Increased STF surveillance in Amparai

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 March 1999, 12:52 GMT]
The Special Task Force (STF) stepped up surveillance in the Tamil areas of the Ampara district in south east Sri Lanka yesterday following information that several suicide bombers of the Liberation Tigers had moved in recently for attacks.

The villages of Thirukkovil, Kaaraithivu and other smaller Tamil settlements on the south-east coast of the district were subject to severe cordon and search operations by the STF.

TamilNet's Amparai correspondent said that five persons were arrested and taken away by the STF yesterday.

Vehicles passing the Kaaraithivu junction were also searched thoroughly, causing a kilometre long queue on the Kalmunai road he said.

Meanwhile, the body of a male washed ashore last evening from the Periyakulam lagoon in Thirukkovil, 78 kilometers south of Batticaloa.

It was taken to the Akkaraipattu hospital 12 kilometres north of Thirukkovil.

Hospital sources who examined the body said that its genitals had been chopped off with a sharp instrument and the face had been deliberately destroyed.

They said that there was evidence on the body of severe torture and that the head was shaved.

The man appeared to be 35 years old and one of his feet had been bitten off by a crocodile in the Priyakulam lagoon, said the Akkaraipattu hospital sources.