Colombo paper exposes paramilitary camp

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 March 2005, 10:55 GMT]
Colombo-based English newspaper, the Sunday Leader, in its latest edition, has exposed the presence of a paramilitary camp at Theevuchenai in the SLA-held area of the Polonnaruwa district. The paper said its reporters visited last week the village lying about 10 km north of the Harabarana-Valaichenai highway from Sevenapitiya.

Two youth from the village were shot and killed on March 14 night by unidentified gunmen.

The villagers, on March 16, brought the caskets containing the bodies of the two slain youth on to the main highway and protested against the presence of the camp, blaming that the murders were carried out by a paramilitary cadre, Laksman, who operated from the camp.

Earlier, soon after the murders, the Defence Spokesman's office in Colombo blamed the LTTE saying that the murders were carried out as the LTTE suspected the youth to be supporters of Karuna.

The area around Theevuchenai is ringed by SLA camps and detachments. The closest army check point is at Mutugala, on the access road to Thivichchenei, about 3 km from the village.

The camp was led by Karuna loyalist "Mangalan Master" according to the paper.

The newspaper in its 2 page report, also carried photographs of a road-block sentry point manned by the paramilitary cadres.

In terms of the Cease Fire Agreement (CFA) between the Government and the LTTE, the Government had to disband all paramilitary forces.

The LTTE has accused the Government of using former Karuna loyalist cadres to target LTTE members.