News in Brief:

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 13 October 1999, 23:02 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army personnel arrested over assault on Sinhala villagers, Valikamam South Pradeshiya Sabha Chairman complains hand-gun stolen, a young man reported missing in Ampara.

Villagers assaulted

The Police arrested twenty Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers, including an officer, for assaulting civilians in Amunupolla, a remote village in the north-central district of Anuradhapura sources said.

Sources said there has been a dispute between villagers of Amunupolla and neighbouring Oluwa for a long time.

Yesterday, two SLA soldiers who are from Oluwa, accompanied by their colleges had gone to Amunupolla and assaulted several villagers there, the sources added.

Two villagers, who had been severely assaulted, were admitted to the Anuradhapura hospital.

The Police handed over the soldiers to Military Police, who are conducting further investigations, the sources said.

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Young man reported missing

A young man from Central Camp in the south-eastern Ampara district who was arrested by the Special Task Force (STF) on October 8, has been reported missing, his relatives informed the Human Rights Commission (HRC).

Somanthar Panchatcharam, 28, was arrested at his house by the STF personnel from Kalvaddai according to witnesses.

It is not known where he is detained, his relatives told the HRC.

The Chairman of the HRC in Kalmunai, R.Manoharan, has contacted the security forces to get details of his arrest.

Meanwhile the police in Jaffna has agreed to issue travel pass to parents of detainees held at the Kalutara Prison, south of Colombo, who wish to visit them.

Sources in Jaffna said the Chavakachcheri Police had earlier turned down applications from the parents seeking travel pass. The parents had complained to the Human Rights Commission in Jaffna.

The Police has agreed to issue travel pass after Mr. Sreetharan, the Chairman of the Jaffna HRC, took up the issue with the SLA officers in Jaffna, the sources added.

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PS Chairman complain gun stolen

The Chairman of the Valikamam South Pradeshiya Sabha (local governing body) in Jaffna, has reported to the Chunnakam Police that his hand-gun has been missing since yesterday.

The Chairman, Selvarajah, has told the police that the gun, which he left behind in his car when he went to the Vadali Amman Temple in Chunnakam, has been stolen, sources said.