Bystanders during attack on SLA, remanded

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 August 2006, 00:12 GMT]
Two men who were brought before the Mallakam Magistrate's Courts Thursday, bearing serious wounds, are innocent civilians, according to legal sources. S Jayakumar, 40, and Thuraisingam Rameshkumar, 22, were arrested following an attack against Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers in Chunnakam, Wednesday.

The magistrate ordering a full medical report on their condition, remanded the two men in custody until 16 August, 2006

According to legal sources, one of the arrested, Jeyakumar, was a bystander who got hurt in a road mishap when he fell on the ground to take cover to avoid being hit by SLA fire.

The other, Rameshkumar, who was near the incident scene in his motorcycle, was asked by SLA soldiers to take the injured Jeyakumar to his home in Ellalai.

Both civilians were later arrested at the Mallakam checkpoint as they traveled on the KKS Road towards Mallakam. SLA soldiers at the checkpoint arrested the two civilians accusing them of being the attackers.

Meanwhile, sources confirm that the men involved in the attack against the soldiers were in a white van which was previously hijacked from its civilian owner and has since been recovered abandoned in Sandilipay.