Artillery duels in Thenmaradchi

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 October 2000, 14:59 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers have stepped up artillery and mortar attacks on Sri Lanka Army (SLA) camps in Varani in the Thenmaradchi sector and Nagar Kovil in the Vadamaradchi East, since Sunday night, said sources. SLA troops at Kudathanai, north of Nakarkovil were retaliating by firing shells towards LTTE held areas, the sources added.

Meanwhile Sri Lanka Army allowed 249 families to travel to Vadamaradchi, escaping from the war-zones of Thenmaradchi, Sunday. About 1500 people arrived in Vadamaradchi on Saturday.

Civilians who have arrived at Vadamaradchi said about 250 people belonging to 65 families are trapped in a housing scheme at Mirusuvil. They said the SLA troops were not allowing them to move out of the war-zone.

The civilians who have arrived in Vadamaradchi are housed at various schools in Pt.Pedro and are being looked after by Sri Lanka Red Cross Society, the sources said.

Meanwhile SLA soldiers cordoned off the village of Kudathanai and Manalkadhu north of Nagar Kovil in the Vadamaradchi east Sunday.

The soldiers on Sunday morning summoned the villagers of Kudathanai to an open space near the Cooperative Stores and checked their identity, the sources said. In the evening the villagers of Manalkadu were asked to assemble at St.Antonys Church and were their identity were checked. The troops simultaneously searched the houses in Manalkadhu, the sources added.