defense Lines (FDLs) in Nagarkovil in Vadamaradchy east, and surrounding villages of Manatkaadu and Kudathanai, in vehicle convoys from Palaly Military base.
In Batticaloa, the body of fisherman Sinnamuthu Sivalingam, 43, from Kaluvankerny, was recovered last Monday after receiving complaints that the father of four had not returned from when he went fishing the previous Friday.
Twelve police cadres including a police woman, and two civilians were seriously injured in a hand grenade attack by unidentified men riding in a motorbike Sunday in front of Batticlaoa police head office. The police were talking near a vegetable stall just in front of the police head office when the attackers lobbed the grenade. The police opened fire indiscriminately immediately after the attack, witnesses said.
The SLA also mounted artillery and mortar attacks on Liberation Tigers' controlled Vavunathivu, Batticaloa and surrounding areas last Sunday morning, but reports from the area indicated that no one was injured. Vavunathivu residents began moving out of the several residential areas after the attacks.
Unknown gunmen shot dead a youth in Thirunelvely, Jaffna, Sunday. The youth received four gunshot wounds and died on the spot.
Eight men who were guarding the Kelathu Amman temple in Chavakachcheri were killed during the night of Saturday, May 6 (see separate story).
Also in Jaffna, SLA soldiers damaged the building that functioned as the political office of the Liberation Tigers at Kokkuvil, in the early hours of Saturday last week. The troops entered the building and smashed doors and windows. Another building used by the women members of the LTTE's political wing at Kokkuvil east was also damaged.
Separately, two 23-year-old youths who had travelled to Jaffna town from Point Pedro to buy provisions for their carpentry business were reported missing Saturday. They had gone to Jaffna on Friday and had not returned by midday Saturday.
Elsewhere in Jaffna, SLA soldiers conducted a search operation in the Inuvil area Saturday morning. Kandaswamy temple road, KKS road and Cross road in Inuvil were searched by the troops. It is not known if any arrests were made.
In Mannar, the SLA and police conducted a combined cordon and search operation twice on Saturday, first in the morning and again after noon. All business establishments were searched and employees were subjected to severe interrogation.
On Friday May 5, around fifteen shots were heard from the offices of the Jaffna based daily, Namathu Eelanadu, though SLA soldiers had been deployed around the offices after the killings at the Uthayan.
Also, an unidentified attacker, armed with a handgun, fired on and SLA soldier who was guarding policemen providing security to Uthayan newspaper office. Meanwhile, another gunman in Vadamaradchi, shot and wounded an SLA soldier.
Separately Mr. Visanthy Aloysius, a Tamil farmer of Vellalarkaddu in Nanattan division in Mannar district was reported missing on May 5 after being arrested by the SLA on April 29. Several villagers witnessed the arrest, but now SLA officials are denying arresting the farmer, TNA parliamentarians said in a letter sent Friday.
In another incident, unidentified men on a motorbike shot dead a Tamil youth in Kantalai. The dead youth, who worked in sand mining and transportation of sand for the construction industry, was repairing his lorry parked close to his residence when the attackers shot him at close range and fled from the scene, Kantalai police said.
Unidentified gunman shot and killed a policeman M. Vajisiri, 39, of Batticaloa police station on May 5 in an attack on the 3 policemen posted near Batticaloa Hindu College playground. Separately, one police constable was killed on the spot and two seriously injured in a claymore explosion in Puraporukki in Vadamaradchy district. Meanwhile, in Urikadu, Valvettiturai one SLA soldier has been reported killed and one soldier and a policeman wounded, in a separate grenade attack, while a third attack on SLA troopers was reported at Maruthanarmadam in Valikamam.
Separately, military officials in Colombo said SLN attack vessels had destroyed an LTTE boat and damaged two other in Kalpitti lagoon on May 5. Three LTTE cadres were in the boat killed by the Navy, according to press reports. A military spokesman said the boats had tried to provoke the Navy to move towards the coast where a heavy calibre gun installed in a truck was waiting to fire at the navy boats. “Since the Navy detected the weapon early, it did not move towards the danger zone, but instead attacked the remaining LTTE boats,” he said.
