Bodies of 2 Tamil youths recovered in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 July 2007, 19:59 GMT]
Batticaloa police recovered Friday evening, bodies of two youths with gunshot injuries and in decomposed state, at Paavatkodicheanai area, Unnichchai in Batticaloa district, Batticaloa police said.

The victims were identified as Vinayagamoorthy Visvalingam, 22, and Vettivel Navaneethan, 19, both presently living in Ka'luvangkeani Welfare Centre.

The youths, displaced from Moothoor in Trincomalee district due Sri Lanka Army (SLA) offensives, had been living in the Batticaloa Welfare Centre.

Visvalingam and Navaneethan, who had gone to Unnichchai to visit their friends without their parents' knowledge few days earlier, failed to return to the welfare centre.

Unidentified gunmen had forced them to alight from the bus they were returning home Sunday, sources in Batticaloa said.

The bodies have been transferred to the Batticaloa hospital for postmortem examination.