Grenade attack on TELO office in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 July 2003, 19:17 GMT]
Unidentified men Monday night lobbed a grenade inside the premises of the office of the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization (TELO), a constituent of the Tamil National Alliance, Trincomalee Police said.

The TELO is considered in Tamil political circles as a close ally of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. This is the first time in Trincomalee an office of a Tamil political party supporting the LTTE was attacked, sources said

The TELO office, which is located along the Customs Road in the heart of the Eastern port town, was damaged and no one in the office at that time was injured, police said.

The quarters for the police and the remand prison in Trincomalee are located near the TELO office, sources said.

The SLA soldiers and the Police rushed to the site and commenced investigation. A cordon and search operation was conducted immediately in the vicinity to apprehend the suspects, police said.

The TELO’s Trincomalee leader and a former vice chairman of the Trincomalee Urban Council, Mr.V.Logeeswaran, told the Police who conducted inquiries into this incident that he suspected elements bent on derailing the peace process could have lobbed the grenade into the TELO office, sources said.

Chronology: