Civilians assaulted in retaliation

[TamilNet, Thursday, 05 February 1998, 23:59 GMT]
A member of the PLOTE working with the army at Chenkalady, 16 kilometers north of Batticaloa, was killed when a suspected member of the Liberation Tigers lobbed a grenade into a sentry point this afternoon around 3.45 p.m. said sources in Batticaloa.

The dead PLOTE cadre has been identified as Kulanthaivel Chandrakumar, 22.

Civilians who passed the way were beaten as PLOTE cadres and SLA soldiers fired indiscriminately for about thirty minutes after the incident said sources in Chenkalady.

The sentry point, which about one kilometer west of Chenkalady town on the Badulla road is jointly manned by the SLA and the PLOTE .

It is one of key points on the border between the SLA controlled eastern coastal stretch of the Batticaloa district and its vast western hinterland which is dominated by the Liberation Tigers.

The army and well armed cadres of the PLOTE have separate camps here mainly to guard the vital bridge called Karuththappalam and to check the civilian population which daily pass through.

The PLOTE maintains a forward sentry point at the entrance of the bridge protected in the rear by SLA positions.