Three policemen and three civilians including an eight year old girl were injured Friday two weeks ago in Vavuniya in a claymore attack targeting the vehicle taking lunch to the police cadres. Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troopers and policemen opened fire for 15 minutes after the explosion, civilians told reporters.
On May 4, SLA and police personnel rounded up and searched Kallady, Kallady Velore, Thiruchenthur and Dutchbar in Kathankuddy police division in Batticaloa, taking 10 people to the police station for further inquiries. Residents complain that many areas in Batticaloa are being subjected to intensive roundup searches by the armed forces.
Soldiers and police also conducted a combined cordon and search operation that morning in the predominantly Tamil areas of the Trincomalee town. Security forces took sniffer dog to detect any explosives and claymore mines concealed in houses. However no explosives were found and no suspects were arrested during the operation. Meanwhile the police prohibited motorcycles and bicycles entering the port city with immediate effect for security reasons.
Separately, two SLA troopers were seriously injured in an attack launched on their patrol team in Inuvil, a village located between Kankesanthurai and Jaffna, that Thursday morning. Unconfirmed reports said that there was firefight when unidentified attackers attempted to abduct the soldiers.
Separately, five civilians were rushed to Vavuniya hospital with gunshot wounds when Sri Lankan troopers opened fire for more than 10 minutes after a grenade attack at the heart of Vavuniya town. Two policemen were wounded in the grenade attack that Thursday. Around 300 people were detained during a cordon and search operation following the attack.
Also, two home guards were killed and four injured when a chain of claymores exploded targeting a group of 9 homeguards in Avaranthulava, a Sinhala settlement located 15 km northwest of Vavuniya.
On Wednesday two weeks ago, the LTTE Mannar district political head, Mr. S. Iniyavan, complained to the SLMM of escalating attacks by the SLA DPUs.
Also on that Wednesday, a bus carrying around 50 passengers from Puliyankulam northwards in LTTE controlled area in Periyakulam in Vavuniya North narrowly escaped a claymore blast. Tamil Eelam Police accused an SLA DPU of being behind the attack on civilians, saying the claymore missed the target as it had slipped in the rainy weather. The attackers had exploded the anti-personnel mine from a 200 meters distance and the casualties would have been high if the bus had received the full blast of the explosion, the police said.
Meanwhile, a 50-year old woman farmer was killed and two others, including a 50-year old woman and a 60-year old man, were wounded when soldiers from Iranai Iluppaikulam fired at civilians who were returning with rice straw bundles from their fields. Also, two helmeted men on a motorcycle passing the Sri Lanka police sentry point on the Batticaloa-Trincomalee main road in Batticaloa, lobbed a hand grenade into the sentry point injuring one man who was rushed to the Batticaloa Teaching hospital.
On Tuesday May 2, the most reported attack was on the offices of the Jaffna daily, Uthayan, which left two dead. The shootings, the day before World Press Freedom Day, were allegedly the work of the paramilitary Eelam Peoples’ Democratic Party (see separate story).
Separately, the LTTE said it retaliated after the SLA launched artillery fire on their forward defence line at Navalady in Muttur. The LTTE cadres successfully retaliated the attack, said Mr. S. Elilan, Trincomalee district political head of the LTTE. A civilian who was crossing the lagoon sustained injuries in the SLA firing, reports said.
Meanwhile, a group of soldiers who penetrated into Liberation Tigers controlled Madu division, shot and killed a 50-year old female farmer and wounded a 60-year old man and another 50-year old woman. The farmers were returning from their fields with rice straw bundles when they were shot by the penetrating group.
Also, two lorry drivers of the Vaharai Multi-purpose society in Batticaloa, who had been abducted by armed cadres of the Karuna paramilitary group on April 25 were released that Tuesday, though the fuel tanker they were driving, with Rs 500,000 worth of fuel, was unaccounted for.
Also on May 2, armed men riding in a motorbike entered a hairdressing saloon near Thirunelvely junction in Jaffna and shot at a client, a trader from nearby public market, seriously wounding the trader and saloon owner. The trader, Arumugarajah Theyvendran, 54, succumbed to his wounds at Jaffna hospital. Eyewitnesses at the site, a high security area manned by SLA soldiers 24 hours a day, alleged that the SLA withdrew it's soldiers from nearby posts 10 minutes prior to the shooting.
