Arson attack destroys Grocery store in Kaaththaankudi

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 September 2008, 18:01 GMT]
A petrol bomb attack on a grocery store in Aaraiyampathi within Kaaththaankudi police in Batticaloa district Tuesday night 9:30 p.m. caused extensive damages to the store, the owner stated in a complaint lodged with Kaaththaankudi police.

M.Arunraj, the owner of the damaged Malini Stores, told the police that provisions worth many lakhs of rupees were lost due to the arson.

The grocery store was targeted by the organizers of a one day general shut down in Aaraiyampathi, as the owner had defied the call, the area residents said.

The general shut down was organized in response to the abduction of two Tamil youths, Yoganathan Suresh, 16, of Navaratnam Street, Aaraiyampathi and Gansehamudaliyar Uhanthan, 22, of Aaraiyampathi East, on 18 September by unidentified armed men operating from a white van.