Special police team to investigate Trincomalee attack

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 October 2002, 10:35 GMT]
A special team comprising senior police officers will be sent to Trincomalee to conduct full scale investigation into the gun and grenade attack on Tamil civilians on October 11 that killed three Tamil civilians and injuring about fifty. Prime Minister Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe took this decision after meeting with Mr. Sampanthan, Tamil National Alliance (TNA)parliamentarian for the Trincomalee district, Tuesday, said sources. Interior Minister Mr. John Amaratunge also participated in the talks.

At the meeting held at the parliamentary complex Tuesday Trincomalee district parliamentarian Mr.R.Sampanthan briefed the Prime Minister on the treatment of Tamils at the hands of police and home guards on the day of incident. Mr.Sampanthan brought to the notice of the Prime Minister that lives of some of those killed could have been saved if the police would have provided timely assistance to the hospital authorities to transfer the injured from the scene in ambulance without delay.

"It is a pity to state that the Police at the scene on the day of incident were acting as onlookers and not as members of the law enforcement authorities," said Mr.Sampanthan.

The special police team after investigation will submit its report to the Attorney General who in turn will take appropriate steps against those responsible for the attack, sources said.