STF shoots dead youth in Ea’raavoor refugee camp

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 January 2008, 13:22 GMT]
Sri Lanka Special Task Force (STF) troops lay in ambush and shot dead a youth coming out of the refugee camp in Tha’lavaai Wednesday around 12 noon, Chavukkadi in Ea’raavoor police division in Batticaloa district, sources in Batticaloa said. The STF claimed that the youth killed was Sankar, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Batticaloa district head, and that a micro pistol was found at the place he was killed.

The STF further said that Sankar who was coming out of the said refugee camp had tried to flee and on being confronted had taken cyanide when they shot him at point blank range.

The STF troops had lain in ambush since Wednesday dawn.

Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and the police had been jointly looking for Sankar for a long period, and he had allegedly been moving mostly in Aiyangkea’ni and Chavukkadi areas, STF said.

SLA, police and the STF had conducted several searches in order to apprehend Sankar in the past.

Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) from various areas in Batticaloa are lodged in Chavukkadi refugee camp.

Chavukkadi is located 16 km northeast from Batticaloa town.