STF shoots dead 2 Tamils, 2 Muslims in Ampaa'rai

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 October 2008, 19:26 GMT]
Sri Lanka Special Task Force (STF) commandos opened fire Thursday around 6:00 a.m, on four farmers, two of them Tamils and two Muslims, killing them at Vaddamadu pasture land in Thirukkoayil police division in Ampaa'rai district.

The farmers had submitted their National Identity Cards (NIC) to the Sahama STF camp and registered their names as required before entering their paddy fields located in an area where clashes often erupt between Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) combatants, according to residents of the area who witnessed the four farmers registering their names at the said STF camp.

STF commandos who followed the farmers on four motorcycles shot and killed them.

The two Muslim victims were identified as I. L. M. Aboobucker alias Thampi Poadi, 65, and Mohamed Ismail Iyathu, 48, both residents of Akkaraippattu 1.

The two Tamil victims are Sinnathamby Suntharalingam, 49, from Koa'laavil 3, Akkaraippattu and Chinnavan, 45, from Aalaiyadiveampu.

Thirukkoayil police said that the bodies were handed over to the family members after post mortem examination was held in Thirukkoayil hospital.

Shops belonging to Muslims and Tamils are shut down as mark of grief over the killings while tension prevails in Akkaraippattu.

Additional police and SLA soldiers have been deployed in the area.