Two soldiers surrender

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 August 1998, 01:12 GMT]
Two soldiers from the Vavunatheevu Sri Lanka Army (SLA) camp, 4 km west of Batticaloa, went across to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) lines and surrendered with their weapons on Tuesday night, said sources in Batticaloa.

SLA Privates M. Majeed and W. Kulatunga, who were on sentry duty, were missing when soldiers came to relieve their watch.

On Wednesday morning, the public confirmed that two soldiers in SLA uniform were seen being transported to the LTTE camp, said sources.

The SLA has reported them as missing, said sources.

The Vavunatheevu SLA camp is situated in such away that it dissuades soldiers to desert and escape via the SLA controlled areas.

The SLA checkpoints and the defences of the heavily fortified Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) camp, present almost insurmountable obstacles to a deserter making it far easier for them to cross the no-man's land into the LTTE lines, said sources.