On the same day, armed men on a motorbike shot and killed a young auto-rickshaw driver in Kodikamam in Thenmaradchi division, Jaffna. Selvaratnam Mathiseelan, 22, was the 8th auto driver gunned down in Jaffna. At the time, locals alleged that gunmen operating from SLA intelligence camps were behind the serial killings targeting auto-rickshaw drivers and traders in SLA controlled areas.
Meanwhile, Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, TNA parliamentarian for Jaffna district, complained of harassment and death threats to domestic staff at his Jaffna residence. In a letter to President Mahinda Rajapakse, Mr Ponnambalam states that two individuals had entered his premises, threatened a domestic helper with a firearm and searched the premises, before leaving. “Just before they had left, they further warned the domestic help that if the authorities were informed of this incident that she would be killed,” Mr Ponnambalam said.
Whilst the major incidents are reported elsewhere in this edition, the numerous other incidents are detailed below:
Two Tamil youths travelling in a two-wheel tractor were shot dead by unidentified armed men at Periyapalam, a village in the Sri Lanka government controlled territory in Muttur town, Trincomalee, Sunday.
Three Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers were seriously wounded when unknown assailants threw hand grenades at their foot patrol near the Post Office Junction along Jaffna-Palaly Road Saturday. Assailants had approached the junction through the road that runs behind the Jaffna Campus and escaped after hurling the grenades at the SLA troopers. Soldiers indiscriminately fired after the incident, seriously injuring an elderly civilian who was passing by along the Palaly Road.
In Batticaloa, two unidentified gunmen shot and killed a cadre from the paramilitary Karuna Group who was riding on a motorbike with another cadre. A T-56 rifle and a 9 mm gun were recovered by the Police from the site, in front of Kattankudy bus stand on Batticaloa Kalmunai main street.
A total of six and a half million rupees worth of books, computer equipment and property were destroyed when Sri Lankan troops burnt the International Students Association of Tamileelam (ISATE) building and the office of the Jaffna MP Mr. S. Kajendran, Friday night. This is the fifth attack of this kind on the same building, the MP wrote in a letter to the Head of Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM).
“International Students Union provides extensive services to the students in Jaffna. It hosts a library of 2000 books for the University as well as for the Advanced Level school students. Some computers and valuable office equipments were stolen by the forces and the rest were burnt,” the letter further said.
An armed paramilitary group that arrived in motorbikes from Urelu doused the building with gasoline and set fire to it while SLA soldiers from the field motorbike unit provided security, local residents said. SLA soldiers stationed at Palaly Road blocked the fire-brigade and the locals from approaching the building to extinguish the fire.
A SLA soldier with a road patrol was shot dead by an unknown gunman on Jaffna Main Street near Chundukili Girls School Saturday morning. The gunman was hiding behind a building in the Main street and escaped after the shooting.
Seventeen-year-old student Balakumar was shot dead last Friday morning in Muttur town by unidentified people on cycles. Another Tamil student was seriously injured in the attack. Separately, two motorbike riding gunmen shot and wounded a 25-year-old youth at the entrance of Valaichenai Church Friday at 7:00 p.m., Police said.
In Jaffna, the body of Rasan Santhakumar 26, a fisherman from Karainagar, was recovered from a fresh grave found in the vicinity of the SLN camp in Karainagar area Friday afternoon. Santhaumar went missing Wednesday after he went out with his bike, relatives said. Kayts police recovered the body and had handed it to the Jaffna Teaching Hospital for postmortem examinations.
Two civilians from Mankumban, 5th District area, in Kayts were seriously injured Friday when four unidentified gunmen entered their house scaling the perimeter wall, and fired indiscriminately inside the house Friday. P.Sunderalingam, 54, and his daughter S.Jeyaranee, 29, suffered serious gunshot wounds.
Separately, two gunmen on a motorbike shot and killed Mr. Gnanam, 45, owner of a hair dressing saloon in Atchuveli north in Valigamam east, Friday as he was opening his saloon. Meanwhile, a relative of another disappeared saloon owner was held in Atchuvely checkpoint by SLA soldiers, tortured and threatened with death. The fate of Vellautham Gopi, 26, a hairdressing saloon owner in Point Pedro abducted by unidentified gunmen Tuesday, 09 May, is yet unknown.
