Karuna and associates escorted by SLA - Thamil Alai

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 April 2004, 15:29 GMT]
The fleeing renegade Eastern commander Mr. Vinayagamoorthy Muraleetharan (alias Karuna) and his associates were seen running into the Mavadivembu camp of the Sri Lanka Army, and from there were escorted in the direction of Polanaruwa, the Thamil Alai newspaper published from the East said Friday, quoting eyewitnesses among the public.

Mavadivembu is 22 km northwest of Batticaloa town. The revelations in the newspaper come amid denials by the Sri Lanka Army that its forces had escorted Karuna and his associates.

According to the eyewitnesses quoted by the paper, men from the Karuna group visited Kalladichenai, a paddy growing area of fields, in 7 vehicles, and set fire to a Pajero jeep and 2 pickup vehicles before leaving in other vehicles. In the no-man zone between the Kalladichenai paddy fields and the Mavadivembu SLA camp, the group was met by SLA personnel and escorted into the SLA camp, from where they were seen being escorted to Pollanaruwa, the public said.

The Thamil Alai also quoted the public to say that some of the vehicles of the Karuna group are being used by the SLA in Mavadivembu.