ICRC to take bodies from Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 29 February 2000, 20:42 GMT]
The International Committee of the Red Cross will take the bodies of two Liberation Tigers killed this morning in a confrontation with the Sri Lanka army at Iyakkachchi, across the Jaffna lagoon to the Vanni mainland early morning tomorrow.

The SLA recovered the bodies of two women fighters of the Liberation Tigers today following a fire-fight in the general area of Iyakkachchi, immediately north of the Elephant Pass base on the isthmus of the Jaffna peninsula.

The bodies were handed over by the SLA to the ICRC in accordance with a recent agreement whereby the modalities for handing over the bodies of LTTE fighters killed in confrontations in the peninsula to their organization in the Vanni were worked out last week.

The ICRC will take the two bodies from the Gurunagar jetty to the Vanni mainland controlled by the Liberation Tigers tomorrow morning sources in Jaffna said.

This is the first time since the SLA moved into Jaffna in 1996 that the bodies of Tigers slain in Jaffna are being taken to the Vanni to be handed over to the LTTE.

The Liberation Tigers have complained on many occasions since late 1997 that the bodies of their members killed in confrontations with the SLA in the peninsula were either being neglected or were at times being desecrated.

The agreement negotiated by the ICRC between the SLA and the LTTE on this issue is a remarkable achievement said a senior opinion maker in Jaffna who spoke to the TamilNet about this development today.

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