Two fishermen shot dead

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 September 1998, 23:14 GMT]
Two young fishermen were found shot dead in their boat in the seas off Trincomalee this morning. Their bodies were brought to the Trincomalee Back beach around noon by fishermen on the Samboor coast in Mutur, south of the Trincomalee bay. They said that they had found boat with the two bodies adrift in the sea off Samboor.

The young men had gun shot wounds. Their bodies were handed over to the Trincomalee Police. The dead fishermen have been only identified as Moorthy and Suresh.

Sources said that they had put out to sea last evening from the coastal village of Salli north of the Trincomalee bay.

Informed sources said that the Sri Lankan Navy (SLN) gunboats that are generally on the alert for Sea Tiger activity in the sea off the coast south of the Trincomalee bay could have fired on the young fishermen of Salli.

However, the Sri Lankan Navy and Police denied responsibility for the deaths. They said that they had not conducted any operations in the seas off Samboor.