3RD LEAD

Karuna, Pillayan groups supporting Rajapaksa clash in Ampaa'rai

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 December 2009, 14:21 GMT]
Three paramilitary men were reported missing when a major clash broke out between rival paramilitary men of TMVP Pillayan group and SLFP Karuna group around 2:15 p.m. at Thirukkoayil in Ampaa'rai district where a group of 50 operatives of Pillayan had gone in three vehicles to campaign for Mahinda Rajapaksa passing the office of the Sri Lanka Freedom (SLFP) manned by Karuna's paramilitary men headed by operative Iniyapaarathi. Three TMVP men sustained injuries, according to Sri Lankan Police. A vehicle, sent to locate the missing persons, has been set on fire around 5:00 p.m. by Karuna's men. The fate of the occupants were not known.

Three TMVP men were reported wounded. Medical sources identified the wounded, admitted at Akkaraippattu hospital, as Sivarajah, Ketheesvaran and Jeevakumaran.

The wounded men of the PIllayan (TMVP) paramilitary, which is headed by the Chief Minister for the Eastern Province Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillyan. Around 50 of Pillayan's men had gone in three vans and a Jeep from Akkaraippattu to Thirukkoayil reportedly to campaign for Mahinda Rajapaksa.

The other paramilitary group involved in the clash belongs to Rajpaksa Government MP Vinagamoorthy Muralitharan alias Karuna, who is also a vice president of the mainstream Sri Lanka Freedom party (SLFP).

A back up vehicle belonging to TMVP group which went in search of the missing persons was set on fire around 5:00 p.m., close to a cemetery in Thirukkoayil junction.