Violence against Tamil civilians continues to escalate in the Sri Lanka military controlled Jaffna peninsula with 10 people killed and 15 injured in the last week alone.
Most of the killings were carried out in southern Jaffna peninsula, Thenmaraadchi, close to the Forward Defence Lines at Muhamaalai. In each case unidentified armed men who carried out the attacks escaped through Sri Lanka Army’s (SLA’s) High Security Zones and checkpoints without being challenged.
Last Saturday night gunmen riding a motorbike pursued a Tamil man, who was riding his own motorbike, along Raja Veethy, Koppay, towards Jaffna town. The gunmen sprayed the victim with bullets near the LTTE Heroes Cemetery in Koppay and fled from the scene. The man killed was identified by his wife as Francis Rohan, 26, from Chulipuram, who had been paying a visit to relatives in Kopay East when he was gunned down.
After the victim’s body was recovered by the Grama Sevaka officer (Village level Administrator), Koppay police were notified and later handed the body to Jaffna Teaching hospital for post mortem examination.
The previous day armed men shot and killed two civilians in Kodikaamam unleashing panic among the people in Thenmaraadchi.
Friday morning around 7:30 a.m, a 24-year-old female was shot and killed at her house on Jaffna-Point Pedro-Kachchaay road and a 26-year-old male was gunned down, 1 km away, around 10:00 a.m on Allarai-Kachchaay road in Kodikaamam.
The young woman killed was identified as Sivarasa Suki, 24, an unmarried woman living with her parents. The killers forcibly entered her house, near a Heroes’ Cemetery, and sprayed her with bullets, while her mother was watching. Suki's mother, who fainted in shock, was rushed to Chaavakachcheari hospital in critical condition.
The male victim was identified as Uthayan, a family man.
Two days prior to that, on Wednesday 30 January, Kodikaamam witnessed a massacre of three siblings by a motorbike squad allegedly operated by the SLA. Around 8.00pm, armed men on motorcycles shot and killed three siblings at Choalaiyamman Koayiladi in Manduvil in Thenmaraadchi. The attackers, alleged to be members of the SLA Field Bike Squad, surrounded the house, ordered the members of the family to go inside a room for inquiry and sprayed bullets on them, killing two, including a mother of two children. The children narrowly escaped from the bullets.
The victims were identified as Palasundaram Baskaran, 30, Thushyanthan Paleswari, 21, mother of two, and Palasundaram Parthipan, 19. Baskaran and Paleswari were killed on the spot. Parthipan succumbed to his injuries hours later, due to the inability to get him timely medical assistance.
The killings took place in the same area where recently three bodies of youths abducted and shot dead had been dumped by the killers.
Whilst the killings have spiralled, abductions too have been on the riser. In the latest incident, on Monday 28 January, the families of two men lodged complaints with the Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission (SLHRC) in Jaffna.
A young family man, Balasingam Yasotharan, 21, was forcibly abducted at gun point from his house in Oorelu on Friday afternoon by two men on motorcycles, according to complaint made by his wife with SLHRC.
Further, Selvarajah Gajendran, 31, an Internally Displaced Person (IDP) who was a labourer by profession, living in IDP camp at Oadakkarai, Changkaanai was feared abducted Thursday after leaving for work in Jaffna town, his family members noted in a complaint registered with the SLHRC. Gajendran was displaced from Kaangkeasanththurai in 1990 due to SLA offensives.
Whilst the spate of killings and abductions have terrorised the locals, a bomb explosion on Thursday 31 January around 10:30 a.m on Aadiyapaatham Road in Thirunelveali, Jaffna, killed four civilians and injured at least fifteen.
The injured were rushed to Jaffna Teaching hospital. There were no SLA troopers or vehicles at the spot when a claymore mine attached to a bicycle exploded, civilians in the area said.
Three of the dead civilians were identified as Ponnuththurai Krishnakumar, 32, of Koandaavil, Sankarappillai Muththukkumar, 60, from Urumpiraay South and Thirunavukkarasu Pagnchaadcharanathan, 44, of Koandaavil East. The fourth body, in a charred and disfigured state, was proving difficult to even identify. The bomb, believed to be a claymore mine, was attached to a parked bicycle, and exploded with a deafening noise.
The explosion took place when people travelling on the nearby Palaali main road were standing on the sides, ordered there by SLA troops who had suspended all traffic on the main road. Aadiyapaatham Road is rarely used by the SLA.
Following the bomb blast the SLA intensified security measures, suspending traffic for hours Friday while SLA convoys used the main roads in Jaffna peninsula.
All traffic on the main roads from Jaffna to Palaali, Point Pedro and Kaangkeasanththurai were suspended many times while all vehicles and persons entering Jaffna town were subjected to strict security checking.
Normal procedure of allowing people to cross the roads when the SLA convoys passed was done away with Friday causing people to wait on the sides of the roads for many hours.
