Mortar attack wounds five

[TamilNet, Sunday, 19 April 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Five Sri Lankan Policemen were wounded in a mortar attack by the Liberation Tigers on a sentry point on the coast of the Batticaloa lagoon last night around 10.30 p.m.

The LTTE had fired long range mortar on sentry from Kokkaddicholai on the other side of the lagoon, Police sources in Batticaloa said.

The Police and the SLA retaliated by directing counter mortar fire on the LTTE controlled western hinterland for more than an hour.

The wounded Policemen are from the Manjanthoduvai Police post on the southern outskirts of the Batticaloa town. They were rushed to the Batticaloa hospital last night. They were identified as Lalith Sumantha 22, Wickrema Kumara 24, Sugunadasa 28 and Kularatna 22.

All have received shrapnel injuries.

The condition of RPC Kularatna is said to be serious.