Nearly 80 civilians arrested in southern cities

[TamilNet, Sunday, 24 June 2007, 16:38 GMT]
Close to eighty civilians, majority of them Tamil, were arrested in cordon and search operations conducted by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and police from Saturday night till Sunday morning Colombo suburb of Wellawatte and Sri Lanka's southern cities of Galle, Matara, Wellampitya, and Kandy, civil society sources in Colombo said.

Forty two civilians, twenty of them Tamil, were arrested in Galle, as they failed to prove their identity and the purpose of they in the location.

Fourteen were arrested in Wellampitya.

Three Muslims and six Tamils were arrested in Matara, sources said.

Six Tamils were arrested in Kandy.

Seven Tamils were taken into custody in Wellawatte.

All arrested are being detained in respective police stations and are being interrogated by the Terrorist Intelligence Unit (TIU) of the police, sources said.