3RD LEAD

Six SLA soldiers killed, four wounded in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 December 2005, 08:49 GMT]
Six Sri Lanka Army soldiers were killed and four wounded when a claymore mine hit their tractor Sunday at 12:52 p.m. 200 meters south of Kondavil Junction on Palaly Road in Jaffna. Wounded soldiers were rushed to Palaly Military hospital, civilian sources said. SLA soldiers cordoned off the site, blocked all the traffic and started to attack the civilians in the area, sources added. Tension prevails in the area.

Three soldiers seated in the tractor cab including the driver and three soldiers seated behind were killed on the spot, sources added. Four soldiers were wounded, according to the civilian sources.

One soldier was wounded, said SLA sources confirming six deaths.

The attack took place 200 meters south of Kondavil Junction. Kondavil is located 6 km north of Jaffna.

The soldiers killed in the claymore attack belonged to SLA’s 51 Division in Jaffna.

Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) officials and the District Judge in Jaffna have arrived at the site, sources added.

Meanwhile, the funeral of one the youths killed on Thursday in Neerveli allegedly by paramilitary and intelligence operatives, Mr. Sinnaiah Sivakaran, took place in Alaveddy around 1:00 p.m. Sunday. The funeral of the other victim, Mr. Kunaratnam Krishnakumar, was held in Neerveli Saturday.

A handbill issued on Friday in the name of "Roaring People's Force" warned that "reprisal attacks" on SLA soldiers and intelligence operatives will escalate if attacks against Tamil activists and civilians continued.