Committee completes Jaffna SLA accident report

[TamilNet, Sunday, 16 November 2003, 18:59 GMT]
The high level committee appointed by the Commander of the Sri Lanka Army and the Chief of Defense Staff Lt.General Lionel Balagalle to inquire into the recent spate of accidents involving army and civilian vehicles in the Jaffna district is to submit its report Monday, security sources said.

The SLA appointed this committee when civil groups and human rights organizations in the district agitated against the increase in number of accidents involving army vehicles and civilians, sources said.

Around twenty accidents involving army and civilian vehicles had been reported during last three months in the Jaffna district. Several civilians were injured in those accidents.

In once instance two youths had been killed on the spot in Jaffna town when an army vehicle crashed against the motor bicycle ridden by the deceased youths, civil sources said. Enraged residents of the area had blocked the road and demanded the withdrawal of army camps from the area. Police and army soldiers had been forced to use tear gas to quell the agitation.