June 12
A SLA soldier was killed Monday when a claymore mine hit a road clearing patrol at Barathipuram, Vavuniya. Another soldier and a civilian were wounded.
A SLA raiding party exploded a claymore mine in the LTTE controlled Mathiyamadu village, seriously wounding the driver of the vehicle in which Vavuniya North Divisional Secretary was riding. The driver, N. Balasingam, was rushed to Vavuniya hospital but succumbed to his wounds. The Divisional Secretary, Mr. Pathmanathan, was wounded.
Also within LTTE-held Vanni, a SLA claymore attack targeted devotees travelling to Vatrapalai temple festival on Nedunkerny Mulliavalai Road. No casualties were reported.
A senior member of the Jaffna branch of the White Pigeon, a non government organization, was shot and seriously injured by unidentified armed men at his house in Moolai in the Jaffna peninsula. Thangarasa Mukunthan, 41, a former member of the Jaffna Municipal Council, was rushed to Jaffna teaching hospital.
Over one hundred Tamil families fled from the village of Pariharakandal in Mannar when more five hundred SLA soldiers entered the village of Sirukandal, a mile away, Monday morning and established a camp in a cemetery. By noon the entire village of Sirukandal was deserted and all the shops closed.
Another group of SLA soldiers entered Arippu village through Nanattan-Achchankulam road along the banks of Aruvi Aru Monday morning. About two hundred families in the village fled and sought refuge in the St. Mary''s Church in the area. Later that morning the villagers returned to their houses. However heads of the fisher families are not going out to sea, afraid to leave their families alone.
Mr. Iruthayarajah, alias Kannan, 34, father of one, has been reported missing since June 7 after he left his village Pallimunai to Mannar town to buy provisions, according to a complaint lodged with the Mannar office of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka by his relatives on Monday.
June 11
Nine civilians were injured in a grenade explosion at Thirunelvely market, north of Jaffna town. The injured were admitted to Jaffna Hospital.
SLA authorities in Vavuniya said troops shot and killed a suspected Tamil Tiger at Pandarikkulam. They said the youth was riding pillion in a motorbike and attempted to fire at the soldiers with a pistol when the soldiers directed the riders to stop at a road check. The youth riding the motorbike escaped. A grenade was recovered from the youth, Armukam Jeganathan, 24, of Meesalai in Jaffna peninsula, the Army said.
A SLA DPU exploded a claymore mine, killing two civilians on a motorbike inside LTTE controlled territory, at Palaipani in Vavuniya west Sunday.
SLA Lance Corporal M Kumararatne, 34, was killed by sniper fire while on security duties at the Vavunativu, Batticaloa SLA camp.
June 10
Lieutenant Colonel Mahenthi, an LTTE Commander in the Mannar district, was killed along with three LTTE cadres in a claymore attack in an LTTE-controlled area carried out by SLA soldiers on Saturday. Lt. Col. Mahenthi, former head of a unit in Jaffna, was an area commander in Mannar district.
A SLA sniper shot and killed Batticaloa Kudumbimalai Political Coordinator Ramanitharan in Murakkoddanchenai Saturday. The incident took place at Thihiliveddai, a hamlet across the lagoon from Santhiveli, about 24 kilometres north of Batticaloa. The sniper had targeted the LTTE official from the SLA controlled area beyond the lagoon from Murakkoddanchenai.
A 67-year old Tamil businessman, riding in a car, was shot near Vihara Lane in Wellawate, Colombo, Saturday. Mr. Ramachandran received five gunshot wounds and succumbed on the way to hospital. The gunman escaped.
A farmer, Navaratnam Srinagathasan, 32, seriously wounded in a claymore attack Saturday succumbed to his wounds at Killinochchi hospital.
Two employees of the World Bank-funded North East Irrigated Agriculture Project (NEIAP) were wounded in a separate SLA claymore attack in Nedunkerni, in Vavuniya district.
Unidentified gunmen shot dead two Tamil passengers, including a 12-year old boy, travelling in a Trincomalee bound bus from Muttur town, Saturday afternoon. Another Tamil passenger was critically injured. The incident took place at Puliyadichchanthi in the Sri Lanka government controlled Muttur town located in the midst of several SLA camps and sentry points. Gunmen on a motorbike stopped the bus along Muttur-Batticaloa road, entered it and fired at the passengers. Vimalanathan Sajeevan, 12, of Koonitheivu in Muttur East and Krishnapillai Ravichandran, 43, Menkamam in Muttur division died in the attack. Nadarajah Paranthaman of Allesgarden was critically injured and admitted to hospital.
Two civilians, a Muslim and a Tamil, were killed and another person injured when SLA soldiers lying in ambush between Kurankupanchchan and Uharveddu in the Kinniya division opened fire. The victims were returning with firewood in two bullock carts when they were fired at. Kathirgamathamby Mathivanan (42) of Eachantivu and Mohamed Remis (20) of Faizal Nagar in Kinniya town were killed.
June 9
Paramilitary gunmen in a white van and riding motorbikes chased and abducted 6 students walking along the road in Batticaloa Thursday. The students were abducted 150 meters from the Police station on the Iruthayapuram Selva road. They were on their way to Valaichenai from Batticlaoa town after having attending private tuition classes. 30 students in the Batticaloa region have been abducted in the past few weeks, civil society sources told TamilNet.
A SLA road patrol arrested two Tamil youths at Murakoddanchenai in Batticaloa Thursday while they were riding their bicycles and handed them to Eravur Police after interrogating them. Arumugam Suchanand, 22, from Kiran and Nadarasa Arulanandarasa, 19, from Santhiveli are held at Earvur police station for further investigations.
Unidentified gunmen on a motorbike shot and seriously injured a village level administration officer at his house Friday. Joseph Ratnarajah, 58, was actively taking part in organizing the exhumation of bodies of suspected military and paramilitary victims at Kaithady, Jaffna.(See details June 7)
The body of Rasiah Muraleeswaran, 42, of Meesalai East, a mason employed in the FORUT housing scheme for the tsunami affected at Nilavan Settlement Scheme in Polikandy in Vadamaradchy north, was found at the building site Friday. He had been bludgeoned to death. Nilavan settlement, where the body was found, is located within a SLA High Security Zone (HSZ) in Jaffna. Rasiah Muraleeswaran, father of two children, had earlier worked for the LTTE tsunami rehabilitation scheme before joining the FORUT as a mason. Meanwhile, another mason, Rajani, 26, from Pungudutivu, working in the same housing scheme of FORUT, has been reported as missing from Thursday.
A blast was reported around in LTTE controlled Mannar area near Pallamadu, but casualty details were not available.
June 8
SLA soldiers armed with bayonets and knives entered the house of a family of four and murdered all of them in Vankalai, Mannar, Thursday night (see separate story, page 9).
A trainee caretaker and a Sinhalese driver of a water supply contractor, Thummara Enterprises, were killed in a claymore attack carried out by a SLA DPU in LTTE controlled part of Mannar district Thursday. The victims were identified as Alocious Rex Sasiharan, 24, and H.M.Amarasekara, 45. The Mannar district field commander of the LTTE was travelling in another vehicle on the same road 5 minutes behind the civilian vehicle that was ambushed.
