Manalkadu villagers say SLA laid new mines

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 December 2003, 04:49 GMT]
A group of soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army Monday visited Manalkadu, a village on the southeastern coast of Jaffna district, and asked the residents to make statements to the effect that SLA did not lay mines in their areas. However, several residents of area Tuesday reiterated that they had seen army soldiers laying new mines and ordered them not to enter area where mines had been laid, sources said.

The SLA began laying the minefield on the southern outskirts of the village since Friday near the casuarinas plantation south of Manalkaadu. The SLA had built a new camp inside the casuarinas plantation on 19 October this year.

Three cattle from the village were killed in newly laid minefield on Saturday and another was blown up Sunday morning, according to residents.

Residents of the village told TamilNet Sunday that they had seen SLA soldiers laying new mines in the vicinity of Manalkadu.

Following the media exposure on laying new mines in the vicinity of Manalkadu village by the SLA, a group of army officials visited the village and met with the priest of the area. They asked the residents to make statements to the effect that the mines found in the area had been laid earlier and the SLA did not lay new mines in the area, civilian sources said.