2ND LEAD

Home guard killed in Claymore attack in Trinco settlement

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 April 2006, 05:45 GMT]
A home guard was killed and a policeman was injured in a claymore mine attack at 58th colony, Dehiwatte, in Trincomalee district Friday around 8.40 a.m., Police said. Thugs armed with swords knifed a man to death after the attack, initial reports said. Tension prevails in the area. The Claymore attack comes after a Tamil youth was shot and killed on Thursday.

The claymore mine, fixed to the fence of a coconut field, targeted a road patrol of home guards on Dehiwatte - Kiliveddy Road.

Dehiwatte is part of Seruvila electorate, which was carved out in the Trincomalee district for Sinhalese in 1976 after Sri Lankan state sponsored Sinhala colonisation of traditional Tamil areas.

The legalised encroachments and state sponsored settlements, down south of Trincomalee were named in Sinhala as Serunuwara, Neelapola, Ali-Oluwa and Dehiwatte.