Army fire kills woman

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 June 1999, 14:33 GMT]
A young woman was killed instantly when the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers at a sentry post at Morakkoddanchenai SLA camp fired indiscriminately yesterday evening around 5.30 p.m. said residents.

The body of Vigneswary Kanthasamy,23, was later taken to the Eravur hospital in a SLA vehicle.

SLA officials said she was killed by accidental fire from soldiers manning the sentry point, and have offered to pay for Vigneswaryís funeral.

However, local residents said the soldiers deliberately fired several shots from the sentry post.

Vigneswary's family lives in a hut 200 metres from the sentry point. She was killed while she was inside the hut.

Residents said her brother, Velnayakam Kanthasamy, had also been shot dead by Sri Lanka Army soldiers in 1990. The soldiers had put his body in a hut and burnt it, they added.

Only one of the three children is alive now they said, adding that her father struggles to survive by looking for odd jobs on a daily basis.