Police fire wounds child

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 August 1998, 00:56 GMT]
A nine year old child was injured when the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and police fired blindly in retaliation for an attack by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on a police checkpoint at Punaikudah Veedhi (Road) at Eravur, 8 km north of Batticaloa around 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday, said sources in Batticaloa.

The LTTE attack wounded one policeman, K. Gunasekera (29) who was manning the checkpoint.

The firing by the SLA and police continued for about an hour, said sources.

The child, Ishthrish, was warded at the Batticaloa Hospital, while the policeman, who was also admitted at the same hospital initially, was later removed elsewhere.

Though there was tension soon after the incident in Eravur and Batticaloa, it subsided in about an hour, said sources.