2ND LEAD (UPDATE)

Two traders shot in Jaffna, one dead

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 May 2006, 08:26 GMT]
Armed men riding in a motorbike entered a hairdressing saloon near Thirunelvely junction and shot a client, a trader from nearby public market seriously wounding the trader and saloon owner. The trader succumbed to his wounds at Jaffna hospital. Eyewitnesses at the site, a high security area manned by Sri Lanka Army soldiers 24 hours a day, alleged that the SLA had withdrawn it's soldiers from the nearby posts, 10 minutes prior to the shooting incident, which took place 50 meters close to the junction, on Adiyapatham Road. Thirunelveli remains tense.

Police did not arrive in time.

Fellow traders at the site rushed to hospital with the wounded business owners, Vallipuram Suganthan, 34, the saloon owner and Arumugarajah Theyvendran, 54, the public market trader who later succumbed to his wounds.

All shops remain closed in the vicinity.

Adiyapatham Road links Thirunelveli Junction on Palaly Road with Kalviyankadu.