LTTE fires mortars towards Weli Oya, says SLA

[TamilNet, Sunday, 12 August 2007, 21:18 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eeelam (LTTE) fired mortars targetted towards Wel Oya area in Polllanaruwa district, Sri Lanka Army (SLA) spokesperson Brigadier Prasanth Samarasinghe said Sunday. The attack began at 8:00 a.m. Sunday and claimed the life of a 65-year old man and injured five others, Brig. Samarasinghe said. A number of private residences are also said to have been damaged during the attack.

SLA said they returned fire but did not release any other details.

Meanwhile, the military spokesperson said two 120m.m mortars were recovered from this area.

Ma'nki'ndi Malai area in Welioya was renamed Janakapura by Maj.Gen. (ret) Janaka Perera who was later appointed Sri Lanka’s high commissioner to Australia, after Tamils living here were forcibly evacuated by SLA troops in 1984.

The Sri Lankan government settled Sinhala civilians in the abandoned Tamil villages of this region (by now officially referred to in Sinhala as Weli Oya, a translation of Ma'nal Aaru-sand river) and set up a string of SLA camps in and around the area.

Ma'nki'ndi Malai has one of the key army camps. The camp was rebuilt after the Liberation Tigers overran and burnt it down in 1993.

Chronology: