The two farmers had been working in a nearby field. Mr Chandramohan’s wife C Ambigavathy told a judge that she saw a soldier carrying the head in a plastic bag. The head and the body were produced separately at the inquest. Local MPs have urged President Chandrika to investigate the incident.
Reports say that soldiers from Welikande shot dead farmer Thiyagarasa Sinnarasa, 17, and abducted nine others in early August. Local people complain that the Special Task Force (STF) shot dead farmers S Vijayasundaram and S Nishanthan in their field at Valaikalai, 17 miles south of Batticaloa town on 16 August. Four days later, another farmer Kanthakutty Thavarasa died in Army shooting in his filed at Vantharumoolai, north of Batticaloa town.
Concern has been expressed after the Army shot dead Ramakrishna Mission student Manickavel Vijayadharshan, 21, at Kaluvankerni, west of Batticaloa town on 18 August. Sathasivam Kokularaj, who was wounded told a judge that they were shot after raising their hands. Three soldiers have been arrested.
The LTTE attacked a police patrol in Valaichenai town on 9 August injuring four policemen. Complaints have been made that the Tigers abducted three Muslims and a Sinhalese from Kudapokkuna in Polonnaruwa District. Reports say that the Tigers hijacked six boats belonging to Muslim fishermen, near Vaharai on 26 August.
In Amparai District, the STF have ordered shop owners in Thirukovil to obtain permits to continue their business. The owners are also expected to provide the STF details of stock. In mid-August, the police issued an order that people from the LTTE-controlled Paduvankarai area, west of Batticaloa lagoon, going into Amparai to work in rice fields must obtain a police permit.
A policeman and two Home Guards who provided security for Sinhalese farmers in Bakkiella were killed in an LTTE attack on 20 August. Two days later, four Tamil civilians collecting firewood in Karmalai on Amparai-Batticaloa border went missing. The bodies of M Subramaniam and M Thurairajasingham were later found in the area.
In Trincomalee District, three naval officers and a child were killed in a Tiger landmine attack on a military convoy near the town on 9 August. Five civilians and 28 sailors were wounded. Security forces killed LTTE intelligence officer Marathan the following day at Kaddaiparichchan.