Three lorries taken from Yala

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 January 1998, 23:59 GMT]
A group of heavily armed persons took away three lorries around midnight yesterday on the Kadirgamam (Kattaragama in Sinhalese) - Buttala road at a place called Galgeywanguwa near the Yala national wildlife park about 260 kilometers south of Colombo.

Sri Lankan Police sources said that the LTTE was responsible for the incident. The lorries have not yet been found.

Police say there had been about fifteen armed persons in the group.

Sri Lankan army sources, meanwhile, expressed concern that the lorries might be used to mount an attack their vulnerable positions near the park.

The army has said that the Liberation Tigers might launch an attack in the south from the Yala national park to which they have direct access from their large base in the Kanjikudichcha Aaru jungles which are about eighty kilometers north in the south eastern part of the Ampara district.

In October last year, an unidentified armed group set fire to 15 busses and other vehicles in the Kadirgamam peoplised transport board.

The Police and the army blamed the Liberation Tigers for the incident.

Kadirgamam is a holy shrine of the Tamil god Murugan. The shrine is venerated by the Sinhalese as well. It is one of the largest pilgrimage centres in Sri Lanka.