A SLA trooper was seriously injured in a hand grenade attack on the SLA street patrol unit by an unidentified person at Urikadu on the Valvettiturai- Thondaimanaru road in Jaffna Thursday. Though the SLA soldiers opened fire on the attacker, neither the attacker nor other people on the site were hit.
On Thursday morning Mr.Surendran alias Surya, (22) owner of a hairdressing saloon in Muttur was shot dead by unidentified armed persons on a motorcycle. He died on the spot inside his saloon with injuries on his head and chest. The saloon is located about one hundred yards away from the Kaddaiparichchan army camp in the government-controlled territory.
In Jaffna, SLA soldiers detained six youths, all below 25 years, Thursday afternoon from a restaurant at Kalady junction near Jaffna University. The youths, two from Point Pedro and four residents of Jaffna town, were standing in front of the restaurant when they were rounded by SLA soldiers who arrived on motorbikes. The students were blind folded and were taken to the Atchelu SLA camp, witnesses said, but the SLA had not report on the missing youth.
Two SLN troopers were seriously wounded in a claymore attack in the Jaffna islet of Velanai last Wednesday. The SLN conducted a large scale cordon and search operation in Velani Vangalavadi area where the explosion took place and arrested an elderly civilian.
In Mannar, the mothers of two students lodged separate complaints with the Mannar Citizen Committee about the disappearance of their sons. Ms L.Thangarasa (44) of Kallimoddai in Murunkan in her complaint said that her son Johnson (13) a student who went for school on April 14 this year did not return thereafter. Ms B.Soosaiammah (52) of Panankattikottu in Mannar in her complaint said her son Antony Sureshkumar (17) who left home on April 24 morning had not returned thereafter.
Two civilian employees of Forestry Resources Protection unit attached to the civil administration in Vanni, were found shot dead in Panikkankulam jungle, 5 km west of A9 road northwest of Mankulam Tuesday last week. The employees who went to the jungle Tuesday, 02 May, were reported missing on 05 May, Tamileelam police officials said.
In Valaichenai, Seenithamby Logeswaran, 25, of Panichankerny, riding with a friend on his motorbike, was seriously injured and later died when he was fired at by gunmen allegedly belonging to Karuna group in Kayankerny. The gunmen who had lain in ambush near Kayankerny bridge escaped after shooting Logeswaran, reports said.
In the Jaffna peninsula, unidentified gunmen in a white Hiace van abducted two traders in Pt. Pedro town, in an SLA high security zone. The men were abducted when they were getting ready to go home after closing their shops. Also on Tuesday, a Jaffna student on his way abroad was reported missing together with his driver and the vehicle after reaching the Omanthai SLA checkpost on 6 May.
Monday last week, SLA soldiers closed entry points to the A9 at Omanthai and the Muhamalai crossing also remained closed as SLA imposed a curfew. The SLA also closed down Uyilankulam and Madhu entry points to the Liberation Tigers controlled territory in the Mannar district. Soldiers also began moving towards Forward Defense Lines (FDLs) in Nagarkovil in Vadamaradchy east, and surrounding villages of Manatkaadu and Kudathanai, in vehicle convoys from Palaly Military base.
In Batticaloa, the body of fisherman Sinnamuthu Sivalingam, 43, from Kaluvankerny, was recovered last Monday after receiving complaints that the father of four had not returned from when he went fishing the previous Friday.
Twelve police cadres including a police woman, and two civilians were seriously injured in a hand grenade attack by unidentified men riding in a motorbike Sunday in front of Batticlaoa police head office. The police were talking near a vegetable stall just in front of the police head office when the attackers lobbed the grenade. The police opened fire indiscriminately immediately after the attack, witnesses said.
The SLA also mounted artillery and mortar attacks on Liberation Tigers' controlled Vavunathivu, Batticaloa and surrounding areas last Sunday morning, but reports from the area indicated that no one was injured. Vavunathivu residents began moving out of the several residential areas after the attacks.
