Clashes reported

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 June 1999, 14:27 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) said today that three Liberation Tigers were killed and two SLA soldiers wounded in a skirmish at Thambakaamam in the Jaffna peninsula yesterday. The Liberation Tigers, however, denied they had sustained casualties.

Thambakaamam is a village between Maamunai in the Vadamaradchi East sector and Palai.

Meanwhile three youths were severely beaten up by the SLA soldiers during a search operation in Nelliyadi north of Jaffna, this morning.

The Army cordoned off the Nelliyan area in the Chempiyanpattu and summoned all the males in the area to a public place and interrogated them. No arrest were made.

V.Rajmohan,18, Nadarajah Sukanthan, 13 and K.Atputharajah,22 were assaulted during the search operation said sources.

Meanwhile, police sources said yesterday a member of the Liberation Tigers was shot dead by Sri Lankan security forces last Tuesday night at Kalmadu in the recently captured area of Iranai Illuppaikulam in the south west region of the Vanni,.

A house was cordoned off by the SLA, where two youths said to be members of the Liberation Tigers were spending the night. One was shot dead and the other made his escape with injuries, the sources added.

The security forces believe that over a hundred LTTE members have infiltrated into the areas recently captured by the SLA in Vavuniya and Mannar districts.