SLA arrests 22 Tamil youths in Chinnakku’lam IDP Centre

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 November 2007, 08:23 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) arrested 22 Tamil youths in Chinnakku’lam Centre for Internally Displaced People (IDPs) in Trincomalee district during a search operation conducted Saturday early morning, according to complaints made by the IDPs to Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian K. Thurairatnasingam. The MP has registered complaints with Sea’runuva’ra police station and informed the matter to Vaakarai SLA Commander Berty Fonseka.

SLA troopers during the search had ordered all IDPs in the Centre to gather at Ka’rukkaamunai school and checked every one of them, the complainants told the MP.

SLA has not revealed where they have taken the arrested youths.

The residents of Eechchilampaththai area displaced due to SLA offensives had earlier sought refuge in Trincomalee, and later were forcibly settled in Chinnakulam by the SLA. Now, they want to be located at Eechchilampaththai, their original homes because their youths are being arrested by the SLA for no reason, Thurairatnasingam said.

Chinnakku’lam is located one and a half km from Eechchilampaththai.