Unknown gunmen shot dead a youth in Thirunelvely, Jaffna, Sunday. The youth received four gunshot wounds and died on the spot.
Eight men who were guarding the Kelathu Amman temple in Chavakachcheri were killed during the night of Saturday, May 6 (see separate story).
Also in Jaffna, SLA soldiers damaged the building that functioned as the political office of the Liberation Tigers at Kokkuvil, in the early hours of Saturday last week. The troops entered the building and smashed doors and windows. Another building used by the women members of the LTTE's political wing at Kokkuvil east was also damaged.
Separately, two 23-year-old youths who had travelled to Jaffna town from Point Pedro to buy provisions for their carpentry business were reported missing Saturday. They had gone to Jaffna on Friday and had not returned by midday Saturday.
Elsewhere in Jaffna, SLA soldiers conducted a search operation in the Inuvil area Saturday morning. Kandaswamy temple road, KKS road and Cross road in Inuvil were searched by the troops. It is not known if any arrests were made.
In Mannar, the SLA and police conducted a combined cordon and search operation twice on Saturday, first in the morning and again after noon. All business establishments were searched and employees were subjected to severe interrogation.
On Friday May 5, around fifteen shots were heard from the offices of the Jaffna based daily, Namathu Eelanadu, though SLA soldiers had been deployed around the offices after the killings at the Uthayan.
Also, an unidentified attacker, armed with a handgun, fired on and SLA soldier who was guarding policemen providing security to Uthayan newspaper office. Meanwhile, another gunman in Vadamaradchi, shot and wounded an SLA soldier.
Separately Mr. Visanthy Aloysius, a Tamil farmer of Vellalarkaddu in Nanattan division in Mannar district was reported missing on May 5 after being arrested by the SLA on April 29. Several villagers witnessed the arrest, but now SLA officials are denying arresting the farmer, TNA parliamentarians said in a letter sent Friday.
In another incident, unidentified men on a motorbike shot dead a Tamil youth in Kantalai. The dead youth, who worked in sand mining and transportation of sand for the construction industry, was repairing his lorry parked close to his residence when the attackers shot him at close range and fled from the scene, Kantalai police said.
Unidentified gunman shot and killed a policeman M. Vajisiri, 39, of Batticaloa police station on May 5 in an attack on the 3 policemen posted near Batticaloa Hindu College playground. Separately, one police constable was killed on the spot and two seriously injured in a claymore explosion in Puraporukki in Vadamaradchy district. Meanwhile, in Urikadu, Valvettiturai one SLA soldier has been reported killed and one soldier and a policeman wounded, in a separate grenade attack, while a third attack on SLA troopers was reported at Maruthanarmadam in Valikamam.
Separately, military officials in Colombo said SLN attack vessels had destroyed an LTTE boat and damaged two other in Kalpitti lagoon on May 5. Three LTTE cadres were in the boat killed by the Navy, according to press reports. A military spokesman said the boats had tried to provoke the Navy to move towards the coast where a heavy calibre gun installed in a truck was waiting to fire at the navy boats. “Since the Navy detected the weapon early, it did not move towards the danger zone, but instead attacked the remaining LTTE boats,” he said.
Three policemen and three civilians including an eight year old girl were injured Friday two weeks ago in Vavuniya in a claymore attack targeting the vehicle taking lunch to the police cadres. Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troopers and policemen opened fire for 15 minutes after the explosion, civilians told reporters.
On May 4, SLA and police personnel rounded up and searched Kallady, Kallady Velore, Thiruchenthur and Dutchbar in Kathankuddy police division in Batticaloa, taking 10 people to the police station for further inquiries. Residents complain that many areas in Batticaloa are being subjected to intensive roundup searches by the armed forces.
Soldiers and police also conducted a combined cordon and search operation that morning in the predominantly Tamil areas of the Trincomalee town. Security forces took sniffer dog to detect any explosives and claymore mines concealed in houses. However no explosives were found and no suspects were arrested during the operation. Meanwhile the police prohibited motorcycles and bicycles entering the port city with immediate effect for security reasons.
