EPDP member shot in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 July 1999, 12:25 GMT]
An unidentified armed man shot and killed a EPDP cadre, Piyasena Karunaratne, 28, (alias Ranjith), at the Thirunelvely junction around 8.30 a.m. this morning. He was in-charge of the EPDP's Thrunelvely camp.

Following the incident men in civil clothes arrived at the scene and assaulted civilians who had gathered at the market.

The area was then cordoned off by Sri Lankan army soldiers who arrested four people including a woman, said sources in Jaffna town.

Sinnathamby Yoganathan is among those who have been arrested by the SLA, according to the Human Rights Commission (HRC) in Jaffna.

Civilians who had come to the market ran away leaving the goods they had purchased and other belongings, the sources added.

Civilians said that they could recognise the men who assaulted them and that they have seen them at the EPDP camp.

Two civilians, Subramanium Selvarajah and S.Pathmanathan, were reported injured in the assault, according to the HRC.

All the shops in Thirunelvely were closed following the incident and tension prevailed said sources.

The EPDP office in Jaffna has however denied that their cadres had assaulted civilians but confirmed the killing of Piyasena Karunaratne.

Piyasena Karunaratne is a Sinhalese man from Central Camp in the South-eastern area of the Amparai district.

He was married to a Tamil woman from Delft; an island off the Jaffna peninsula, that the Sri Lankan army has controlled with the assistance of the EPDP since 1990.