2 civilians shot dead in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 November 2007, 05:43 GMT]
Unidentified gunmen following a youth riding a bicycle from his house Thursday morning at Maasiappiddi, Changkaanai in Valigaamam, opened fire on him causing serious injury. The youth, rushed to Thellippa'lai government hospital, later succumbed to his wounds. Meanwhile, unknown armed men shot and killed an employee of a liquor shop Thursday around 4:30 p.m at Brown Road-Naavalar Road junction, in the centre of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) High Security Zone (HSZ) in Jaffna, sources in Jaffna said.

The youth shot dead in Maasiappiddi was identified as Balasubramaniam Uthayakumar, 27.

The liquor shop employee shot dead was identified as Sinnathamby Thillainadarajah, 56, a family man, a resident of Brown Veethi, Naavalar Veethi in Jaffna.

Thillainadarajah was returning home after closing the liquor shop in Jaffna town when the killers shot him dead.

Police are investigating into the killings.

Traders and shop assistants in Jaffna town being shot killed by SLA-backed paramilitary armed men is on the rise at an alarming rate despite the presence of SLA troops at the site of the killings, civil society sources in Jaffna said.