Four days earlier, a senior police officer and two policemen died in a dawn raid on the Palameenmadu police Special Task Force (STF) camp. The LTTE launched simultaneous attacks on Bakiella police station, 17 miles south-west of Batticaloa town, and the STF camp at Nugalande.
The Tigers infiltrated Eravur and attacked a police station on 11 November. A Home Guard was shot dead and the station was burned. Two civilians were injured in the attack. A simultaneous attack on the police station in Vammiyady in the same area, killed a policeman and civilian Murugan Subramaniam. Two policemen were killed and another wounded in a parcel bomb attack in Paddiruppu police station, south of Batticaloa on 14 November.
Tamil group EPRLF member Muthusamy Anusamurthy was shot dead allegedly by LTTE's Pistol Group on 20 November near Chenkalady Army camp. He was returning from the camp after guard duties. The bodies of Grama Sevaka (Village Headman) Gnanamuthu Vivekanandan and another civilian Ragavan Nesarajah were found in Batticaloa in early December. Reports say that they had earlier been abducted by the LTTE.
The security forces continued cordon and search operations. In early November, the Army began collecting details of Tamil residents in some villages in Eravur. Army officers say the details are needed to prevent LTTE infiltration into the area. The Sri Lankan Human Rights Commission (HRC) received complaints about several arrests from the people, including that of Shanmugam Suriyakumar, 16. The security forces are required to inform the HRC about arrests within 48 hours, but this rule is often disregarded.
Reports say that the STF killed Kanthalingam Vasanthan and Karunaratnam Sriranjan at Periyakallaru on 12 November alleging LTTE links. The Army shot dead M Kogulan near Pavatkodichenai on 2 December. The body of Mahendran Manalan was found in Oddamavady on 23 November. Relatives say that he had been taken into custody by the Army a day earlier.