SLA takes over scores of homes in Thenmaradchi

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 July 2002, 02:46 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army last week took over scores of civilian homes amid its efforts to expand its fortifications in the Thenmaradchi district of the Jaffna peninsula, Tamil press reports said. Sri Lankan forces have occupied 43 houses in one part of the district and have begun turning them into army camps, according to a complaint made to the District Secretary S Srinivasan. A new SLA base is being constructed in the village of Kaputhu also, the reports said.

Five houses each have been occupied in Chavakachcheri Post Office Road and Dutch Road, one house occupied in Idaikurichchi West, one in Ketpeli, fourteen in Nunavil Central, fifteen in Koilakandy and two in Ramavil, the Virakesari reported.

Meanwhile, the Sri Lanka armed forces are constructing a new base taking in civilian properties in the village of Kaputhu, on the border between Vadamaradchi and Thenmaradchi, the Thinakkural reported.

The expansion is taking in the residential areas straddling the Point Pedro - Chavakachcheri road. Barbed wires are said to be criss-crossing civilian properties while many new bunkers and sentry points have also sprung up. People living in the area have not complained out of fear of the army, the Thinakkural reported.

Large numbers of troops were moved into the area following intense fighting there, displacing the civilians towards Vadamaradchi. The new base is being built after most troops were initially withdrawn after the ceasefire agreement was signed by the government and the Liberation Tigers and civilians had begun returning to their former homes.