Civilians killed by SLA fire

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 January 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Two civilians were killed by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) last night around 8:30 p.m., when soldiers mistook them for members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), at Kiran near Valaichenai, 30 km north of Batticaloa.

The soldiers, who were lying in ambush for the LTTE, opened fire with small arms and killed K.Selvarajah (38) and S. Sivapalan (31).

This was followed by SLA shelling, which destroyed a house about 200 meters away and killed an occupant identified as S. Parvathi (65).

It is alleged that Selvarajah and Sivapalan were inebriated at the time they were shot dead by the SLA ambush party.

The body of the woman was removed to Eravur hospital, while those of the two killed in Kiran were sent to the Valaichenai hospital. The bodies were identified by relatives today.