Two civilians shot dead in Kaithadi, Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 August 2007, 14:49 GMT]
Unidentified gunmen shot dead two civilians in two separate incidents inside the high security area of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Thenmaraadchi Wednesday, sources from Jaffna said. In the first incident a family man was shot dead in Kaithadi South. The second killing took place at 5:30 a.m. in Kaithadi North.

The first victim, Murugesu Rajkannan, 30, was killed by a group of armed men who surrounded his house and sprayed bullets at him. The gunmen assaulted Rajkannan's pregnant wife when she pleaded with the attackers to spare her husband.

The second victim was identified as Shanmugalingam Chithiravel,39.

Chaavakachcheari police handed the two bodies to Jaffna Teaching hospital following the inquest into the deaths conducted by Chaavakachcheari Magistrate.

The SLA, during the offensive in Kaithadi in 1996, took more than 35 youths from Kaithadi for interrogation. Most of the arrested have gone missing since then, Kaithadi residents said.

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