Civilians wounded in navy fire

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 April 2002, 23:41 GMT]
Two Tamil civilians were wounded in gunfire blamed on Sri Lanka Navy personnel lying in ambush in Nilaveli in the Trincomalee district, at 9.30 p.m. Monday night. Complaints have been lodged with the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), in the eastern town. The Norwegian head of the SLMM in Trincomalee, Ms Victoria Lund, told TamilNet that steps have been taken to investigate into the complaint.

Marimuttu Pechchimuttu (43), a mother of three and displaced of Santhosapuram, a village in Muttur east was admitted to the Trincomalee base hospital Tuesday morning. The other victim, Suntharalingam Subashini (13), a student was admitted to the hospital Monday night around 11 p.m., hospital sources said.

Marimuttu Pechimuttu, at Intensive Care Unit,Trincomalee base hospital.(Photo: TamilNet)

Marimuttu Pechchimuttu is a labourer and has been employed in onion harvesting in Gopalapuram. She received gunshots in one of her hands while staying with a relative of her at Gopalapuram.

Suntharalingam Subashini was hit by a lone bullet in one of her legs while at her house at Nilaveli.

Gopalapuram is a new settlement in the Nilaveli village. Local residents told TamilNet correspondent that they saw a group of navy personnel lying in ambush Monday night near their area. They said the Navy personnel took away a dead cow with them in a tractor.