Youth arrested in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Saturday, 14 August 1999, 10:19 GMT]
The Sri Lanka army (SLA) arrested twenty two youth in the Batticaloa town on suspicion today.

They were taken to the SLA camp at Covington Road for interrogation. Human rights sources in the eastern town said that some of them were assaulted by their captors. A youth identified as Santhirasekaram Kirupakaran from Kannankudah was detained and the others were released later after questioning and screening. Kannankudah is a village in the LTTE controlled western hinterland of the Batticaloa district.

More than a hundred youth have been arrested in Batticaloa town and its suburbs since Wednesday, August 11 when a Police convoy was hit by an improvised explosive device (I.E.D) set off by the Liberation Tigers.

Meanwhile, a speeding SLA truck knocked down a motorcyclist and his wife who was riding the pillion in Batticaloa town around noon 12.10 p.m. today. The motorcyclist, S.Sankar, 27 and his wife were admitted to the Batticaloa hospital with injuries. Fear of LTTE attacks in the heart of the town is a reason for reckless speeding among some SLA drivers said sources.