SLA shoots dead Tamil youth in Moothoor

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 June 2007, 20:07 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Tuesday evening handed over the body of a Tamil youth with gunshot injuries to the Moothoor Government hospital. SLA troopers had shot dead the youth when he attempted to fire at them at I'raalkuzhi, a Tamil village in Moothoor division, according to SLA sources.

Most residents of Raalkuli have sought refuge in the nearby Ki'n'niya division and elsewhere in the district following fighting between the Sri Lankan troops and the LTTE.

SLA officials told Moothoor police that troops had recovered a T-56 weapon from the youth, according to reports received by the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) in Colombo from army sources.

Meanwhile, SLA soldiers Tuesday night arrested two Muslim civilians at I'raalkuzhi and handed them to the Moothoor Police. The suspects are residents of Shafi Nakar, a suburb in Moothoor division, sources said.

Civil sources said the suspects had gone to cut firewood from the jungle of I'raalkuzhi. They were taken into custody by the government troops when they failed to provide valid reason for their stay in the area, police sources said.