Tamil trader shot dead, 4 abducted in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 July 2008, 09:42 GMT]
A 67-year-old Tamil trader, Arumugam Karuppiah, was shot dead Thursday night at Paarathipuram in Vavuniyaa by unidentified persons. He succumbed to gunshot injuries on admission at the Vavuniyaa general hospital, according to medical sources. Meanwhile, 4 Tamil civilians were abducted by unidentified persons since Wednesday at three different places in Vavuniyaa.

Two youths Ketheeswaran and Rajendran were abducted from a garage where they had been employed. This incident took place in Vaarikuttiyoor in Vavuniyaa Thursday.

In another incident, a 25-year-old Sivagnanam, father of one child was abducted from his residence by unidentified persons.

In the third incident, Rasiah Thiruchelvam, a native Achchuveli in Jaffna district was abducted from a lodge in Vavuniyaa. He was taken away by unidentified men in a vehicle on the assurance he would be released within two hours. But he failed to return to the lodge thereafter, according to complaints lodged with the Vavuniyaa Police and the regional office of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) by their relatives.