SLAF kills fisherman

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 November 1999, 11:10 GMT]
A Tamil fisherman was killed when the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) personnel manning forward defence lines (FDLs) of the Batticaloa Air Port base fired Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPGs) at Eeachanthivu, 6 km. west of Batticaloa town, around 4 a.m. this morning said sources.

The sources said a group of fishermen were going to the lagoon, which is close to the Batticaloa airport base, when they were fired at from the FDLs.

Some fishermen were wounded in the attack. One of them succumbed to injuries, as he could not be moved to the hospital due to the restriction of movement through the Valaiyiravu army checkpoint, the sources said.

The SLAF sources claimed that they fired at fishermen who had entered the security zone of the base.

Eeachanthivu village is in the LTTE held area of the Batticaloa district. People from this village are allowed to travel to Batticaloa through the Valaiyiravu Sri Lanka Army (SLA) checkpoint after 7 in the morning.

The body of the dead fisherman is kept at Navatkadu village, which is also in the Tiger-controlled area. Relatives of the deceased are trying to get permission from the security authorities to bring the body to the Batticaloa hospital, sources said.

Meanwhile the Liberation Tigers attacked a police post at Puliyadi Junction in Muttur town with mortars and small arms around 8.20 a.m. this morning sources said. The police retaliated by firing mortars, security sources said.

Tension prevailed in Muttur town this morning following the incident.