3RD LEAD (Added details and photos)

7 civilians wounded in SLA’s retaliatory fire

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 January 2006, 06:43 GMT]
Five civilians, including a mother, a 60-year-old devotee and a 71-year-old man were wounded in Sri Lanka Army soldiers' retaliatory fire after two grenade attacks at the SLA troopers and policemen manning the checkpoints at two separate junctions in the suburbs of Jaffna town Thursday morning. Three policemen, an SLA soldier and two civilians were injured in the grenade attacks that took place at Parameswara and Thatatheru junctions, Police said.

Three policeman were injured in the first attack at Parameswara junction on the Palaly road when unidenfied men threw a grenade at them, around 11:00 a.m. Wounded policemen, M. Piyaratne, 45, V. Ariawanse, 38, and Anuratne, 36, were brought to the Jaffna teaching hospital.

Four civilians were wounded when the SLA soldiers at Parameswara junction opened fire following the grenade attack.

A mother of a child, Nageswari Suganthini, 28, from Sabapathy Lane in Kokuvil, Visuwanathar Kathirgamalingam, 60, a devotee near the Hindu temple in the area, Murugesu Suntharalingam, a traveller from Karainagar and a 16-year-old boy Tharmalingam Rajakumar, wounded in the SLA gunfire, were rushed to Jaffna Hospital.

An SLA soldier was injured in the second attack that took place at Thatatheru junction on the KKS road, around 11:10 a.m.

The injured soldier was taken to Palaly SLA Military Hospital, Police said.

A 71-year old civilian, N. Satchithananthan, who lives close to Jaffna Hindu College, was wounded in SLA soldiers' retaliatory fire and rushed to Jaffna Hospital.

A civilian, Kuttithamby Kanagaratnam, 67, wounded in grenade attack, was being treated at Jaffna Hospital, medical sources said.