Seven civilians feared killed in SLA artillery attack

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 December 2006, 18:52 GMT]
Seven Internally Displaced civilians traveling from Kathiraveli to Vaharai in a two-wheel tractor were killed when an artillery shell fired by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) exploded on their vehicle at 5:00 pm Friday, injured passengers in the tractor told medical officials in Kathiraveli. The fellow passengers told the officials that they had to bury the dead before returning to Kathiraveli.

Meanwhile, SLA continued shelling from the Kallar SLA camp towards LTTE controlled Kathiraveli region from 11:30 a.m Saturday, sources in Trincomalee said.

Krishnapillai Venukanthan, 19, from Echilampattu, Trincomalee area who earlier was displaced to Kathiraveli was seriously injured in the SLA shell attack.

New borns in Vaharai are suffering from matnutrition, Dr Varatharajan said of the deteriorating welfare situation in Vaharai. Two new borns weighed 800 gms when the average weight of a healthy new born is nearly 2.5 kgm Dr Varatharajan said. One of the underweight baby died, the gynecologist said.