4TH LEAD

16 civilians killed in DPU attack in Vanni, 5 children, 7 females among victims

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 May 2008, 10:10 GMT]
16 civilians, including 5 children, three girls and two boys, were killed in a Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Deep Penetration Unit (DPU) Claymore attack that targeted a Hiace van returning from Akkaraayan hospital to Ki'linochchi on Mu'rika'ndi - Akkaraayan Road Friday around 2:15 p.m., reports from Ki'linochchi said. The SLA on Friday stepped up DPU attacks in LTTE controlled Vanni as the region was observing a national mourning day following the demise of LTTE's Senior Commander Brigadier Balraj.



16 dead bodies, 4 males, 6 females and 6 children, were brought to Ki'linochchi hospital.

Two children, one of them seriously wounded, were brought to the hospital. Their father, mother, a sister and two brothers, all children, were killed in the attack. Keerthika Vijayaratnam, 13, was seriously injured, her 14-year-old sister was also wounded. Their parents, Vijayaratnam Periyavamy and Logantha Vijayaratnam, were killed with elder sister Sivalaksala Vijayaratnam, 18, Thanushan Vijayaratnam, 10 and Vithushan Vijayaratnam, 7.

Another couple, Subramaniyam Alakan, 41, and Saraswathy Subramaniyam, 40, were among the killed.

The other victims were identified as:

Panneerselvam Alakuraani, 45, female
Rajendran Kalaavathi, 29, female
Samikkannu Karuppiah, 45, male
Ungu Karuppiah, female
Keerthika Chandrasekaran, 11, female
Karthika Chandramohan, 10, female
Thanaluxmy Subramaniam, 54, female
Kalaathevi Sivakumaran, 34, female
Ganesh Thanarajan, 34, male

Five of the killed children were studying in K'ilinochchi Baarathy Viththiyalayam and two adults were employees at the school.

The victims were residents of Baarathypuram and Malayalapuram, situated 3 km southwest of Ki'linochchi town.





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