SLA cordons off, searches Ariyalai village

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 December 2005, 12:54 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers cordoned off and conducted a house to house search Mulli, a village in Ariyalai in Nalllur Pradeshya Sabha Friday morning. Villagers who assumed the presence of SLA troopers as part of intensified patrol of the area were alarmed when troops entered houses and demanded national identity cards from villagers, residents said.

Many of the villagers are improvished, live in basic thatched huts and are resettlers from Poompuhar and Maniyam thottam area in Thenmaradchy district.

Tension prevailed in the village as many were subjected to threatening language and were warned of dire consequences for any behavior innimical to SLA interests, sources said.

SLA has been systemetically sweeping areas of potential unrest and are conducting cordon and search of several areas of the Jaffna district in the last three days. Jaffna sources say active youth groups in Jaffna have responded with warning messages and have informed the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission of a developing explosive atmosphere in the district.

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