Tiger checkpoints within SLA zone

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 31 December 1997, 23:59 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers set up a check point at Sungankerni again this morning. Two bowsers carrying Kerosene which did not stop at the point were shot at.

One bowser reported to the Kumburumoolai army camp which is less than a kilometer from Sungankerni with leaks in its tank. Sungankerni is located in the army's high security zone in Valaichenai, thirty kilometers north of Batticaloa, between the large Kumburumoolai army camp and the Valaichenai Police camp.

There are about ten camps in and around the strategic Valaichenai junction where the Main Supply Route (MSR) to the Batticaloa district turns south.

The ability of the LTTE to operate in this zone has become a major headache to the Sri Lankan army which thinks that the MSR would be in great jeopardy if this junction is destabilised completely.

Civilian casualties are high in this area as a consequence of the military tension which pervades the greater Valaichenai junction.

Meanwhile, a drunken person identified as Sebamalai Jeevarajan, 48, who had walked by the Sri Lankan army camp on the Valaichenai cemetery road after dark was shot dead by the sentries last evening.