Four health officials of the Tamil Eelam Health Service Mobile Medical Service were wounded when a SLA DPU exploded a claymore mine. A nurse and the driver of the vehicle were seriously wounded in the attack at Akkarayan, 20 km from Kilinochchi.
The SLA said two soldiers were injured in a mortar attack on the Kiran camp by the LTTE Thursday, to which they retaliated with mortar fire. However the LTTE in Batticaloa said that SLA had first attacked their positions forcing the LTTE gunners to retaliate. The SLA cordoned off and searched in the Kiran region, following the exchange of fire.
Unidentified men on a motorbike lobbed a hand grenade on the Valaichenai police sentry post and had escaped without being caught. No one was injured.
Twenty-one Tamil youths from Kaluvanachikudy and LTTE controlled territory in Batticaloa were arrested in a roundup search conducted by the SLA and the police in the Eravur public market and its surroundings Thursday. The youths arrested had come to the Eravur public market to buy provisions. 9 of the 21 were detained for further investigations while the rest were released after inquiries.
June 7
Ten civilians, including three children, were killed and ten others, including two infants aged 3 and 8 months, were wounded in a SLA pressure mine explosion inside a LTTE controlled border village at Nedunkal in Vadamunai, Batticaloa on Wednesday. Batticaloa District Political Head of the LTTE Daya Mohan said that SLA troopers who had moved beyond the LTTE FDL were behind the attack. Seven civilians were killed on the spot while three succumbed to their wounds on the way to hospital. Twenty civilians were riding in the tractor that was attacked, said S. Oliyan, LTTE''s Kudumbimalai area coordinator. The villagers were making their regular 28km grocery journey from Vadamunai village to Kiran as the route to the closer shops in Welikande has been blocked.
Unidentified persons fired at a sentry point of the Sri Lanka Police at Katkadanthakulam junction on Mannar-Madawachchi Road, about 30 km south of Mannar town Wednesday. Police returned fire, but no casualties were reported. Later the Police visited the village and took the residents to a nearby church, where they sought the assistance of the villagers in curbing the violence in the area and also asked them to provide information about strangers coming to the area.
A decomposed body was found buried in Kaithady, a sub-division of Jaffna district, near the site where the body of the Hindu priest was discovered earlier in the week. The area is under the control of the SLA’s 52nd division. The body was identified as belonging to Visuvalingam Paranitharan who was reported missing one month ago while he was riding on a motorbike on Kopay - Neerveli road. The body was discovered in shallow grave in wasteland 200 meters away from A9 highway and the possible presence of another 2 bodies suggested this could be a mass grave. The find confirms earlier suspicions of Kaithady residents who allege that disappeared men and women were tortured, and subsequently killed and buried in this particular SLA camp premises.
June 6
Military officials reported a claymore explosion near the Sri Lankan capital Colombo, at Mahapage, 50 meters from the Welisara Navy (SLN) camp in Ragama, on the Colombo-Negombo Road, Tuesday. A bus driver was wounded in the blast, which is the first claymore attack to be reported in Colombo. The attackers had targeted a Navy convoy, police said. A cordon and search operation was launched at the blast site.
Bodies of two unidentified youths were found Tuesday lying near a school in Thangapuram, a Tamil village in the Serunuwara police division in Trincomalee. They were identified as Thangathurai Kugan, 22, and Mylvaganam Kumarathurai, 21, of Killiveddy area in the Muttur division. Serunuwara Police reported to the Muttur Magistrate that both youths had been shot by 9 mm pistol. Residents of the area said they heard gunshots previous night around 7.30 p.m. and found the bodies next morning.
Unknown gunmen shot and killed two men alleged to be members of the paramilitary EPDP Tuesday morning while they were walking out of the SLA camp in Velanai in the Jaffna islets. The EPDP said that the men killed were supporters of their party and not members.
Two unidentified gunmen riding on motorbike lobbed hand grenades injuring a SLA trooper engaged in security duty in Amman Veethy region near Kantharmadam in Jaffna. The attackers escaped on their motor bike after the explosion. The SLA troopers indiscriminately fired after the attack, cordoned off and searched the area, but no one was arrested.
Two Sri Lanka Police officers were killed and two seriously injured in a claymore attack near the Pandarikulam road in Vairavapuliyankulam in Vavuniya Tuesday. The claymore hit the van the officers were travelling in. SLA soldiers opened fire after the explosion and conducted a cordon and search operation in the area.
A paramilitary gunman riding a bicycle shot and killed a security guard of the Batticaloa Teaching Hospital, at the main entrance of the hospital. The victim, Sivalingam Rajanikanth, 25, a resident of Arayampathi, was gunned down when he went to the shop in front of the hospital, located in high security zone.
Unidentified gunmen forced a Tamil teacher out of the bus he was travelling in from Valaichenai and shot him with a pistol. Yoganathan Satheeswaran 25, who was travelling with his sister, was rushed to hospital, but succumbed to his injuries the next day. Mr Satheeswaran, a teacher engaged in educating school dropouts project of UNICEF in the Oorikadu Government Tamil Mixed School in Vaharai, travels to his work from Valaichenai. Paramilitaries operating with the SLA are suspected of killing him, Vaharai residents said.
Unidentified attackers lobbed a grenade into the check post of the 21-2 SLA camp in Mannar Stadium, wounding three soldiers and a policeman. One soldier was being treated at Mannar hospital while the other three, two of them critically wounded, were rushed to Thallady army camp for airlifting to Anuradhapura hospital. SLA soldiers opened fire for 3 minutes in the area following the attack.
June 5
An unidentified male body, with gunshot wounds, was taken to Batticaloa hospital from Navatkadu Monday morning. Residents at the area said they heard gunfire around 8:00 p.m. Sunday.
Two men were killed in a claymore blast at Sinnavembu in Kumburumoolai, Batticaloa, Monday. Kalkuda police said the two men were killed while they were fixing the claymore mine. SLA soldiers, who rushed to the site upon hearing an explosion, also recovered weapons, including a handgun, from the attackers, police said.
A SLA soldier was killed in a clash that erupted between a group of armed men and soldiers near Eruvittan junction, south of Mannar, Monday. Civilians in the area were assaulted by the SLA troopers following the clash. A grenade explosion and continuous exchange of gunfire was reported for more than 10 minutes.
The SLN arrested 37 Tamil refugees and two boatmen fleeing to South India in two boats from Mannar shore Monday. These refugees include women and children were among the displaced from Trincomalee coastal villages and staying in Pesalai St. Mary''s School. SLN officials in Mannar handed the arrested refugees to the Mannar Divisional Secretary Ms Stanley de Mel for the safe custody in the Pesalai St Mary''s Tamil School.
