5TH LEAD (UPDATE, ADDS NAMES)

10 civilians killed, in SLA pressure mine attack

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 June 2006, 06:32 GMT]
Ten civilians, including three children, were killed and ten, including two infants aged 3 and 8 months, were wounded in a Sri Lanka Army (SLA) pressure mine explosion inside a Liberation Tigers controlled border village at Nedunkal in Vadamunai in Batticaloa around 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday. Nine of the wounded were admitted to the Batticaloa hospital, medical sources said. Batticaloa District Political Head of the LTTE Daya Mohan said that Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troopers, who had moved beyond the Forward Defence Line of the LTTE, were behind the attack that has claimed the ten lives including three members of a family.

Seven civilians were killed on the spot. Three succumbed to their wounds on the way to hospital. Five women, two males and 3 children were killed.

Twenty civilians were riding in the tractor that was attacked, said S. Oliyan, LTTE's Kudumbimalai area coordinator.

A 3-month-old baby was thrown away from the lap of the mother, who died in the blast.

The wounded persons were transferred with the assistance of ICRC to Batticaloa hospital.

The villagers were on their way to Kiran from Vadamunai village.

The people of Vadamunai are forced, since the blockage of travel to Welikanda , to travel to Kiran, located 28 km southeast, to purchase grocery items.

They usually travel in small groups, weekly, in tractors.

Recent penetration attacks by the SLA have targeted civilian movement in LTTE-controlled areas with a motive to force the civilians to flee the LTTE-controlled border areas.

Two boys aged 12 and 15 years were killed in Thikiliveddai, an LTTE controlled border area, beyond the Kinnayadi lagoon, on May 27, when SLA soldiers ambushed a tractor with farmers.

Vadamunai is situated close to the Batticaloa-Polannaruwa border. The closest market is located in Welikanda, 7 km northwest of Vadamunai. The access route has been blocked by the SLA.

The SLA forcibly evicted the Tamil population from the area in 1990. Cultivation and habitation were banned in the area.

The people have resettled since 1995 when the Vadamunai-Tharavai hinterland came under the control of the Liberation Tigers. Cultivation resumed in many parts of this region.

The names of the civilians killed in Wednesday's pressure mine attack follow:

• Sivanesan Sinthujan, 6 months,
• Sivanesan Mathimalar, 24,
• Saravanamuttu Chandrakumar, 10,
• Saravanamuttu Dineshkumar, 11,
• Saravanamuttu Mathiyalakan, 22,
• Thambimuttu Kavitha, 20,
• Kasippillai Komathi, 40,
• Thalayasingam Thangaladchumy, 48,
• Pathiniyan Sinnathamby, 56,
• Iyathurai Srima, 33,

Names of the wounded:

• Pradeepan, 1,
• Kavitha, 2,
• Sritharan Ano, 6,
• Saravanamuttu Santhiran, 16,
• Kanganam Rasaratnam, 40,
• Thangavadivel, 46,
• Mayilvaganam Jeyaratnam, 46,
• Veerakutty Sinnathamby, 50,
• Pathiniyan Sinnathankai, 56,