Posters fray Jaffna nerves

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 October 1998, 19:09 GMT]
The Sri Lankan army (SLA) vacated one of its camps in the Thenmaradchi sector in Jaffna on Saturday said sources in the north. Troops were pulled out from the Mirusuvil north SLA camp. The army unit stationed here was transferred to the Elephant Pass base complex further south said sources in the area.

Meanwhile rumors about the appearance of hand written posters in red and black, warning civilians to leave the Thenmaradchi division of Jaffna for security reasons, in Sarasaalai, Sangaththaanai, Varani and kalvayal created panic among many people in Thenmaradchi today.

Although, according to reports, these were not put up in the name of the Liberation Tigers, civilians said that it is a clear warning from the guerrillas about an impending attack in the area.

Ex-Tamil militant sources working with the SLA in the area, however, dismissed the posters as the work of local miscreants who have no links with the Tigers.

They said the posters were a figment of the local rumor mongers' imagination.

But informed residents said that they cannot afford to ignore such things, particularly in the aftermath of the SLA's debacle in Kilinochchi.

They pointed out that there is strong speculation in Jaffna now that the Liberation Tigers might launch a massive operation soon to retake part of the peninsula which the SLA captured in early 1996.