Clashes erupt in Vavuniya, A9 Omanthai entry point closed after brief opening

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 August 2006, 17:30 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) closed the Omanthai entry point from the SLA controlled Vavuniya to Liberation Tigers controlled Vanni, after opening the gates for a while Thursday. SLA soldiers fired mortar shells towards LTTE Forward Defence Line (FDL) claiming that the Tigers had fired 10 mortar shells towards SLA FDL. Meanwhile, two Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) cadres were killed at Semamadu FDL, the SLA sources in Vavuniya claimed to have recovered one body. An SLA trooper was killed at Mamadu FDL, 8 km northeast of Vavuniya, in a clash between the SLA and LTTE cadres, Vavuniya Police said.

The SLA troopers, claiming that 10 shells were fired from LTTE FDL positions, closed down the A9 entry point which was kept closed for public transport from 11 August, after two civilians had passed through the gates, according to the passengers.

Nobody entered Vavuniya from the LTTE territory Thursday.

Representatives of International Red Cross Society (ICRC) and Sri Lanka Red Cross Society (SLRCS), who monitor the no man zone, withdrew from the site Thursday noon following the exchange of mortar fire.

Omanthai is situated 13 km north of Vavuniya town.