2nd Lead (Adds corrections)

Two Karuna militants executed

[TamilNet, Friday, 09 July 2004, 12:51 GMT]
Two militants belonging to the Karuna group were executed by the Liberation Tigers in Illupadichchenai in Batticaloa, local Tamil media said.

Balasundaram Sritharan (23) and Thillaiampalam Suthanthirarajan were arrested earlier on suspicion of carrying out attacks on LTTE members and supporters in the east.

The reports said that they were captured with weapons and equipment supplied by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA).

The Tigers say the Sri Lanka armed forces are waging a proxy war against them through Tamil paramilitaries, including gunmen from Karuna’s group, formed in the wake of the collapse of his rebellion against the LTTE.

The LTTE says the Sri Lankan government is giving sanctuary and support to Karuna (Vinayagamoorthy Muraleetharan). Colombo admits the armed forces helped Karuna escape from Batticaloa-Ampara in April, but denies the government had a hand in this.