Three civilians hospitalized after assault

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 August 2001, 22:55 GMT]
Three civilians severely injured in an indiscriminate attack by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers in Navanthurai, Jaffna, on Thursday were admitted to the Jaffna Teaching Hospital. The victims were Anthonithas Pedropillai (37), Sebastian Ivan (22), and Saminathan Gunaseelan (32), hospital sources said.

The SLA soldiers of the Motor Cycle division, who visited the Navanthurai area in the evening yesterday, assaulted men and women indiscriminately, villagers said.

Though several people were injured, only the severely injured were hospitalized. When villagers gathered to question the Armed forces about the attack, which happened without any provocations, the forces left without giving any reasons, according to the villagers.

The villagers suspect that following disputes between two sports' clubs in the area, one club might have given false information to the Army authorities.

Also in Polykandy in the Vadamaradchi sector, the SLA soldiers have assaulted several youths playing in a public playground, and confiscated their identity cards, sources said.

Meanwhile, in the Nelliady area, SLA troops of the Motor Cycle division are harassing teenage girls going home after private tuition classes. Sources said that the soldiers often point their guns at the girls' chest and harass them under the pretext of making sudden search operations.