Civilians displaced by the fighting fled to Kathiraveli, six miles north of Vaharai, but began returning to their homes at the end of June. Reports say measures are being taken to open government departments, and Batticaloa Government Agent (GA) AK Pathmanathan has urged resumption of bus services to the area. In late June, the military also launched attacks on Tiger-controlled Paduvankarai area west of the Batticaloa lagoon.
Deaths and injury were reported in Batticaloa in June, as the LTTE and Tamil groups working with military such as the Razik Group, continued to operate in Army-controlled areas. The Tigers threw hand grenades at police guarding the Bank of Ceylon at Akkaraipatru on 4 June injuring 15 civilians. The next day, former Tamil group TELO member Michael Croos was shot dead at Valaichenai by LTTE’s Pistol Group. Following the incident shots were fired from an Army post, injuring Thevamani of Vinayagapuram.
The LTTE abducted 16 young women from Paithalai in Valaichenai in June, allegedly to identify Army informers, reports say. S Kanthan and M Ilango were abducted from their homes in Kalmunai by an unidentified armed gang on 16 June. Their bodies were found on a Kalmunai road the following day. A bomb exploded at a police checkpoint on Bar Road in Batticaloa town on 19 June injuring three women. Students Yogarajah Vanitha, 14, and Nagarajah Raji, 13, were shot and injured in Valaichanai on 22 June.
GA Pathmanathan has expressed concern to military officers over the arrest of state and local government officers while at work. Batticaloa Municipal Council Employment Director Wilson Kumaraiah, council worker Rajan Kulasingham and Eastern University lecturer M Varnakulasingham are in custody. The lecturer is accused of providing funds for the LTTE. UNICEF officer T Navaratnam and Oddamavady Regional Council administrator S Sivagurunathan, arrested in mid-June were released later in the month.
Seventeen Tamils in Kataragama, 65 miles south-west of Amparai, were detained by police after an armed gang attacked and looted vehicles on the Kataragama-Buttala road. The LTTE is accused of demanding large sums of money to release farmers abducted in Moneragala District, west of Amparai.