Meanwhile the Mannar Divisional Secretary requested the naval authorities located in the Sunny Village Naval Camp to hand over the Mannar Youth Corp Centre for allowing more refugees to stay there. But the naval authorities have refused as soldiers of the SLN and Police are using the centre building as their camp.
June 4
Two SLA soldiers were injured when unidentified attackers riding a motorbike, lobbed a grenade at a check post at Perumal temple, close to 51-2 Brigade HQ, in Jaffna. SLA soldiers retaliated by firing at the attackers. The area was cordoned off and searched by the troopers.
June 3
One SLA soldier was wounded when gunmen opened fire at four SLA soldiers at Vantharumooolai, northwest of Batticaloa town. The wounded soldier, A.V. Seneviratne, 38, was rushed to Sittandy SLA camp. The soldiers were resting behind a temple when they were attacked. Later that afternoon SLA soldiers arrested three youths during a cordon and search operation. Manickavel Navaratnam, 28, from Kaluvankerni, Arumugam Varatharajah, 36, from Valaichenai in Puthukudiyiruppu, and Shanmugam Varathan, 23, from Sithandy Velayutham Road, were detained, interrogated and handed over to the Eravur Police.
All traffic on Batticaloa-Kalmunai road stopped as Kallady bridge, south of Batticaloa town, was shut down after a claymore attack Saturday. SLA troops and police launched a cordon and search operation in the area. No one was reported injured in the explosion, which targeted an SLA road clearing patrol.
Unknown gunmen riding in a motorbike shot and killed a Ceylon Transport Board worker and wounded another youth, who were standing outside Valaichenai bus stand, Saturday. The CTB worker, Vaithilingam Vijitharan, 26, from Karuvakerni, died on the spot. Peethambaram Mohulan, a 24-year old from Valaichenai, talking with Vijitharan, was wounded.
SLA soldiers and paramilitary gunmen opened fire and killed a local election candidate and his relative in Valaichenai, 500 meters from the Police station. Nalliah Vimalendran, father of two children and Tamil National Alliance (TNA) candidate for the local elections in Koralaipattu Pradeshiya Sabah (PS), and his relative Thambirajah Sithiravadivel, father of four, were killed. Vimalendran and Sithiravadivel were gunned down while on their way home after visiting the parents of Vijitharan, who was gunned down near the Batticaloa Assistant Police Commissioner''s office in front of CTB Bus stand.
One SLA soldier was killed and two seriously injured in a claymore attack on their vehicle inside a SLA controlled HSZ north of the Muhamalai checkpoint, in the Jaffna peninsula. The attack happened in a non-residential area interior to Kandy-Jaffna A9 highway in Eluthumadduval area between Mirusuvil and Muhamalai. The claymore targeted a pickup truck regularly used by high-level officers of the SLA.
SLA sentry points located near Kaakaithivu junction in Aanaikottai area, inside the Jaffna Municipal perimeter, were fired on from the nearby housing development Saturday. SLA soldiers returned fire but no one was injured in the firefight. The gunmen used a house vacated by a family who moved to Vanni to mount the attack and escaped. SLA soldiers cordoned off and searched Aanaikottai area, Kanagampuliyady and KKS road, but no arrests were made.
A Muslim civilian was killed when SLA troopers in Mannar town opened fire after an SLA soldier and two policemen were wounded in a grenade attack in front of the SLA camp in Mannar Stadium. Shops were closed and civilians remained indoors following the incident. The civilian was identified as Hussain from Uppukulam. An SLA soldier, Upali Jegath, 42, was seriously wounded in the grenade attack. He and the wounded police constables, Ratnayake, 32, and Silva, 36, were rushed to Thallady SLA 21-2 base and airlifted to Anuradhapura hospital.
SLA Corporal Karunaratne was killed and another trooper injured in a claymore mine attack while they were returning to camp after a road clearing mission at Kokkuthoduvai in Manalaru.
June 2
Unidentified persons exploded a claymore mine on the Kaluvankerny Road in Vantharumoolai, Batticaloa, Friday, targeting SLA troopers on duty near the Railway track, killing one, M. Tilakaratne, 34, on the spot and seriously injuring three. The claymore mine was fixed on a mango tree near the railway track, police said.
Sri Lankan Special Task Force (STF) troopers from Pulukunavai camp shelled Thanthamalai Murugan temple, located in LTTE controlled territory southwest of Batticaloa, where Saiva devotees gathered Friday evening for voluntary preparation work ahead of annual festivals. No one was wounded in the STF shelling.
Unidentified persons lobbed a hand grenade at a SLA unit patrolling along the Kaithady-Kopay road in Thenmaradchchy Jaffna, Friday causing minor injuries to two troopers. The troops arrested the Hindu priest at a nearby Temple during the cordon and search operation following the grenade attack and assaulted him severely before releasing him in the evening.
June 1
Two paramilitary EPDP cadres, Sebastian Thavarasa, 37, and Arumugan Lokanathan Arivu, 19, were shot and killed at Pandarikulam in Vavuniya Thursday by unidentified gunmen.
A member of the Tamil Eelam Auxilliary Force, Varothayan Sritharan, was killed, and another injured in a claymore attack by the SLA in the LTTE controlled Nedunkerny area in Vavuniya, Thursday morning.
On Thursday night an LTTE cadre was killed in an SLA attack on the LTTE FDL at Kaakaiyan Kulam, Vavuniya.
Unidentified attackers lobbed a grenade at the office of the EPDP in Batticaloa, wounding the media coordinator of the group in Batticaloa, Kandiah Arumailingam, 63. The EPDP office is located in a SLA high security area in Batticaloa.
Unidentified men lobbed a hand grenade inside a house in Puthur area in Batticaloa Thursday night killing Rasiah Kanesan, 56, on the spot.
Selvarajah Gajanathan, a Tamil Co-operative Development Officer (CDO) was abducted from the Kaddaiparichchan SLA camp Thursday. An unidentified person in civil clothes seized him in the presence of SLA soldiers when he went to facilitate the transfer of relief material to Muttur east.
Nearly a hundred families consisting of around 500 people fled from their villages near Vankalai in Mannar Thursday when SLA troopers based at the Vankalai SLA camp opened indiscriminate fire on the residents for 20 minutes after a claymore explosion killed a soldier in Naruvilikulam. The claymore, targeting a two-wheel tractor carrying dinner to the SLA check post, killed one soldier and injured two. Ms. A. Lorenzia, a 12 year old girl and her father A. Arulnesan, 42, were seriously injured in the SLA fire were taken to hospital Friday as they could not travel on the night of the attack due to fear of more violence.
May 31
Unidentified gunmen lobbed a hand grenade at a shop owner and, when it failed to explode, opened fire, injuring a 48 year old bystander at Thalavai in Eravur, Batticaloa. Kanesan Navaratnam the shop owner escaped injuries while Nahappan Parthipan, who happened to be nearby, was injured. Mr Kanesan had allegedly refused to meet several previous extortion demands, and local residents speculated that the attack was linked to the demands.
