Oddusuddan people arrive in Vavuniya
[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 December 1998, 14:24 GMT]
One hundred and sixty four persons, from 33 families who were in Oddusuddan when the Sri Lankan Army moved into the village last weak, have been brought to Vavuniya by military officials, said sources in Vavuniya said.
Buses carrying these people left Oddusuddan around 2 p.m. yesterday and arrived at the transit camp near the Vavuniya Railway Station just before midnight, said an elderly person in the group. "No body knew the presence of the SLA in Oddusuddan until day break last Thursday, when the security forces moved into the area" he said. "When we saw the army we were shocked and we could not run away because the town area was surrounded by them. We were asked to come in a file and told to go into the Thaanthondreeswaran Kovil in Oddusuddan", another retired government servant said. Referring to the mortar fire of the LTTE at Oddusuddan during the visit of the Deputy Minister of Defence, Gen. Anurudha Ratwatte, another woman said that she heard the explosion outside the temple, when the minister finished talking to the soldiers in front of the temple. "Although the civilians were checked thoroughly soon after the incident, no harm was done to them", she added. Meanwhile, sources said that the 47 civilians arrested by the SLA are still being interrogated by army intelligence. Relatives of the arrested said they had appealed to the army officials to grant permission to visit them. One woman said that she was not even told by the security forces where her arrested husband is kept.
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