2ND LEAD

SLA establishes 224th Brigade in Ki'n'niyaa after ‘grease devil’ episode

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 August 2011, 11:38 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army has established its 224 Brigade in Ki'n'niyaa town where ninety nine percent of the population are Tamil-speaking Muslims. The deployment of Sri Lankan military at Ki'n'niyaa, the most densely populated town in the Trincomalee district, comes in the wake of protests held by Muslim residents of the area against the arrest of twenty four Muslim civilians over an attempted ‘grease devil’ attack by an alleged Sri Lanka Navy man last week. The new SLA Brigade consists two battalions with 1,000 to 2,000 soldiers, informed sources in the East told TamilNet Monday.

The SL Government Agent and the Eastern Province Commander of the Sri Lanka Army were held hostage by the Muslim protesters in the Ki'n'niyaa Divisional Secretariat complex till the release of the civilians.

They were arrested when a group of Muslim residents attacked a camp of the Sri Lanka Navy following a person suspected to be a “grease devil” sought refuge there with his vehicle, evading arrest by civilians.

Since then the Sri Lanka Army, Sri Lanka Navy and police have been ‘punishing’ the people of Ki'n'niyaa by erecting sentry points with sandbanks all over the town and conducting search operations.

Civilians travelling by buses and other mode of vehicles are subjected to strict checks and body search by the Sri Lankan forces.

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