Unknown gunmen opened fire at the STF sentry post at the 25th mile post in Maha oya - Mangalagama border area of Batticaloa, Wednesday killing a home guard, Shantha Bandara, who was on sentry duties at the post. The STF opened fire for 45 minutes, before cordoning off the area and conducting a search.
Batticaloa Government Agent (GA), S. Punniyamoorthy, said Wednesday that more than 65 families fleeing from the border villages of Batticaloa district have been placed in the Kirimichchai school building in the LTTE controlled region. The families fled their village in fear following the killings of 13 Sinhalese settlers on Monday in Omadiayamadu near Welikanthai, the GA said.
A body was found along Keery sea beach in Mannar town in a fertilizer bag on Wednesday, and was identified the following day as belonging to Arulappu Jesuthasan Prince Croos, 38, who had been arrested by SLA soldiers from Mannar Bazaar area on 26 May. His brother identified Croos, a father of three children, who several witnesses reported as having been last seen being arrested by three SLA soldiers.
SLA and LTTE fighters exchanged mortar and artillery fire near the Nagarkovil FDL in Vadamaradchy east Wednesday. The LTTE advanced a significant distance towards the SLA''s FDL and the SLA was forced to move back from their FDLs, reports said. Defense officials in Jaffna however said that SLA soldiers had beaten back the limited advance by the Tigers. Although there were fears of several casualties, neither side revealed details.
SLA Lance Corporal Chandraratne, 41, was killed during a firefight between a SLA foot patrol and unknown gunmen along the Jaffna Point-Pedro road, between Nelliady junction and Malisanthai junction. The firefight, which lasted nearly 15 minutes, occurred in an area that has 24-hour SLA protection. Two SLA troopers were injured.
May 30
The body of a female 30 to 35 years of age, suspected as that of a Muslim woman, was found on Oluvil beach in Akkaraipattu, Batticaloa Tuesday by local residents.
Two SLA soldiers were seriously injured when a group of five unidentified gunmen fired at soldiers working in a compound near Chulipuram junction in Valligamam, Jaffna. The soldiers were cutting trees to reinforce the SLA camp near Chullipuram Victoria College when the attack took place. Security officials, however, said only one soldier was injured. Residents who witnessed the incident said that they saw at least two soldiers being transported in a vehicle to Palaly Military Hospital. SLA soldiers immediately cordoned off the area and conducted a house-to-house search, but no one was arrested according to local residents.
May 29
One SLA trooper was killed and three injured in a claymore attack at Jeyanthapuram, north of Batticaloa. The attack took place about 100 meters from Jeyanthipuram SLA camp.
Masked gunmen shot dead Thankaraja Rajanikanth, 26, a labourer who had left the LTTE several years ago in Peythalai-Karungkalicholai within Valaichchenai police division in Batticaloa. Unidentified armed men entered Mr Thankaraja''s house at midnight looking for him and were told by his mother that he was at a neighbour’s. The gunmen took Mr Thankarajah by force from the neighbour''s house some distance away for interrogation before shooting him dead at close range.
Unknown attackers entered the Sinhala settlement village of Rantharathenna in Omadiyamadu, in Polonnaruwa, Batticaloa border and shot and cut to death 13 Sinhala settlers. The attackers set fire to the victims'' belongings and equipment used in the irrigation project the settlers were working on. 2 persons were admitted to hospital and additional SLA soldiers were rushed to the village. LTTE Media Coordinator, Daya Master, charged that elements seeking to discredit the Tigers were behind the massacre of the Sinhalese workers. Gunmen seeking to stigmatise the Tigers after the EU ban, had"designed and executed" the killings in the border village of Omadiyamadu, which was once used by the paramilitary Karuna Group, Daya Master said. The timing of the massacre has been planned after the formal, politically motivated, proscription of the Tigers, he added.
Unidentified gunmen opened fire on SLA troopers of the Kalkuda camp on the Pethalai road in the Valaichenai police division in Batticaloa, injuring two SLA troopers. Wijeyasekara, 34, and Jakath, 38, the two injured troopers, were rushed to Valaichenai hospital where they are being treated. The gunmen, hiding themselves in the site, fired on the SLA troopers, wounding an Ottamvadi aluminium utensils trader as well in the shootout. SLA troopers deployed at several sites in the area immediately opened fire indiscriminately, assaulting several passers-by along the Pethalai road. The troopers also arrested many of the civilians and took them to the SLA Harbour Camp on the Kalkuda road.
Two fishermen who went to fish in Araly West seas in Valigamam were found murdered, and their bodies recovered from shrub jungles close to the Araly coast. Residents of Araly, Jaffna, blame SLN soldiers. Nagarajah Selvarajah and Nadarajah Nageswaran, both married and estimated to be between ages of 35-40, went fishing in shallow waters of Kottaikadu in Araly West Sunday evening. Relatives of the fishermen went in search of them when both failed to return Monday morning, discovered the bodies in Kottaikadu coastal shrub jungles and informed the Vaddukoddai police.
Unknown gunmen killed Subramaniam Thevaraj (alias Ranjan) in Erlalai North near the border of Palaly HSZ in Jaffna. Thevaraj, from Kupilan, was on his way to the Multi-purpose co-operative society to buy provisions when three unidentified youths shot him at close range and escaped. He was earlier employed in Tamil Eelam Employment and Income Section in Jaffna in the LTTE run civil administration.
In Navanthurai, Jaffna, Michael Johnson was shot dead by unknown gunmen in front of St. Nicholas Church. Mr Jesudasan, 40, was a member of the paramilitary EPDP and a candidate in the postponed local Jaffna Municipal Council elections.
SLA troopers who penetrated 4 kilometres into LTTE controlled Vilathikulam from the SLA camp in Iranai Iuppaikkulam, 20 km northwest of Vavuniya, exploded a claymore mine killing a civilian, Subramaniam Jeyarooban, 24, who was cycling.
A 24 year old Tamil youth arrested nearly a month earlier in Iruthayapuram in government controlled Muttur division by the SLA during a cordon and search operation has not been produced in court yet, relatives protested. Mr. K. Thurairatnasingham, Trincomalee district TNA parliamentarian Monday requested the Deputy Inspector General of Police for Eastern Region to urgently inquiry into the whereabouts of the youth. Suntharalingam Ravichandran of Manalsenai was arrested by army soldiers on April 28. His wife had made a complaint to the Muttur Police on April 29, a day after his arrest, but no action has been taken.
Vimalasuriar Thehilarajah, 26, who was seriously injured in a shooting incident in Vaddukoddai Sunday, succumbed to his injuries in Jaffna Teaching Hospital. He was a friend of the owner of a communications centre in Vaddukkodai, Jaffna and was injured in a shooting that claimed the life of the centre’s owner, Pooranam Sabesan, 26. Gunmen, allegedly belonging to paramilitaries working with SLA intelligence, bound the hands of the two, took them to an area behind the shop and sprayed the men with bullets from short range. Meanwhile, unknown gunmen who visited another video shop close to Sabesan''s business, threatened the employees by brandishing a hand grenade, took their photographs and then disappeared.
