Citizen's committee condemns attacks on civilians

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 29 December 1998, 18:35 GMT]
The Citizens Committee in the Vanni has urged the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to take steps to prevent Sri Lankan Army (SLA) attacks on innocent civilians.

Rev.Fr.N.S.Karunaratnam handed over a memorandum stating the Committee's concerns to the Residential Representative of the ICRC in Mallavi this morning, said sources in the Vanni.

The memorandum stated that on December 21, 5 civilians who were travelling to their paddy fields along the Mullaithivu-Nedunkerni Road were attacked and killed by the SLA who had waited in ambush.

The names of the deceased were given as:

S.Sivabalasingam (26) father of 3 children
Arumugam Vallipuram (45) father of 6 children
Ponnuthurai Sivabalu (28) father of a child
Nallathamby Nadarajah (49) father of 3 children
Satkunam Manickavasagam (48) father of 6 children

"We wish to bring this matter to your kind attention" the Citizen's Committee has said and appealed to the ICRC official to take steps to stop the SLA from attacking and killing displaced civilians.