Paramilitary operative arrested for claymore attack in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 November 2004, 11:36 GMT]
Batticaloa Magistrate Friday remanded a ‘Karuna Group’, cadre accused of attempting to murder two civilians by exploding a claymore mine and lobbing a grenade at them on Thursday around 2.30 p.m. near Kaluwankerni Junction on the main coastal artery of the district. Mr. Dharmasena Ratnayaka, Officer in Charge (OIC) of the Eravur Police said the Karuna Group cadre was operating from the EPDP camp in neighbouring Chenkalady.

EPDP is a minor coalition partner of President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s government. It operates with the Sri Lankan armed forces and intelligence in the northeast as a paramilitary.

Police in Eravur, 14 kilometres north of Batticaloa, arrested the Karuna Group cadre identified as Mr. Archunan Vijayakumar when he was escaping on the motorbike he had seized from the men whom he had attacked.

Eravur Police OIC said his men had apprehended the paramilitary cadre on receiving information of the claymore attack in Palacholai near Kaluwankerni Junction Thursday afternoon. The men who were attacked by the Karuna Group cadre, Mr. Thurairajah Vimalendran and Mr. Nallathamby Perinparajah, escaped unhurt.

The Karuna Group cadre had lobbed a grenade at them after the claymore blast missed the motorbike which they were riding. The two men are believed to be supporters of the Liberation Tigers, according to Eravur Police sources.

Kaluwankerni Junction is about 18 kilometres north of Batticaloa on the main road to Valaichenai.

The Karuna Group cadre had said he was working in the area with the assistance of the EPDP and that he was living in the EPDP camp at Chenklady, according to Police sources.

“We are investigating how he acquired the claymore mine and the grenade”, Eravur Police OIC said.

Eravur Police produced the Karuna Group cadre before the Batticaloa magistrate, Mr. A.H.M Ajmeer, Friday afternoon after conducting preliminary investigations. The magistrate remanded him for fourteen days.

Meanwhile, Batticaloa magistrate Friday granted bail to another Karuna Group cadre who was arrested by the Special Task Force (STF) on 22 October.

The man is allegedly linked to the killing of an LTTE political activist called Jude in Akkaraipattu earlier last month, according to Police. He was arrested in Araiyampathy, 7 kilometres south of Batticaloa with a night vision telescope. He was enlarged on personal surety bail of 25,000 rupees.