A SLA soldier was killed Monday when a claymore mine hit a road clearing patrol at Barathipuram, Vavuniya. Another soldier and a civilian were wounded.
A SLA raiding party exploded a claymore mine in the LTTE controlled Mathiyamadu village, seriously wounding the driver of the vehicle in which Vavuniya North Divisional Secretary was riding. The driver, N. Balasingam, was rushed to Vavuniya hospital but succumbed to his wounds. The Divisional Secretary, Mr. Pathmanathan, was wounded.
Also within LTTE-held Vanni, a SLA claymore attack targeted devotees travelling to Vatrapalai temple festival on Nedunkerny Mulliavalai Road. No casualties were reported.
A senior member of the Jaffna branch of the White Pigeon, a non government organization, was shot and seriously injured by unidentified armed men at his house in Moolai in the Jaffna peninsula. Thangarasa Mukunthan, 41, a former member of the Jaffna Municipal Council, was rushed to Jaffna teaching hospital.
Over one hundred Tamil families fled from the village of Pariharakandal in Mannar when more five hundred SLA soldiers entered the village of Sirukandal, a mile away, Monday morning and established a camp in a cemetery. By noon the entire village of Sirukandal was deserted and all the shops closed.
Another group of SLA soldiers entered Arippu village through Nanattan-Achchankulam road along the banks of Aruvi Aru Monday morning. About two hundred families in the village fled and sought refuge in the St. Mary''s Church in the area. Later that morning the villagers returned to their houses. However heads of the fisher families are not going out to sea, afraid to leave their families alone.
Mr. Iruthayarajah, alias Kannan, 34, father of one, has been reported missing since June 7 after he left his village Pallimunai to Mannar town to buy provisions, according to a complaint lodged with the Mannar office of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka by his relatives on Monday.
June 11
Nine civilians were injured in a grenade explosion at Thirunelvely market, north of Jaffna town. The injured were admitted to Jaffna Hospital.
SLA authorities in Vavuniya said troops shot and killed a suspected Tamil Tiger at Pandarikkulam. They said the youth was riding pillion in a motorbike and attempted to fire at the soldiers with a pistol when the soldiers directed the riders to stop at a road check. The youth riding the motorbike escaped. A grenade was recovered from the youth, Armukam Jeganathan, 24, of Meesalai in Jaffna peninsula, the Army said.
A SLA DPU exploded a claymore mine, killing two civilians on a motorbike inside LTTE controlled territory, at Palaipani in Vavuniya west Sunday.
SLA Lance Corporal M Kumararatne, 34, was killed by sniper fire while on security duties at the Vavunativu, Batticaloa SLA camp.
June 10
Lieutenant Colonel Mahenthi, an LTTE Commander in the Mannar district, was killed along with three LTTE cadres in a claymore attack in an LTTE-controlled area carried out by SLA soldiers on Saturday. Lt. Col. Mahenthi, former head of a unit in Jaffna, was an area commander in Mannar district.
A SLA sniper shot and killed Batticaloa Kudumbimalai Political Coordinator Ramanitharan in Murakkoddanchenai Saturday. The incident took place at Thihiliveddai, a hamlet across the lagoon from Santhiveli, about 24 kilometres north of Batticaloa. The sniper had targeted the LTTE official from the SLA controlled area beyond the lagoon from Murakkoddanchenai.
A 67-year old Tamil businessman, riding in a car, was shot near Vihara Lane in Wellawate, Colombo, Saturday. Mr. Ramachandran received five gunshot wounds and succumbed on the way to hospital. The gunman escaped.
A farmer, Navaratnam Srinagathasan, 32, seriously wounded in a claymore attack Saturday succumbed to his wounds at Killinochchi hospital.
Two employees of the World Bank-funded North East Irrigated Agriculture Project (NEIAP) were wounded in a separate SLA claymore attack in Nedunkerni, in Vavuniya district.
Unidentified gunmen shot dead two Tamil passengers, including a 12-year old boy, travelling in a Trincomalee bound bus from Muttur town, Saturday afternoon. Another Tamil passenger was critically injured. The incident took place at Puliyadichchanthi in the Sri Lanka government controlled Muttur town located in the midst of several SLA camps and sentry points. Gunmen on a motorbike stopped the bus along Muttur-Batticaloa road, entered it and fired at the passengers. Vimalanathan Sajeevan, 12, of Koonitheivu in Muttur East and Krishnapillai Ravichandran, 43, Menkamam in Muttur division died in the attack. Nadarajah Paranthaman of Allesgarden was critically injured and admitted to hospital.
Two civilians, a Muslim and a Tamil, were killed and another person injured when SLA soldiers lying in ambush between Kurankupanchchan and Uharveddu in the Kinniya division opened fire. The victims were returning with firewood in two bullock carts when they were fired at. Kathirgamathamby Mathivanan (42) of Eachantivu and Mohamed Remis (20) of Faizal Nagar in Kinniya town were killed.
June 9
Paramilitary gunmen in a white van and riding motorbikes chased and abducted 6 students walking along the road in Batticaloa Thursday. The students were abducted 150 meters from the Police station on the Iruthayapuram Selva road. They were on their way to Valaichenai from Batticlaoa town after having attending private tuition classes. 30 students in the Batticaloa region have been abducted in the past few weeks, civil society sources told TamilNet.
A SLA road patrol arrested two Tamil youths at Murakoddanchenai in Batticaloa Thursday while they were riding their bicycles and handed them to Eravur Police after interrogating them. Arumugam Suchanand, 22, from Kiran and Nadarasa Arulanandarasa, 19, from Santhiveli are held at Earvur police station for further investigations.
Unidentified gunmen on a motorbike shot and seriously injured a village level administration officer at his house Friday. Joseph Ratnarajah, 58, was actively taking part in organizing the exhumation of bodies of suspected military and paramilitary victims at Kaithady, Jaffna.(See details June 7)
The body of Rasiah Muraleeswaran, 42, of Meesalai East, a mason employed in the FORUT housing scheme for the tsunami affected at Nilavan Settlement Scheme in Polikandy in Vadamaradchy north, was found at the building site Friday. He had been bludgeoned to death. Nilavan settlement, where the body was found, is located within a SLA High Security Zone (HSZ) in Jaffna. Rasiah Muraleeswaran, father of two children, had earlier worked for the LTTE tsunami rehabilitation scheme before joining the FORUT as a mason. Meanwhile, another mason, Rajani, 26, from Pungudutivu, working in the same housing scheme of FORUT, has been reported as missing from Thursday.
A blast was reported around in LTTE controlled Mannar area near Pallamadu, but casualty details were not available.
June 8
SLA soldiers armed with bayonets and knives entered the house of a family of four and murdered all of them in Vankalai, Mannar, Thursday night (see separate story, page 9).
A trainee caretaker and a Sinhalese driver of a water supply contractor, Thummara Enterprises, were killed in a claymore attack carried out by a SLA DPU in LTTE controlled part of Mannar district Thursday. The victims were identified as Alocious Rex Sasiharan, 24, and H.M.Amarasekara, 45. The Mannar district field commander of the LTTE was travelling in another vehicle on the same road 5 minutes behind the civilian vehicle that was ambushed.
