After the LTTE and the Sri Lankan government agreed, two ceasefire monitors conducted an inspection of the trawler and found arms and ammunition in a secret compartment. While the trawler was being towed towards the shore, the LTTE cadre are said to have received a radio message from the LTTE headquarters. According to the SLMM, following the message, the monitors observed fire at the back of the trawler and jumped into the sea. The trawler then exploded killing the Tigers.
The tense situation in Jaffna worsened following another incident on 12 February in Manipai, five miles north of Jaffna town. A fight ensued when soldiers attempted to remove the belts worn by eight LTTE women cadre, alleging that they were part of the Tiger uniform. The LTTE claimed they were civilian belts. Articles 1.12 and 1.13 of the ceasefire agreement permit Tiger members into military-held zones to visit family and for political work, ‘unarmed and in plain clothes’.
Some 200 people gathered at the place and began throwing stones at the camps of the Army and the Tamil group Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP). An EPDP cadre was wounded. The Army and police deployed a riot squad and attacked the civilians. Journalists S Sivapalan of Thinakkural (Daily Voice) and S Manoharan of Namathu Eelanadu (Our Eelam Nation) were also assaulted and their cameras smashed. SLMM members who witnessed the attacks, ruled that both the Army and the LTTE had violated the ceasefire agreement. The SLMM urged the government forces and LTTE cadre to show restraint. The ceasefire monitors have stressed the urgent need for a modern, well-trained police force to bring about normalcy in government-controlled areas.
EPDP member and Kopai Pradeshiya Sabha (regional council) President Poothan Gunasingham was shot and injured on 12 February. A policeman was wounded when the EPDP office in Chavakachcheri, 12 miles east of Jaffna town, was fired on by unidentified persons. The following day, the EPDP office in Point Pedro, on the north-east coast of Jaffna came under grenade attack. The EPDP say the LTTE are behind these attacks, which are an attempt to eliminate opposition members before any democratic election in the north-east.
The Tigers arrested policeman Ananda Wijedasa when he entered their area in Muhamalai. He was produced before a Tamil Eelam Court in Kilinochchi on 21 February and remanded till 14 March. The next day, the Navy attacked seven fishermen off Neduntivu Island, west of Jaffna peninsula, and threw them into the sea. Two people were seriously wounded.