SLMC leader Rauf Hakeem says that the students were shot in their backs after showing their identity cards to the police officers at a checkpoint. The police had refused to release the bodies to the parents and had demanded them to provide a written statement that the students were LTTE members.
The following day, as the funeral of the students took place, hundreds of people demonstrated in the streets, preventing traffic, and confronted the police. The authorities imposed a curfew to prevent escalation of violence. The local magistrate has ordered a probe by the police Criminal Investigation Department (CID) into the killing.
Two soldiers were killed and three others were wounded in an LTTE ambush at Sithandy, 12 miles north-west of Batticaloa town on 13 July. A week later, the Army shot dead civilian V Kanapathipillai in the same area. The Pistol Group killed a policeman on 21 July at Kallady, three miles south of Batticaloa town. Muslim policeman MA Musthafa died in a Tiger attack at Valaichenai on 27 July.
The security forces carried out a number of search operations in Batticaloa. A house to house search was conducted in five villages in Valaichenai on 5 July. A large number of people were interrogated and five youths were detained. V Kulanthaivel , 60, and student M Dinesh, 10, were killed when the security forces fired shells on Kinnaiyadi, near Valaichenai, on 28 July. Eight children were wounded in the attack.
In Amparai District, a reserve policeman was wounded by the Pistol Group at Sammanthurai on 5 July. The LTTE attacked Army positions in Veli Oya on 27 July killing four soldiers, north of Trincomalee in Mullaitivu District. Security forces say that the LTTE shot dead Sinhalese farmer MG Panditharatne on 29 July near Aralaganwila in Polonnaruwa District.
The rivalry between SLMC leaders Rauf Hakeem, who left the government on 21 June and Ferial Ashraff, spilled on to the streets in Amparai. The Sammanthurai house of SLMC MP ULM Mohideen, a supporter of Mrs Ashraff, came under bomb attack on 18 July. Three police guards were injured. An assassination attempt was made on SLMC organiser and Hakeem supporter UL Uvais. He suffered injuries.
The Tamil Media Alliance has condemned Army officers in Batticaloa for threatening Tamil journalist Iyadurai Nadesan. The Army warned in mid-July that Mr Iyadurai would be arrested and dealt with if he wrote anything against the military or the government.