Four health officials of the Tamil Eelam Health Service Mobile Medical Service were wounded when a SLA DPU exploded a claymore mine. A nurse and the driver of the vehicle were seriously wounded in the attack at Akkarayan, 20 km from Kilinochchi.
The SLA said two soldiers were injured in a mortar attack on the Kiran camp by the LTTE Thursday, to which they retaliated with mortar fire. However the LTTE in Batticaloa said that SLA had first attacked their positions forcing the LTTE gunners to retaliate. The SLA cordoned off and searched in the Kiran region, following the exchange of fire.
Unidentified men on a motorbike lobbed a hand grenade on the Valaichenai police sentry post and had escaped without being caught. No one was injured.
Twenty-one Tamil youths from Kaluvanachikudy and LTTE controlled territory in Batticaloa were arrested in a roundup search conducted by the SLA and the police in the Eravur public market and its surroundings Thursday. The youths arrested had come to the Eravur public market to buy provisions. 9 of the 21 were detained for further investigations while the rest were released after inquiries.
June 7
Ten civilians, including three children, were killed and ten others, including two infants aged 3 and 8 months, were wounded in a SLA pressure mine explosion inside a LTTE controlled border village at Nedunkal in Vadamunai, Batticaloa on Wednesday. Batticaloa District Political Head of the LTTE Daya Mohan said that SLA troopers who had moved beyond the LTTE FDL were behind the attack. Seven civilians were killed on the spot while three succumbed to their wounds on the way to hospital. Twenty civilians were riding in the tractor that was attacked, said S. Oliyan, LTTE''s Kudumbimalai area coordinator. The villagers were making their regular 28km grocery journey from Vadamunai village to Kiran as the route to the closer shops in Welikande has been blocked.
Unidentified persons fired at a sentry point of the Sri Lanka Police at Katkadanthakulam junction on Mannar-Madawachchi Road, about 30 km south of Mannar town Wednesday. Police returned fire, but no casualties were reported. Later the Police visited the village and took the residents to a nearby church, where they sought the assistance of the villagers in curbing the violence in the area and also asked them to provide information about strangers coming to the area.
A decomposed body was found buried in Kaithady, a sub-division of Jaffna district, near the site where the body of the Hindu priest was discovered earlier in the week. The area is under the control of the SLA’s 52nd division. The body was identified as belonging to Visuvalingam Paranitharan who was reported missing one month ago while he was riding on a motorbike on Kopay - Neerveli road. The body was discovered in shallow grave in wasteland 200 meters away from A9 highway and the possible presence of another 2 bodies suggested this could be a mass grave. The find confirms earlier suspicions of Kaithady residents who allege that disappeared men and women were tortured, and subsequently killed and buried in this particular SLA camp premises.
June 6
Military officials reported a claymore explosion near the Sri Lankan capital Colombo, at Mahapage, 50 meters from the Welisara Navy (SLN) camp in Ragama, on the Colombo-Negombo Road, Tuesday. A bus driver was wounded in the blast, which is the first claymore attack to be reported in Colombo. The attackers had targeted a Navy convoy, police said. A cordon and search operation was launched at the blast site.
Bodies of two unidentified youths were found Tuesday lying near a school in Thangapuram, a Tamil village in the Serunuwara police division in Trincomalee. They were identified as Thangathurai Kugan, 22, and Mylvaganam Kumarathurai, 21, of Killiveddy area in the Muttur division. Serunuwara Police reported to the Muttur Magistrate that both youths had been shot by 9 mm pistol. Residents of the area said they heard gunshots previous night around 7.30 p.m. and found the bodies next morning.
Unknown gunmen shot and killed two men alleged to be members of the paramilitary EPDP Tuesday morning while they were walking out of the SLA camp in Velanai in the Jaffna islets. The EPDP said that the men killed were supporters of their party and not members.
Two unidentified gunmen riding on motorbike lobbed hand grenades injuring a SLA trooper engaged in security duty in Amman Veethy region near Kantharmadam in Jaffna. The attackers escaped on their motor bike after the explosion. The SLA troopers indiscriminately fired after the attack, cordoned off and searched the area, but no one was arrested.
Two Sri Lanka Police officers were killed and two seriously injured in a claymore attack near the Pandarikulam road in Vairavapuliyankulam in Vavuniya Tuesday. The claymore hit the van the officers were travelling in. SLA soldiers opened fire after the explosion and conducted a cordon and search operation in the area.
A paramilitary gunman riding a bicycle shot and killed a security guard of the Batticaloa Teaching Hospital, at the main entrance of the hospital. The victim, Sivalingam Rajanikanth, 25, a resident of Arayampathi, was gunned down when he went to the shop in front of the hospital, located in high security zone.
Unidentified gunmen forced a Tamil teacher out of the bus he was travelling in from Valaichenai and shot him with a pistol. Yoganathan Satheeswaran 25, who was travelling with his sister, was rushed to hospital, but succumbed to his injuries the next day. Mr Satheeswaran, a teacher engaged in educating school dropouts project of UNICEF in the Oorikadu Government Tamil Mixed School in Vaharai, travels to his work from Valaichenai. Paramilitaries operating with the SLA are suspected of killing him, Vaharai residents said.
Unidentified attackers lobbed a grenade into the check post of the 21-2 SLA camp in Mannar Stadium, wounding three soldiers and a policeman. One soldier was being treated at Mannar hospital while the other three, two of them critically wounded, were rushed to Thallady army camp for airlifting to Anuradhapura hospital. SLA soldiers opened fire for 3 minutes in the area following the attack.
June 5
An unidentified male body, with gunshot wounds, was taken to Batticaloa hospital from Navatkadu Monday morning. Residents at the area said they heard gunfire around 8:00 p.m. Sunday.
Two men were killed in a claymore blast at Sinnavembu in Kumburumoolai, Batticaloa, Monday. Kalkuda police said the two men were killed while they were fixing the claymore mine. SLA soldiers, who rushed to the site upon hearing an explosion, also recovered weapons, including a handgun, from the attackers, police said.
A SLA soldier was killed in a clash that erupted between a group of armed men and soldiers near Eruvittan junction, south of Mannar, Monday. Civilians in the area were assaulted by the SLA troopers following the clash. A grenade explosion and continuous exchange of gunfire was reported for more than 10 minutes.
The SLN arrested 37 Tamil refugees and two boatmen fleeing to South India in two boats from Mannar shore Monday. These refugees include women and children were among the displaced from Trincomalee coastal villages and staying in Pesalai St. Mary''s School. SLN officials in Mannar handed the arrested refugees to the Mannar Divisional Secretary Ms Stanley de Mel for the safe custody in the Pesalai St Mary''s Tamil School.
