SLN soldiers attack, injure five Karainagar fishermen

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 January 2006, 12:04 GMT]
Sri Lanka Navy (SLAN) soldiers who were patrolling the northern seas off Jaffna islets attacked and seriously injured five fishermen from Karainagar at 12 midnight Tuesday, sources from Jaffna said. The injured fishermen with broken limbs have been admitted to the Jaffna Teaching Hospital, medical sources said.

Fishermen who were fishng in an area permitted for fishing by the SLN command, were forcibly taken on the SLN's boat before they were beaten, the fishermen said. The fishermen were left in midsea without being to able to navigate their boats and were recovered by other fishermen early morning Wednesday and brought to the hospital, residents in Karainagar said.

Details of the injured are:

1. Somu Ulageswaramoorthy, 44, Ponnambalam Road
2. Velupillai Rasaratnam, 55, Ponnambalam Road
3. Subramaniam Yogeswaran, 36, Ponnambalam Road
4. Mahalingam Lingarasa, 30, Veiyarasan Road
5. Apputhurai Kirubaharan, 34, Sivahami annan Road

All are from Karainagar, and Ulageswaramoorthy, Rasaratnam and Yogeswaran are married and are father of four children each.