SLA soldier shot dead

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 March 1999, 10:26 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers shot dead a Sri Lankan Army (SLA) soldier in the high security zone near the Pradheshiya Sabha office in Valaichenai, about 30 km. north of Batticaloa, this afternoon around 1.15 p.m. The army and Police in the area fired mortars and automatic weapons at random from their positions indiscriminately in retaliation soon after the attack.

The Tigers, meanwhile, had left the scene.

Sources said that the soldier was shot while he was walking towards a shop nearby from his sentry point.

Four civilians including a girl, Radha, 22, and a bus driver were wounded when troops angered by the killing assaulted people in the neighbourhood of the Union Colony.

The wounded civilians were admitted to the Valaichenai hospital for treatment.