Meanwhile the Mannar Divisional Secretary requested the naval authorities located in the Sunny Village Naval Camp to hand over the Mannar Youth Corp Centre for allowing more refugees to stay there. But the naval authorities have refused as soldiers of the SLN and Police are using the centre building as their camp.
June 4
Two SLA soldiers were injured when unidentified attackers riding a motorbike, lobbed a grenade at a check post at Perumal temple, close to 51-2 Brigade HQ, in Jaffna. SLA soldiers retaliated by firing at the attackers. The area was cordoned off and searched by the troopers.
June 3
One SLA soldier was wounded when gunmen opened fire at four SLA soldiers at Vantharumooolai, northwest of Batticaloa town. The wounded soldier, A.V. Seneviratne, 38, was rushed to Sittandy SLA camp. The soldiers were resting behind a temple when they were attacked. Later that afternoon SLA soldiers arrested three youths during a cordon and search operation. Manickavel Navaratnam, 28, from Kaluvankerni, Arumugam Varatharajah, 36, from Valaichenai in Puthukudiyiruppu, and Shanmugam Varathan, 23, from Sithandy Velayutham Road, were detained, interrogated and handed over to the Eravur Police.
All traffic on Batticaloa-Kalmunai road stopped as Kallady bridge, south of Batticaloa town, was shut down after a claymore attack Saturday. SLA troops and police launched a cordon and search operation in the area. No one was reported injured in the explosion, which targeted an SLA road clearing patrol.
Unknown gunmen riding in a motorbike shot and killed a Ceylon Transport Board worker and wounded another youth, who were standing outside Valaichenai bus stand, Saturday. The CTB worker, Vaithilingam Vijitharan, 26, from Karuvakerni, died on the spot. Peethambaram Mohulan, a 24-year old from Valaichenai, talking with Vijitharan, was wounded.
SLA soldiers and paramilitary gunmen opened fire and killed a local election candidate and his relative in Valaichenai, 500 meters from the Police station. Nalliah Vimalendran, father of two children and Tamil National Alliance (TNA) candidate for the local elections in Koralaipattu Pradeshiya Sabah (PS), and his relative Thambirajah Sithiravadivel, father of four, were killed. Vimalendran and Sithiravadivel were gunned down while on their way home after visiting the parents of Vijitharan, who was gunned down near the Batticaloa Assistant Police Commissioner''s office in front of CTB Bus stand.
One SLA soldier was killed and two seriously injured in a claymore attack on their vehicle inside a SLA controlled HSZ north of the Muhamalai checkpoint, in the Jaffna peninsula. The attack happened in a non-residential area interior to Kandy-Jaffna A9 highway in Eluthumadduval area between Mirusuvil and Muhamalai. The claymore targeted a pickup truck regularly used by high-level officers of the SLA.
SLA sentry points located near Kaakaithivu junction in Aanaikottai area, inside the Jaffna Municipal perimeter, were fired on from the nearby housing development Saturday. SLA soldiers returned fire but no one was injured in the firefight. The gunmen used a house vacated by a family who moved to Vanni to mount the attack and escaped. SLA soldiers cordoned off and searched Aanaikottai area, Kanagampuliyady and KKS road, but no arrests were made.
A Muslim civilian was killed when SLA troopers in Mannar town opened fire after an SLA soldier and two policemen were wounded in a grenade attack in front of the SLA camp in Mannar Stadium. Shops were closed and civilians remained indoors following the incident. The civilian was identified as Hussain from Uppukulam. An SLA soldier, Upali Jegath, 42, was seriously wounded in the grenade attack. He and the wounded police constables, Ratnayake, 32, and Silva, 36, were rushed to Thallady SLA 21-2 base and airlifted to Anuradhapura hospital.
SLA Corporal Karunaratne was killed and another trooper injured in a claymore mine attack while they were returning to camp after a road clearing mission at Kokkuthoduvai in Manalaru.
June 2
Unidentified persons exploded a claymore mine on the Kaluvankerny Road in Vantharumoolai, Batticaloa, Friday, targeting SLA troopers on duty near the Railway track, killing one, M. Tilakaratne, 34, on the spot and seriously injuring three. The claymore mine was fixed on a mango tree near the railway track, police said.
Sri Lankan Special Task Force (STF) troopers from Pulukunavai camp shelled Thanthamalai Murugan temple, located in LTTE controlled territory southwest of Batticaloa, where Saiva devotees gathered Friday evening for voluntary preparation work ahead of annual festivals. No one was wounded in the STF shelling.
Unidentified persons lobbed a hand grenade at a SLA unit patrolling along the Kaithady-Kopay road in Thenmaradchchy Jaffna, Friday causing minor injuries to two troopers. The troops arrested the Hindu priest at a nearby Temple during the cordon and search operation following the grenade attack and assaulted him severely before releasing him in the evening.
June 1
Two paramilitary EPDP cadres, Sebastian Thavarasa, 37, and Arumugan Lokanathan Arivu, 19, were shot and killed at Pandarikulam in Vavuniya Thursday by unidentified gunmen.
A member of the Tamil Eelam Auxilliary Force, Varothayan Sritharan, was killed, and another injured in a claymore attack by the SLA in the LTTE controlled Nedunkerny area in Vavuniya, Thursday morning.
On Thursday night an LTTE cadre was killed in an SLA attack on the LTTE FDL at Kaakaiyan Kulam, Vavuniya.
Unidentified attackers lobbed a grenade at the office of the EPDP in Batticaloa, wounding the media coordinator of the group in Batticaloa, Kandiah Arumailingam, 63. The EPDP office is located in a SLA high security area in Batticaloa.
Unidentified men lobbed a hand grenade inside a house in Puthur area in Batticaloa Thursday night killing Rasiah Kanesan, 56, on the spot.
Selvarajah Gajanathan, a Tamil Co-operative Development Officer (CDO) was abducted from the Kaddaiparichchan SLA camp Thursday. An unidentified person in civil clothes seized him in the presence of SLA soldiers when he went to facilitate the transfer of relief material to Muttur east.
Nearly a hundred families consisting of around 500 people fled from their villages near Vankalai in Mannar Thursday when SLA troopers based at the Vankalai SLA camp opened indiscriminate fire on the residents for 20 minutes after a claymore explosion killed a soldier in Naruvilikulam. The claymore, targeting a two-wheel tractor carrying dinner to the SLA check post, killed one soldier and injured two. Ms. A. Lorenzia, a 12 year old girl and her father A. Arulnesan, 42, were seriously injured in the SLA fire were taken to hospital Friday as they could not travel on the night of the attack due to fear of more violence.
May 31
Unidentified gunmen lobbed a hand grenade at a shop owner and, when it failed to explode, opened fire, injuring a 48 year old bystander at Thalavai in Eravur, Batticaloa. Kanesan Navaratnam the shop owner escaped injuries while Nahappan Parthipan, who happened to be nearby, was injured. Mr Kanesan had allegedly refused to meet several previous extortion demands, and local residents speculated that the attack was linked to the demands.
