A rash of killings in the east
West of the lagoon
AS the LTTE prepared for Great Heroes Week celebrations in mid-November, the Army cut off food supplies to Tiger-controlled areas west of the Batticaloa lagoon and launched a military offensive. The areas were continually shelled from Army camps.
LTTE-held areas north-west of Batticaloa also came under attack. Sisters Lingeswary, 15, and Thiyageswary, 5, were injured by a shell at Ilupaddichenai on 16 November. Airforce planes damaged five houses in the same area two days later and injured 12 people. Farmers fled as shelters near rice fields were bombed.
The Tigers attacked a police party checking vehicles at Nidamalwela on Polonnaruwa District on 9 November killing six policemen and four Home Guards. An Army patrol in Kiran on 25 November was attacked by the LTTE killing a soldier and injuring two others. Following the incident, soldiers ran amok assaulting people and shooting indiscriminately. K Pathmanathan and MB Thahir were shot dead. Houses and shops were damag
ed and several people were injured. The following day the village was shelled killing 60 year-old S Mylvaganam. People fled for safety and took refuge in jungles in Valaichenai and Santhiveli.
A woman in Kalkudah has complained that she was gang-raped by soldiers on 3 November. Five soldiers from the Kalkudah Army camp have been arrested by police. On the same day Puthukudiyiruppu area in Valaichenai was shelled after LTTE shot and injured two policemen. Soldiers entered houses and attacked civilians. Sinnathangam, 75, and her daughter Hemalatha were wounded. Valaichenai National Engineering Corporation stores was damaged.
Soldiers used bus passengers as a human shield to travel to Kaluvankerni Army camp from Valaichenai on 8 November. Other soldiers fired on the bus mistaking it for Tiger vehicle seriously injuring 14 passengers. Tamil MP Joseph Pararajasingham has demanded an enquiry into the incident. Two men fishing in the Batticaloa lagoon near Mahilurmunai at night were shot dead by the Army on 10 November. Fishing in the night remains banned in the eastern districts.
The LTTE continued to damage electricity transformers plunging many areas into darkness. Assassinations in the east also continue. T Vimalanathan was shot dead at Sithandy on 15 November. Former TELO member K Gajendrarajah was killed on 23 November at Valaichenai.
In Amparai District P Dharmalingam, 60, died in crossfire when the Army and the LTTE clashed at 12 Colony village. The LTTE attacked a police post at 12 Colony village on 3 November killing six policemen and a Home Guard. Six Tigers died in counter-attacks by the Army.
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