28 wounded, 13 hospitalized in SLN revenge attack on IDPs

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 December 2005, 16:57 GMT]
Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) soldiers Friday evening around 5:30 p.m. entered the settlement of Internally Displaced People (IDP), the Victoria Hundred Houses scheme, and attacked the civilians with batons, bike-chains and shoes after tying their hands and legs. Eleven persons, 9 males and 2 females, were admitted to the Peripheral Medical unit in Pesalai and two men requiring further medical care were rushed to Mannar General Hospital. Another 15 persons, with minor injuries, have returned after treatment at OPD (Out Patients Department), medical sources said. Meanwhile, more than 100 families living along Talaimannar-Pesalai Road have moved into the Vetrimatha Church in Pesalai for safety.

The fate of a few families from the IDP settlement who failed to turnup at the temporary refuge in Vetrimatha Church, was not known, according to families who arrived at the Church.

The housing settlement is located at Thullukudiyiruppu in Pesalai, 200 meters from the ambush site where more than 15 SLN personnel were killed in a Claymore explosion Friday afternoon.

Many persons from Pesalai, a predominantly catholic middle class population, are employed in the Government sector in Mannar town. More than 800 persons, stranded in Mannar unable to proceed beyond Tharapuram, have sought refuge at St. Sebastian church in Mannar and with their relatives and friends. Many of them had come to Mannar town for Christmas shopping.

A few Muslims have taken refuge in the mosques in Mannar, sources added.