Villagers find body in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 April 1999, 14:29 GMT]
The body of a woman, believed to be about 30 years old, was found by local residents in the area between Manatkaadu and Valipuram Aalvar Kovil (temple) in the Vadamaradchi East in the Jaffna peninsula.

The villagers came across the body while they were digging for sand in there.

Sand is used for construction purposes.

Once the body had been discovered Sri Lanka Army (SLA) personnel who were at the scene ordered the civilians to stop digging and asked them to leave the area.

Local residents said that the SLA had banned them from collecting sand from the area for the past two weeks and that permission had been granted for the first time today.

Villagers informed the Village Officer and District Medical Officer (DMO) of the incident.

The body has not been identified.

Meanwhile police found this afternoon a decapitated body of a woman in the southern coastal town of Matara, about 135 km. south-east of Colombo. The body has not been identified yet.