Jaffna troops turn on each other

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 12 November 1997, 23:59 GMT]
A Corporal in the SLA base at Thallady in the Mannar district shot and killed two of his colleagues today - one is a Corporal and the other is a soldier. The reason for the murders was not available immediately but military analysts say that it reflects a trend in the SLA camps in the war zones of the island's northeast.

In another incident on Sunday Nov. 9, a lieutenant of the Sri Lankan army camp in the cement factory at Kankesanthurai in Jaffna shot dead 2nd lieutenant M. Banda and soldier Kapil Karunarathna.

The lieutenant was identified as N.G Aruna Shantha. He had shot dead the two men on Sunday evening following an altercation with them. The lieutenant was produced before the Jaffna magistrate yesterday and was remanded till Nov. 22.

"All conflicts create cycles of violence which in particularly insidious wars of attrition sometimes turn inwards. War weariness and long exposure to violence very often give rise to this trend among soldiers who are camped for long periods in hostile territory" said a military analyst.