PLOTE claims shot youth was Tiger

[TamilNet, Saturday, 22 November 1997, 23:59 GMT]
A suspected member of the LTTE was shot dead around 7.30 p.m. by the PLOTE in Koomankulam, a suburb of Vavuniya town.

PLOTE sources said today that two of their armed sentries at their office in Koomankulam had questioned a youth who had suspiciously been hanging around a nearby shop for a long time last evening.

"Thinking that he might be armed, our sentries asked him to surrender. Upon which the youth fell on the ground and tried to tackle both of them. In the ensuing tussle, one of the sentries shot the youth.

But despite bullets piercing him, the youth pulled out a hand gun and shot one our boys who was wounded" said a PLOTE spokesman.

The dead youth was identified as Nathan.

PLOTE sources claim that he and his other colleagues had only been looking for army informants in the area.

The Sri Lankan military and ex-militant groups claim that the LTTE operates a 'pistol group' and blames this group for several shootings.

They said the LTTE pistol groups does not normally target ex-Tamil militant groups that are operating in Vavuniya.