Two youths shot dead in Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 31 January 2007, 12:34 GMT]
Vavuniya Police recovered two bodies with gunshot wounds Wednesday night in Maharambaikulam in Vavuniya, police sources said. These latest killings bring the total number of homicides in Vavuniya district during the first month of the new year to 59.

The bodies were identified Thursday morning as belonging to Singaram Santhakumar, 28, and Veeraiya Logeswaran, 28, Vavuniya police said.

Of the 59 total killed, 9 are Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers, 8 Sri Lanka Police, 6 alleged members of Liberation Tigers, and the remaining 36 are civilians. Four of the civilians are Sinhalese.

The Vavuniya district court has to proceed with investigations of cases even when the availability of eye-witnesses and evidence surrounding the killing are scarce, legal sources said.

Vavuniya District Court Judge M.Ilancheliyan said all homicides are crimes under section 296 of the Sri Lanka Criminal code, according to legal sources.