Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers in their sentry post along Jaffna lagoon found a male corpse with gun shot wounds washed ashore on Monday morning and informed Jaffna police, Tamil Net reported yesterday.
Jaffna Magistrate, Vasanthasenan, visited the site, held inquiries and directed the police to hand over the corpse to Jaffna Teaching Hospital mortuary.
The body appears to be that of a person between 20 to 30 years of age, hospital sources said.
Residents near Jaffna lagoon said that they heard gunshots Sunday night from the lagoon area.
Meanwhile, unidentified men hurled a hand grenade, early Sunday morning at 2:00am, at the residence of Eastern Province Council (EPC) member, S M Zubhair Hadjiar located by Ea’raavoor Girls School and bolted away.
The grenade fell within the premises of the home close to the entrance and exploded. Zubhair escaped unhurt in the explosion and the house was undamaged.
Zubhair had returned home at 10:00pm after having addressed election rallies in Pollanaruwa district in support of the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) candidates contesting the North Central Provincial Council Elections and was asleep at the time of the attack.
Ea’raavoor police who rushed to the scene diffused a hand bomb with the help of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troops and have commenced investigations.
Tamil students of the Arts Faculty of the Peradeniya University handed over a memorandum to the Vice-chancellor on Friday requesting him to take immediate steps to release K Umanath, a final year student, from police custody, enabling him to sit for his final examination scheduled to be held in three months, sources in Peredeniya said.
Umanath is still being detained in Davulugala police station in Kandy district.
Tamil students informed the university administration that they have submitted the memorandum separately because the University Students Association (UAS) has failed to show any interest in support of the Tamil suspect-student.
The UAS administration is dominated by Sinhala students, the sources said.
Umanath, a resident of Aalangkeani in Ki’n’niyaa division in Trincomalee district, was taken into custody suspected of involvement in terrorist activity, three weeks ago.
The parents of Umanath who are in Kandy attempting to obtain the release of their son, say their son is not involved in any criminal activity.
The Police officer in charge at the Police station has directed all visitors to speak to Umanath only in Sinhala or English. Visitors who talked to Umanath allege that he has not been provided with basic facilities in the police station.
The university administration earlier said that it could not intervene in this matter as the suspect is detained under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA).
Meanwhile, Deputy Vice-chancellor, Professor Anura Wickremasinghe, is reported to have told the group of Tamil students, that the police had told him that the suspect would be produced in court shortly, and thereafter he could be released on bail.
A group of unidentified armed men opened fire and hurled hand grenades on the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) camps in Yaakkarai and Kalikai areas in Karaveddi in Vadamraadchi Saturday midnight killing two soldiers and seriously injuring two, sources in Jaffna said.
Thousands of SLA troops deployed in the above area launched a cordon and search operation, immediately after the attack, that continued till Sunday evening.
The attack continued for 15 minutes in which heavy gunfire and explosions were heard, Karaveddi sources said.
The two injured SLA soldiers have been admitted to Palaali Military Hospital.
Residents of the areas continue to remain in their homes while an atmosphere of fear and tension prevails.
Meanwhile, Wednesday morning, unidentified gunmen opened fire on two youths riding on bicycles in the above area, injuring one of them.
The injured youth was admitted to Manthikai hospital in Vadamaraadchi for treatment and was abducted same day, allegedly by SLA-backed paramilitaries who had shot at him, sources in Karaveddi were told by the injured youth.
The committee appointed by Colombo Supreme Court to explore into the possibility of resettlement of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in areas inside the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) High Security Zone (HSZ) in Valikaamam north met Saturday around 3:30pm in Palaali SLA Head Quarters.
Here they decided to allow resettlement in the first stage only in areas outside the HSZ within the 600 metre distance of the no-man’s land area, contrary to the hopes of the applicants for resettlement inside the HSZ, now occupied by the SLA.
Jaffna High Court Judge R T Vicknarajah, Government Agent (GA), K Ganesh, Jaffna SLA Commander, Major General G A Chandrasiri, Rear Admiral T Samarasinghe, Commander Northern naval area and Jaffna Deputy Inspector General of Police, W S U Fernando are the members of the committee that met on Saturday.
It was decided in the meeting to allow only 233 families to resettle in seven GS (Village Officer) areas outside the HSZ line in no-man’s land and not inside the HSZ from where the residents had been expelled by the SLA.
Thellippazhai, Pannaalai, Kadduvan South, Viththakapuram, Thanththai Chelvaa Nakar, Thurkkaapuram and Thellippazhai East adjoining the defence line of the Palaali garrison are the areas permitted for resettlement.
In addition, 600 families who had to flee their houses in the outer periphery of the no-man’s land area and had not been allowed to re-settle so far, would also be permitted to resettle.
The SLA will clear the land mines in the selected areas while GA Jaffna will take steps to provide housing facilities for the IDPs returning to their lands.
Meanwhile, it was also decided in the meeting to permit agricultural pursuits in the no-man’s land though resettlement does not commence immediately.
It was decided to send a report on resettlement of IDPs in Valikaamam north to Colombo Supreme Court on October 19 and the committee to meet again on September 5th for further deliberations.
