SLA sentry fires on paper seller, injures commuter

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 December 2003, 12:50 GMT]
A commuter in a bus was seriously wounded when a Sri Lanka army soldier opened fire on a paper seller in Jaffna town Tuesday around 5.45 pm. Police and military dispersed a group of angry civilians that surrounded the sentry point near the town’s main bus station in which the soldier was on duty. The shooting followed an argument between a person who was selling 'Eelanatham' newspaper near the sentry point and the soldier who had ordered the paper seller to leave place, commuters who witnessed the firing said.

Eelanatham is a Tamil daily newspaper published from Kilinochchi.

A commuter who witnessed the incident told TamilNet that the paper seller had refused to move from the vicinity of the sentry. The soldier, angered that the person was continuing to sell the paper close to the sentry had opened fire.

The paper seller ducked the shot and run away, according to another commuter who was at the main bus station.

Mr. Thirunavukarasu Thuraichelvam, 27, of Moolai in Chulipuram Jaffna who was in a parked bus near the sentry was hit and wounded by the soldier’s fire.

He was rushed to the Jaffna hospital.

The paper seller who managed to ran away was also injured, said sources in Jaffna.