SLA troops ordered all passengers out of the vehicles in the pouring rain and checked all of them meticulously.
Most of the killings were carried out in southern Jaffna peninsula, Thenmaraadchi, close to the Forward Defence Lines at Muhamaalai. In each case unidentified armed men who carried out the attacks escaped through Sri Lanka Army’s (SLA’s) High Security Zones and checkpoints without being challenged.
Last Saturday night gunmen riding a motorbike pursued a Tamil man, who was riding his own motorbike, along Raja Veethy, Koppay, towards Jaffna town. The gunmen sprayed the victim with bullets near the LTTE Heroes Cemetery in Koppay and fled from the scene. The man killed was identified by his wife as Francis Rohan, 26, from Chulipuram, who had been paying a visit to relatives in Kopay East when he was gunned down.
After the victim’s body was recovered by the Grama Sevaka officer (Village level Administrator), Koppay police were notified and later handed the body to Jaffna Teaching hospital for post mortem examination.
The previous day armed men shot and killed two civilians in Kodikaamam unleashing panic among the people in Thenmaraadchi.
Friday morning around 7:30 a.m, a 24-year-old female was shot and killed at her house on Jaffna-Point Pedro-Kachchaay road and a 26-year-old male was gunned down, 1 km away, around 10:00 a.m on Allarai-Kachchaay road in Kodikaamam.
The young woman killed was identified as Sivarasa Suki, 24, an unmarried woman living with her parents. The killers forcibly entered her house, near a Heroes’ Cemetery, and sprayed her with bullets, while her mother was watching. Suki's mother, who fainted in shock, was rushed to Chaavakachcheari hospital in critical condition.
The male victim was identified as Uthayan, a family man.
Two days prior to that, on Wednesday 30 January, Kodikaamam witnessed a massacre of three siblings by a motorbike squad allegedly operated by the SLA. Around 8.00pm, armed men on motorcycles shot and killed three siblings at Choalaiyamman Koayiladi in Manduvil in Thenmaraadchi. The attackers, alleged to be members of the SLA Field Bike Squad, surrounded the house, ordered the members of the family to go inside a room for inquiry and sprayed bullets on them, killing two, including a mother of two children. The children narrowly escaped from the bullets.
The victims were identified as Palasundaram Baskaran, 30, Thushyanthan Paleswari, 21, mother of two, and Palasundaram Parthipan, 19. Baskaran and Paleswari were killed on the spot. Parthipan succumbed to his injuries hours later, due to the inability to get him timely medical assistance.
The killings took place in the same area where recently three bodies of youths abducted and shot dead had been dumped by the killers.
Whilst the killings have spiralled, abductions too have been on the riser. In the latest incident, on Monday 28 January, the families of two men lodged complaints with the Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission (SLHRC) in Jaffna.
A young family man, Balasingam Yasotharan, 21, was forcibly abducted at gun point from his house in Oorelu on Friday afternoon by two men on motorcycles, according to complaint made by his wife with SLHRC.
Further, Selvarajah Gajendran, 31, an Internally Displaced Person (IDP) who was a labourer by profession, living in IDP camp at Oadakkarai, Changkaanai was feared abducted Thursday after leaving for work in Jaffna town, his family members noted in a complaint registered with the SLHRC. Gajendran was displaced from Kaangkeasanththurai in 1990 due to SLA offensives.
Whilst the spate of killings and abductions have terrorised the locals, a bomb explosion on Thursday 31 January around 10:30 a.m on Aadiyapaatham Road in Thirunelveali, Jaffna, killed four civilians and injured at least fifteen.
The injured were rushed to Jaffna Teaching hospital. There were no SLA troopers or vehicles at the spot when a claymore mine attached to a bicycle exploded, civilians in the area said.
Three of the dead civilians were identified as Ponnuththurai Krishnakumar, 32, of Koandaavil, Sankarappillai Muththukkumar, 60, from Urumpiraay South and Thirunavukkarasu Pagnchaadcharanathan, 44, of Koandaavil East. The fourth body, in a charred and disfigured state, was proving difficult to even identify. The bomb, believed to be a claymore mine, was attached to a parked bicycle, and exploded with a deafening noise.
The explosion took place when people travelling on the nearby Palaali main road were standing on the sides, ordered there by SLA troops who had suspended all traffic on the main road. Aadiyapaatham Road is rarely used by the SLA.
Following the bomb blast the SLA intensified security measures, suspending traffic for hours Friday while SLA convoys used the main roads in Jaffna peninsula.
All traffic on the main roads from Jaffna to Palaali, Point Pedro and Kaangkeasanththurai were suspended many times while all vehicles and persons entering Jaffna town were subjected to strict security checking.
Normal procedure of allowing people to cross the roads when the SLA convoys passed was done away with Friday causing people to wait on the sides of the roads for many hours.
SLA troops ordered all passengers out of the vehicles in the pouring rain and checked all of them meticulously.
