Puthur youth shot by SLA, dies

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 October 2005, 16:52 GMT]
Nirojan Tharmarajah (20), injured by SLA gunfire and shrapnel from grenades charged by the SLA soldiers Friday evening outside the Puthur East Vaharavathai SLA camp, succumbed to the injuries at 8.45 p.m. For more than an hour SLA blocked an ambulance that came to pickup the injured including Tharmarajah to Atchuvely hospital. Tharmarajah and two others with gunshot injuries were later transferred to Jaffna Teaching Hospital.

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Medical sources at Jaffna Hospital said the death was caused by excessive loss of blood.

The village Vaharavathai is completely vacated and Buffalo Armored Cars of the Sri Lankan Army are patroling the area, civilian sources said.

The two civilians injured in the evening and the two civilians injured in the morning are being treated at Jaffna Hospital while others with minor injuries are being treated at Atchuveli Hospital.

The injured admitted to Jaffna hospital are S. Parthipan, 33, S. Nagalingam, 36, I. Ponni, 70, Manroe Mistro, 34, according to the Hospital sources.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka Army denied firing at the protestors. SLA officials at the Palaly military base said one of the grenades fell into their bunkers wounding a soldier adding that only 3 of the 6 grenades exploded at the site.