2nd lead (corrections)

SLA behind Aalankulam killing- LTTE

[TamilNet, Saturday, 22 May 2004, 12:48 GMT]
Thursday night attack in Aalankulam on Liberation Tigers in which an LTTE cadre, Markandu Punithalingam (alias Rohithan or Kohilan), was killed was carried out with the support of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA), said E.Kausalyan, Batticaloa-Amparai Head of the LTTE political wing, according to sources in Batticaloa.

''We have complained about this incident to the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM),'' Kausalyan said.

Mankerni SLA camp is located 2km from the scene of the incident in Aalankulam which is under the control of Liberation Tigers.

LTTE sources said Commander Nagesh was the target of the claymore attack on the LTTE group that was travelling to Vakarai from Pendugalchchenai. The explosion was followed by light machine gun (LMG) fire from the assailants, sources added.

Kohilan's body was kept for viewing by the public in his native village of Munaikaadu, a village near Kokkaddicholai 15 kilometres north of Batticaloa, Friday and was buried in Thandiyadi Hero's cemetary Saturday morning.

Kausalyan and other LTTE commanders and officials participated in the burial ceremony.

This is the fourth incident in the last several weeks in Batticaloa district where LTTE cadres have been injured or killed.