Unknown gunmen opened fire at the STF sentry post at the 25th mile post in Maha oya - Mangalagama border area of Batticaloa, Wednesday killing a home guard, Shantha Bandara, who was on sentry duties at the post. The STF opened fire for 45 minutes, before cordoning off the area and conducting a search.
Batticaloa Government Agent (GA), S. Punniyamoorthy, said Wednesday that more than 65 families fleeing from the border villages of Batticaloa district have been placed in the Kirimichchai school building in the LTTE controlled region. The families fled their village in fear following the killings of 13 Sinhalese settlers on Monday in Omadiayamadu near Welikanthai, the GA said.
A body was found along Keery sea beach in Mannar town in a fertilizer bag on Wednesday, and was identified the following day as belonging to Arulappu Jesuthasan Prince Croos, 38, who had been arrested by SLA soldiers from Mannar Bazaar area on 26 May. His brother identified Croos, a father of three children, who several witnesses reported as having been last seen being arrested by three SLA soldiers.
SLA and LTTE fighters exchanged mortar and artillery fire near the Nagarkovil FDL in Vadamaradchy east Wednesday. The LTTE advanced a significant distance towards the SLA''s FDL and the SLA was forced to move back from their FDLs, reports said. Defense officials in Jaffna however said that SLA soldiers had beaten back the limited advance by the Tigers. Although there were fears of several casualties, neither side revealed details.
SLA Lance Corporal Chandraratne, 41, was killed during a firefight between a SLA foot patrol and unknown gunmen along the Jaffna Point-Pedro road, between Nelliady junction and Malisanthai junction. The firefight, which lasted nearly 15 minutes, occurred in an area that has 24-hour SLA protection. Two SLA troopers were injured.
May 30
The body of a female 30 to 35 years of age, suspected as that of a Muslim woman, was found on Oluvil beach in Akkaraipattu, Batticaloa Tuesday by local residents.
Two SLA soldiers were seriously injured when a group of five unidentified gunmen fired at soldiers working in a compound near Chulipuram junction in Valligamam, Jaffna. The soldiers were cutting trees to reinforce the SLA camp near Chullipuram Victoria College when the attack took place. Security officials, however, said only one soldier was injured. Residents who witnessed the incident said that they saw at least two soldiers being transported in a vehicle to Palaly Military Hospital. SLA soldiers immediately cordoned off the area and conducted a house-to-house search, but no one was arrested according to local residents.
May 29
One SLA trooper was killed and three injured in a claymore attack at Jeyanthapuram, north of Batticaloa. The attack took place about 100 meters from Jeyanthipuram SLA camp.
Masked gunmen shot dead Thankaraja Rajanikanth, 26, a labourer who had left the LTTE several years ago in Peythalai-Karungkalicholai within Valaichchenai police division in Batticaloa. Unidentified armed men entered Mr Thankaraja''s house at midnight looking for him and were told by his mother that he was at a neighbour’s. The gunmen took Mr Thankarajah by force from the neighbour''s house some distance away for interrogation before shooting him dead at close range.
Unknown attackers entered the Sinhala settlement village of Rantharathenna in Omadiyamadu, in Polonnaruwa, Batticaloa border and shot and cut to death 13 Sinhala settlers. The attackers set fire to the victims'' belongings and equipment used in the irrigation project the settlers were working on. 2 persons were admitted to hospital and additional SLA soldiers were rushed to the village. LTTE Media Coordinator, Daya Master, charged that elements seeking to discredit the Tigers were behind the massacre of the Sinhalese workers. Gunmen seeking to stigmatise the Tigers after the EU ban, had"designed and executed" the killings in the border village of Omadiyamadu, which was once used by the paramilitary Karuna Group, Daya Master said. The timing of the massacre has been planned after the formal, politically motivated, proscription of the Tigers, he added.
Unidentified gunmen opened fire on SLA troopers of the Kalkuda camp on the Pethalai road in the Valaichenai police division in Batticaloa, injuring two SLA troopers. Wijeyasekara, 34, and Jakath, 38, the two injured troopers, were rushed to Valaichenai hospital where they are being treated. The gunmen, hiding themselves in the site, fired on the SLA troopers, wounding an Ottamvadi aluminium utensils trader as well in the shootout. SLA troopers deployed at several sites in the area immediately opened fire indiscriminately, assaulting several passers-by along the Pethalai road. The troopers also arrested many of the civilians and took them to the SLA Harbour Camp on the Kalkuda road.
Two fishermen who went to fish in Araly West seas in Valigamam were found murdered, and their bodies recovered from shrub jungles close to the Araly coast. Residents of Araly, Jaffna, blame SLN soldiers. Nagarajah Selvarajah and Nadarajah Nageswaran, both married and estimated to be between ages of 35-40, went fishing in shallow waters of Kottaikadu in Araly West Sunday evening. Relatives of the fishermen went in search of them when both failed to return Monday morning, discovered the bodies in Kottaikadu coastal shrub jungles and informed the Vaddukoddai police.
Unknown gunmen killed Subramaniam Thevaraj (alias Ranjan) in Erlalai North near the border of Palaly HSZ in Jaffna. Thevaraj, from Kupilan, was on his way to the Multi-purpose co-operative society to buy provisions when three unidentified youths shot him at close range and escaped. He was earlier employed in Tamil Eelam Employment and Income Section in Jaffna in the LTTE run civil administration.
In Navanthurai, Jaffna, Michael Johnson was shot dead by unknown gunmen in front of St. Nicholas Church. Mr Jesudasan, 40, was a member of the paramilitary EPDP and a candidate in the postponed local Jaffna Municipal Council elections.
SLA troopers who penetrated 4 kilometres into LTTE controlled Vilathikulam from the SLA camp in Iranai Iuppaikkulam, 20 km northwest of Vavuniya, exploded a claymore mine killing a civilian, Subramaniam Jeyarooban, 24, who was cycling.
A 24 year old Tamil youth arrested nearly a month earlier in Iruthayapuram in government controlled Muttur division by the SLA during a cordon and search operation has not been produced in court yet, relatives protested. Mr. K. Thurairatnasingham, Trincomalee district TNA parliamentarian Monday requested the Deputy Inspector General of Police for Eastern Region to urgently inquiry into the whereabouts of the youth. Suntharalingam Ravichandran of Manalsenai was arrested by army soldiers on April 28. His wife had made a complaint to the Muttur Police on April 29, a day after his arrest, but no action has been taken.
Vimalasuriar Thehilarajah, 26, who was seriously injured in a shooting incident in Vaddukoddai Sunday, succumbed to his injuries in Jaffna Teaching Hospital. He was a friend of the owner of a communications centre in Vaddukkodai, Jaffna and was injured in a shooting that claimed the life of the centre’s owner, Pooranam Sabesan, 26. Gunmen, allegedly belonging to paramilitaries working with SLA intelligence, bound the hands of the two, took them to an area behind the shop and sprayed the men with bullets from short range. Meanwhile, unknown gunmen who visited another video shop close to Sabesan''s business, threatened the employees by brandishing a hand grenade, took their photographs and then disappeared.
