Allaipiddy families vacate village
[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 May 2006, 12:19 GMT]
Eighty families which remained in Allaipiddy, the islet village where 13 civilians were massacred by Sri Lanka Navy last week, completely vacated the village Saturday in fifteen lorries, sources from Jaffna said. 42 families have sought shelter in St.Michael's church in Navanthurai. 38 families in six lorries proceeded towards Liberation Tigers controlled areas but two lorries were stopped by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers manning the Muhamalai checkpoint saying the checkpoint was closed for the day, sources said.
The two lorries with more than 10 families are staying for the night in Mirusuvil intending to cross the checkpoint Sunday morning. The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) and the UNHCR facilitated the families to leave the village, civil sources said. The SLA soldiers from the Vembadi 51-2 camp insisted on checking thoroughly all six lorries proceeding towards Muhamalai and delayed the families. At the checkpoint SLA soldiers further harassed the families in the four lorries before they allowed to cross. Families in two lorries, delayed by the extended checking process, were blocked from crossing due to closure time of the checkpoint, civil society sources said. Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) officials and the cadres of LTTE political wing are attending to the needs of the families who entered Pallai area, according to sources from Kilinochchi. Reports reaching TamilNet indicates that preparations are underway to build a new SLN camp in Allaipiddy.
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