Woman injured, youth killed in STF fire

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 March 2000, 19:39 GMT]
A woman was wounded in the stomach when the Special Task Force (STF) commandos of the Sri Lankan security forces opened fire in a village south east of Mannar in the Murunkan sector this morning. The woman, Ponnuthurai Kathirasipillai, 52, was in the kitchen of her house in Vaalkaipetraan Kandal when she was hit in the stomach.

Police sources in Mannar said that STF units from Semmantheevu and Naanaattaan had gone to cordon off and search Vaalkaipetraan Kandal upon receiving information that members of the Liberation Tigers were present in that hamlet. The commandos had opened fire on two youth who had tried to get away on a motor bicycle. The pillion rider was shot dead while the other escaped according to the Police in Mannar town.

Sources said the STF had taken away the body to be handed over to hospital authorities.

The STF had arrested some people from the village following the shooting and took them away according to an unconfirmed report from Murunkan.

The Liberation Tigers are still quite active in the interior villages in Mannar's southern sector despite the government setting up a STF camp in Naanaattaan, the largest village south of the main trunk road between Mrurnkan and Mannar island.

Civilians from villages in the southern interior of the Mannar district are viewed with suspicion by the STF as a consequence.

The injured woman was first admitted to the sub hospital in Murunkan and was then sent to Mannar and later to the hospital Vavuniya.