SLA steps up surveillance in A'pura Tamil suburb

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 November 2007, 20:09 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and Police have been frequently conducting cordon and search operation at Neeraaviyadi, a Tamil suburb located 6 km away from Anuradhapura military air base. The surveillance has been stepped up since the assumption of Major General Sarath Karunaratne as the Overall Commander of Anuradhapura district following the recent aerial and land attack on the Anuradhapura military air base by the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE).

On the dawn of November 5 Sri Lankan troops surrounded Neeraviyadi and took fifteen Tamil residents including employees of municipal council and government departments and children under 16 into custody and detained them in the Anuradhapura police station.

The army authorities did not respond to the appeal made by the residents that they have been residing in Neeraviyadi for generations.

Some residents were released after about 15 hours in detention and six were detained for further inquiry.

Four of them were released on November 6th morning and the Anuradhapura Magistrate remanded the two Tamil youths for fourteen days stating that they failed to provide their identity with valid documents.

The normal life of Neeraaviyadi residents has been affected due to frequent search operations.

Anuradhapura military air base is located in the Sinhalese area.