Shelling disrupts body transfer

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 September 2000, 15:06 GMT]
The International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) called off the transfer of the bodies of 37 Liberation Tigers Tuesday at Neerveli, north east of Jaffna town when the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) fired shells close to the point of transfer.

"The International Committee of the Red Cross had to call off the operation owing the prevailing tense situation", ICRC's spokesman Harasha Gunawardene told TamilNet.

He confirmed that only 8 bodies could be transferred to the Liberation Tigers today.

Meanwhile sources in Jaffna said a LTTE vehicle that had come to take the bodies from the ICRC got stuck in the mud in the damp dirt track on the Kopay lagoon bed which is dry most of the year.

The LTTE's vehicle had to turn back without the bodies due to the shelling. The ICRC aborted the operation with the transfer of only eight bodies, sources said.

The SLA handed over 45 bodies of Liberation Tigers who were killed in the fighting east of Jaffna on Sunday to the ICRC for transfer around 11.30 a.m. Tuesday.