Entire village displaced

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 November 2000, 19:18 GMT]
The entire hamlet of Soodaikuda in the Muttur area south of Trincomalee town has been displaced due to continuous artillery attack by the government forces. 148 people belonging to 46 families - all Tamils - residing in Soodaikuda have sought refuge in a school at Sampoor village, officials attached to local humanitarian organisations said.

They are now being looked after by Sampoor people. Among the displaced 75 are children, according to the sources.

Soodaikuda people say that they would return to their village if the authorities gave assurance that the continuous shelling by the security forces would be stopped.

Meanwhile leading citizens of the village are preparing a memorandum to be sent to the President of Sri Lanka requesting her to take immediate steps to stop indiscriminate shelling on the village, sources there said.

Also several other villages in the Mutur area have come under heavy shelling and aerial bombing. On Monday a young farmer was killed when Sri Lanka Army soldiers stationed at Monkey Bridge fired shells towards Soodaikudah.