Separately, two SLA troopers were seriously injured in an attack launched on their patrol team in Inuvil, a village located between Kankesanthurai and Jaffna, that Thursday morning. Unconfirmed reports said that there was firefight when unidentified attackers attempted to abduct the soldiers.
Separately, five civilians were rushed to Vavuniya hospital with gunshot wounds when Sri Lankan troopers opened fire for more than 10 minutes after a grenade attack at the heart of Vavuniya town. Two policemen were wounded in the grenade attack that Thursday. Around 300 people were detained during a cordon and search operation following the attack.
Also, two home guards were killed and four injured when a chain of claymores exploded targeting a group of 9 homeguards in Avaranthulava, a Sinhala settlement located 15 km northwest of Vavuniya.
On Wednesday two weeks ago, the LTTE Mannar district political head, Mr. S. Iniyavan, complained to the SLMM of escalating attacks by the SLA DPUs.
Also on that Wednesday, a bus carrying around 50 passengers from Puliyankulam northwards in LTTE controlled area in Periyakulam in Vavuniya North narrowly escaped a claymore blast. Tamil Eelam Police accused an SLA DPU of being behind the attack on civilians, saying the claymore missed the target as it had slipped in the rainy weather. The attackers had exploded the anti-personnel mine from a 200 meters distance and the casualties would have been high if the bus had received the full blast of the explosion, the police said.
Meanwhile, a 50-year old woman farmer was killed and two others, including a 50-year old woman and a 60-year old man, were wounded when soldiers from Iranai Iluppaikulam fired at civilians who were returning with rice straw bundles from their fields. Also, two helmeted men on a motorcycle passing the Sri Lanka police sentry point on the Batticaloa-Trincomalee main road in Batticaloa, lobbed a hand grenade into the sentry point injuring one man who was rushed to the Batticaloa Teaching hospital.
On Tuesday May 2, the most reported attack was on the offices of the Jaffna daily, Uthayan, which left two dead. The shootings, the day before World Press Freedom Day, were allegedly the work of the paramilitary Eelam Peoples’ Democratic Party (see separate story).
Separately, the LTTE said it retaliated after the SLA launched artillery fire on their forward defence line at Navalady in Muttur. The LTTE cadres successfully retaliated the attack, said Mr. S. Elilan, Trincomalee district political head of the LTTE. A civilian who was crossing the lagoon sustained injuries in the SLA firing, reports said.
Meanwhile, a group of soldiers who penetrated into Liberation Tigers controlled Madu division, shot and killed a 50-year old female farmer and wounded a 60-year old man and another 50-year old woman. The farmers were returning from their fields with rice straw bundles when they were shot by the penetrating group.
Also, two lorry drivers of the Vaharai Multi-purpose society in Batticaloa, who had been abducted by armed cadres of the Karuna paramilitary group on April 25 were released that Tuesday, though the fuel tanker they were driving, with Rs 500,000 worth of fuel, was unaccounted for.
Also on May 2, armed men riding in a motorbike entered a hairdressing saloon near Thirunelvely junction in Jaffna and shot at a client, a trader from nearby public market, seriously wounding the trader and saloon owner. The trader, Arumugarajah Theyvendran, 54, succumbed to his wounds at Jaffna hospital. Eyewitnesses at the site, a high security area manned by SLA soldiers 24 hours a day, alleged that the SLA withdrew it's soldiers from nearby posts 10 minutes prior to the shooting.
On the same day, armed men on a motorbike shot and killed a young auto-rickshaw driver in Kodikamam in Thenmaradchi division, Jaffna. Selvaratnam Mathiseelan, 22, was the 8th auto driver gunned down in Jaffna. At the time, locals alleged that gunmen operating from SLA intelligence camps were behind the serial killings targeting auto-rickshaw drivers and traders in SLA controlled areas.
Meanwhile, Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, TNA parliamentarian for Jaffna district, complained of harassment and death threats to domestic staff at his Jaffna residence. In a letter to President Mahinda Rajapakse, Mr Ponnambalam states that two individuals had entered his premises, threatened a domestic helper with a firearm and searched the premises, before leaving. “Just before they had left, they further warned the domestic help that if the authorities were informed of this incident that she would be killed,” Mr Ponnambalam said.
