3RD LEAD (CORRECTION, UPDATE)

Karuna faction overruns Pillayan's office

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 October 2008, 11:42 GMT]
The faction of the TMVP paramilitary, led by Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan, alias Karuna, who was recently nominated by the Rajapaksa government as a national list MP, has overrun the main office of Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillayan, who was installed as the Chief Minister of the Eastern Provice by Mr. Rajapaksa. The attack on 'Meenakam office' in Koavinthan Road in Batticaloa city took place Friday around 12:30 p.m., initial reports said. Meanwhile, informed sources in Colombo said Pillayan was hurriedly escorted to Colombo by Rajapaksa's government and a meeting was arranged with Karuna.

Sri Lankan Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and Basil Rajapaksa were busily engaged in iorning out differences between the two paramilitary operatives, the sources added.

Karuna loyalists also entered the newspaper office of the paramilitary outfit, located in front of the office and set fire to several bundles of the paper, scheduled to be released on October 19. The paper carries an article criticising Karuna.

Karuna's men have captured 13 Pillayan loyalists with T-56 assault rifles, according to initial reports.