Cordon and search in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 October 1997, 23:59 GMT]
The Sri Lankan army rounded up a large coastal suburb of the Jaffna town in the early hours of the morning yesterday.

The SLA moved into Kurunagar, Paashaiyur, Columbuthurai and Eechamoddai around 4.30 am and sealed off the area completely until 11.30 am.

The area was thoroughly searched by the army.

All residents were herded to the SLA camp at Thundy in the same area. Four persons have been detained by the army.

This major cordon and search operation follows several incidents where the army arrested local boatmen who had been regularly taking several important banned items allegedly to the Liberation Tigers across the Jaffna lagoon.

Sources in Jaffna said that the army fears that a large number of LTTE activists have also infiltrated the area by sea.