Three children, SLA soldier injured in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Sunday, 23 October 2005, 07:58 GMT]
Three children were injured in Batticaloa Sunday morning when Sri Lanka Army soldiers opened fire on gunmen who fired at SLA soldiers manning a sentry wounding one soldier. The incident took place around 8:45 a.m. The soldiers were manning a sentry point at the Zahira College on Rosario Road, 2 km north of Batticloa town. The children were refugees stationed in the refugee camp at the Zahira College, civilian sources said.

The children were identified as Nadarajah Sasikaran, 4, Pirapharan Venitha, 7, and Thavarajah Aniksha, 7.

The SLA soldier was identified as J. M. A. Samitha, 20.

The injured children and the soldier were rushed to Batticaloa hospital.

The gunmen who fired at the two SLA soldiers manning the sentry point escaped from the site in a motorbike, civilian sources said.

Batticaloa Police is conducting investigations into the incident.