Police fire kills one

[TamilNet, Monday, 04 January 1999, 15:15 GMT]
A civilian was killed and another seriously wounded in the early hours of the morning today around 12.30 a.m. when the Sri Lankan Police at Eravur, 16 km. north of Batticaloa opened fire on a cart carrying a sick woman.

The two men were from the village of Aarumukaththaankudiyiruppu, 3 km. south of Eravur.

The woman, their neighbour, had been stricken with a severe attack of asthma around midnight and had to be urgently taken to the Eravur hospital for treatment.

The woman was therefore taken in a bullock cart with a lamp hung in front as stipulated in these parts by the Sri Lankan Army (SLA) and Police.

However, the military trained Police at the Eravur sentry point had opened fire upon seeing the cart.

Nallathamby Sabanathan, 41, was killed on the spot and S.Rajendiram was seriously wounded in the firing.

The army and Police have granted permission to civilians in some parts of the areas they control in the east to take patients in need of urgent medical attention to the nearest hospital by holding a particular type of lamp ahead of the vehicle and proceeding very slowly towards their destination.