SLA fire hits Karuvakerni school

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 January 1998, 23:59 GMT]
A child playing in the premises of the Karuvakerni school was injured by heavy mortar fire from SLA camp in Valaichenai, Tuesday evening. Karuvakerni is a Tamil village on the outskirts of the strategic Valaichenai town which straddles the vital Main Supply Route to Batticaloa at the junction where it turns south.

The school was also heavily damaged in the shelling and it has been closed until further notice.

Civilian casualties have been high in this area as a consequence of the military tension which pervades the strategic Valaichenai junction.

There are about ten Sri Lankan army camps in and around the Valaichenai junction, highlighting the importance of the Main Supply Route (MSR) to the Sri Lankan garrison in Batticaloa town.

Sources in Batticaloa say that the SLA's grip on the Batticaloa district will diminish substantially if it losses control of Valaichenai junction to the LTTE.