One killed, 16 injured in grenade attack at funeral

[TamilNet, Monday, 13 June 2005, 08:46 GMT]
A sixty year old Sinhala civilian was killed and 16 Tamil civilians were injured when unidentified attackers lodged a grenade at the funeral of a former LTTE cadre, who was shot and killed on Saturday by unidentified gunmen in Sorivil in Polannaruwa district. The grenade attack took place around 10.30 PM Sunday night. Twelve of the 16 injured persons, 6 men and 6 women, are admitted to Polannaruwa hospital. Aralaganwela Police suspected Karuna Group for the killing of the former LTTE cadre and the grenade attack at funeral.

The dead civilian was identified as Mr. W. G. Punchirala from Makkumpura village.

The attackers had lodged one grenade at the funeral, according to Aralaganwela Police Officer In Charge (OIC) Mahintha Vaithiyathilake.

The former LTTE cadre, Mr. Shanmugan Selvarajah, aged 23 years, also known as Sinnapodiyan, was shot in his head by two unidentified gunmen who were riding a motorbike Saturday evening around 3.00 PM in Sorivil. Mr. Selvarajah, who left the LTTE two years ago, was on his way to a tea shop when he was shot and killed. The assailants had used T-56 rifle to gun down the victim, Police said.

Karuna Group and the ENDLF, a paramilitary based in South India, set up at least five camps in the area in the beginning of the year.

Nine paramilitary cadres were killed when three of the paramilitary camps, which were located in Vannathuraiyadi near Sorivil were attacked in April.

Sorivil (Soruwila in Sinhala), located 70 km north of Batticaloa and 8 km from Mannampitiya is an interior village in the Polannaruwa district along the Batticaloa-Polannaruwa road.

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