Two soldiers wounded in LTTE ambush

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 July 2001, 20:33 GMT]
Two Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers were wounded, one of them seriously in an ambush by the Liberation Tigers at Vaarikuddiyoor, 16 km. northwest of Vavuniya, around 5.15 p.m. Wednesday, army sources in the northern town said.

The soldiers, a sergeant and a lieutenant, were cycling when they were fired at by the Tigers, who had taken up positions behind a bush, the sources said.

The Army lieutenent is reported to be in a serious condition, according to the sources.

Soldiers from a nearby sentry post rushed to the scene and commandeered a public transport bus to transport the wounded colleagues to Anuradhapura hospital. The bus was later brought to the Pampaimadhu SLA camp.

The troops conducted a search operation in the area.