Vanni MP S Adaikalanathan says several people who were in the houses when they were set on fire, managed to escape. Four soldiers, including an officer have been arrested. Army Brigadier Kulatunge ordered payment of Rs 10,000 compensation for each house burned.
Five days later, the LTTE shot dead three soldiers who went to a well to collect water in Mannar’s Madhu Church area which is now under military control. Madhu Church is the most-sacred Catholic shrine in Sri Lanka. Mannar Bishop Rayappu Joseph, who has campaigned to declare the 400 acre area around the church as a demilitarized zone, has condemned the killing of the soldiers. In early July, a policeman was killed in a Tiger landmine attack further south near Uyilankulam.
Since the closure of the Vanni routes following Army operation Rana Gosha, over 1,700 people have arrived in Pallimunai on Mannar Island by boats from Vidataltivu. The refugees are being sent to the Pesalai refugee camp, after registration. Government officers in Mannar say that support for refugees will become extremely difficult if people continue to arrive on the island.