News in Brief:

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 April 1999, 18:45 GMT]
Villagers allege assault during search operation and about two hundred civilians were allowed today to enter the SLA controlled area.

Villagers allege assault

The home of a civilian was damaged due to motor shell attack by the security forces when they conducted a cordon and search operation in the village of Varani in the Vadamarachchi area of Jaffna, residents of the area said.

Villagers were taken to a nearby Hindu temple and were interrogated. Some civilians were severely assaulted during this operation, residents alleged.

Meanwhile the ban imposed on fishing in the Manatkadu area in Vadamarachchi in the Jaffna district has been lifted with effect from today, security sources said.

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Uylankulam road opened

The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) allowed about 200 civilians from those areas of the Vanni controlled by the Liberation Tigers to come through the Uyilankulam entry point today.

Police sources in Mannar said that the outflow was stopped when two suspected members of the Liberation Tigers were apprehended from among the civilians who were coming through the SLA's checkpoint today.

Meanwhile civilians who were brought in nine buses from Vavuniya to the Uyilankulam point were allowed to pass through to the LTTE controlled parts of the Vanni today.

About sixty civilians among those stranded in Mannar town since April 18 were sent in two buses to Uyilankulam to pass through the checkpoint to their villages in the Vanni.