Peaceful start to New Year - almost

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 January 1998, 23:59 GMT]
A powerful bomb went off near the Kattankudy - Araipattai (Ariyampathi) border this morning around 11.30 a.m. The area is about six kilometers south of Batticaloa town. No one was injured.

But the Sri Lankan Police manning the checkpoint on the Kattankudy border assaulted some Tamil civilians who were passing by. Otherwise 1998 dawned quietly in Batticaloa said residents, who, however, regretted that they could not light firecrackers as the new year approached last night.

They pointed out that all the SLA camps and sentry points in most parts of the district sent up a large number of sky rockets and lighted thousands of crackers on the verge of the arrival of 1998 last night.

They said that the SLA could have allowed them also to celebrate the arrival of the new year.