SLA cordons, searches Jaffna coastal areas

[TamilNet, Monday, 03 March 2008, 15:35 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) launched a large scale cordon and search operation Sunday around 5:30 a.m in areas from Kurunakar to Kozhumpuththu’rai along Jaffna lagoon shores and led thousands of young men and family men to school and church compounds for interrogation, Jaffna sources said. The men had to wait in the hot sun the whole day while SLA troops subjected them to rigorous checking and interrogation, the sources added.

All men from the age of 14 to 50 in the said areas were rounded up in the search.

SLA continued the operation until dusk and confiscated the National Identity Cards (NIC) from some of the men during the interrogation, residents in the area said.

Human Rights Commission (HRC) Jaffna said that it has received complaints from civilians about their NICs being confiscated by SLA but no one had lodged complaints of arrests.

The men who were held by the SLA had to miss attending Sunday services, residents said.