In a letter to President Chandrika, Batticaloa MP Joseph Pararajasingham says, despite many written complaints to her, indiscriminate shelling of populated areas continues. According to reports, 75 civilians were killed and over 185 were injured in 1998 in security force attacks.
The Army shot dead V Sothimuthu after a Tiger attack on Batticaloa Pillayarady camp on 11 April. The following day, the LTTE attacked a police post in Eravur wounding a policeman. In indiscriminate firing that followed, civilian K Suntharalingam, 55, was killed and two others were injured.
The LTTE continues its indiscriminate targeting in Batticaloa. The military found three powerful bombs in populated areas in Chenkalady and Kallady in early April. On 17 April, the Tigers shelled Kiran and Santhiveli Army camps. The Batticaloa Airforce base came under shell attack on 25 April.
The body of Thavarasan Kumar, 24 was found at Vantharumoolai on 19 April. The LTTE had abducted him two months earlier. Tamil group TELO’s Jamaldeen Anwar was shot dead by the LTTE’s Pistol group at Kattankudy on 21 April. The Tigers carried out a public execution for the third time in two months. Kandiah Ravi, 35, was shot dead in public at Pankudaveli on 22 April.
Further south in Amparai District, policeman N Saleem was shot dead by LTTE gunmen at Sammanthurai on 9 April. Following the attack, the police arrested 15 youths and detained three. Many people in nearby Veeramunai fled to other areas in fear. Two Tigers attempting to attack a police checkpoint at Galgamuwa in Central Camp area on 19 April were shot dead.
In Trincomalee District, the Pistol Group shot dead Kumar, 25, on 7 April. The Navy shot and injured fisherman R Raheeb, 17, near Muthur on 16 April. Three Tigers died in an Army ambush three days later at Kadalkaraichenai.
Some 12,000 people are now registered with Trincomalee Regional Secretariat to return to Jaffna. Another 2,500 are in Mannar and a further 1,500 are registered in Vavuniya. Reports say the government may purchase two ships to transport refugees and other civilians.
Meanwhile, the Defence Ministry has denied permits to local shipping companies and the Navy has prohibited the ships Ocean Success and Isuruveli hired by private traders to take food to Jaffna. Press reports say that a senior government officer is behind the disruption of ship services to Jaffna.