2ND LEAD (UPDATE)

TNA local election candidate, relative shot and killed in Valaichenai

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 June 2006, 18:15 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers and paramilitary gunmen, who emerged from the grounds of Karuvakerni Vigneswara Vidyalayam school, opened fire and killed a local election candidate and his relative around 10:15 p.m. Saturday, Valaichenai residents said. The incident took place 500 meters from Valaichenai Police station.

Nalliah Vimalendran, a father of two children and Tamil National Alliance (TNA) candidate for the local elections in Koralaipattu Pradeshiya Sabah (PS), and his relative Thambirajah Sithiravadivel, a father of four, were the victims who were from Karuvakerni.

Vimalendran and Sithiravadivel were gunned down while they were on their way home Saturday night after visiting the parents of the Karuvakerni youth, a CTB employee who was gunned down near the office of the Batticaloa Assistant Superindent of Police, at the CTB Bus stand, a few hours before the incident.