STF shoots dead 2 fishmongers in Akkaraipattu

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 February 2008, 11:45 GMT]
Masked Special Task Force (STF) commandos shot and killed two fishmongers at Akkaraipattu in Ampaa’rai district Monday around 4:30 p.m as the two were returning on a motorbike after selling fish in Akkaraipattu town, sources in Akkaraipattu said. STF handed the victims’ bodies to Akkaraipattu Base Hospital claiming that the two killed were Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) members, the sources added.

Masked STF commandos waylaid the fishmongers at an uninhabited paddy field area.

The victims were identified as Vadivelu, 31, the father of 2 children and Ravi Geed alias Ramachandran, 25, a father of one child.

The killed fishmongers belong to a tribe of jungle gypsies displaced from Theavaki village in Alikampa in Ampaa’rai due to ethnic riots in 1990.

The two fishmongers and their families retuned to their village assisted by Christian priests and Non-government organizations.

The men killed earned a living by selling fish and meat from their village in Akkaraipattu town.

The bodies of the victims were transferred to Akkaraipattu Disrtict Hospital Tuesday morning for post mortem examination.

Theavaki village is located 7 km south of Akkaraipattu town.