Two police casualties in Batticaloa fire fight

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 July 1999, 12:39 GMT]
Two Sri Lankan Police personnel were killed and one wounded when the Liberation Tigers attacked their patrol at Palameenmadu, on the northern outskirts of Batticaloa town, at around 6.50 a.m. this morning.

One of the wounded civilian, K.Wijayaletchumi,46, receiving treatment at the Batticaloa hospital.Photo:TamilNet

Two civilians, K.Wijayaletchumi, 46, and S.Thavarajah, 35, were wounded when the Police opened fire indiscriminately from their bunkers in the area.

Another civilian, N.Kopalasingham, 32, who was assaulted by the Police while bringing Thavarajah to hospital was also admitted for treatment.

The Police set fire to a boat and two motorcycles in the area where the Tigers attacked the patrol this morning, residents said.

Civilians fled from Palameenmadu when the Police indiscriminately opened fire from their positions.

The LTTE fired mortars and opened fire on a group of Policemen who were standing by the shore of the lagoon, said sources.

A motor cycle burnt by the Police following the incident.Photo: TamilNet

The bodies of two Policemen were taken to the Batticaloa hospital along with another wounded officer.

The Policemen killed in the fire fight this morning were identified as Udagama Samantha Priyadharshana, 26 and Nalage Samantha Bandara, 25.

In his evidence at the inquest into the death of the two Policemen, the Officer in Charge (OIC) of the Palameenmadu Police post, Shantha Keerthy Perera said that he heard firing a short time after a patrol from his post had gone towards the lagoon.

"We moved immediately towards the shore of the lagoon, firing," he told the additional district judge K.Thadchanamoorthy at the inquest held this afternoon at the Batticaloa hospital.

The OIC said that he was wounded in his left arm by the firing while his party was advancing towards the place where the Police patrol was attacked and that two Policemen in the patrol, Ranjith and Adhikaari are missing along with three weapons.

He added that he later came to know that a Policemen from the bunker by the light house was also wounded in the attack.