News in Brief:

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 March 2000, 18:34 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers hand over the body of a Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldier to the International Committee of the Red Cross, Women raped by Muslim extremists in Eravur and Youth injured in STF firing.

Body of soldier handed over

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam handed over the body of a Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldier to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on Monday, said sources.

The SLA soldier was killed in an attack at Thoppur, 14 km. south of Mutur town on Sunday.

The Trincomalee District Organiser of the Liberation Tigers handed the body to the ICRC, in the LTTE held region of Mutur.

The name of the dead soldier was given as Seela Vijaya Adhikari. Earlier the SLA claimed that the soldier, who was in an ambush unit, had been abducted by the LTTE.

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Women raped by Muslim extremists

A young woman was raped and her head shaved by two men, believed to be members of a Muslim extremist group, in Eravur, 15 km. north of Batticaloa, Sunday night police said.

The rapists, who also smashed a television at the victim's house, stole jewelry worth 23,500 rupees and 15,000 rupees in cash, police said.

Police produced the suspected rapists before the District Judge in Batticaloa, Mr. Thatchanamoorthy. The judge remanded them till 20 March.

In similar attacks earlier, two women were raped and their heads were shaved. In another incident a woman was raped and killed.

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Youth injured

A youth was wounded when the Special Task Force (STF) troops opened fire, at Mandoor, west of Batticaloa town, around 3 p.m. on Monday.

The youth, Subramanium Thiruketheeswaran,1 9, was working in a paddy field when troops on a search opened fired said sources.

The youth was admitted to the Batticaloa hospital.

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Search operation in Thenmaradchi

Sri Lanka Army (SLA) conducted a search operation last Thursday in the forest area around Kapputhu village in Thenmaradchi, Jaffna on information that there was increasing activity of Liberation Tigers, sources in Jaffna said.

Several armoured vehicles and heavy weapons were used in the search in the general wooded area close to the boundary of Vadamaradchi and Thenmaradchi districts in Jaffna.

Sources said that there is increasing fear in SLA that Tigers are using the forest cover in Varani and Sarasaalai areas to infiltrate Vadamaradchi and Thenmaradchi regions.