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Ten villagers killed 13 wounded by SLA landmine attack in Batticaloa

Vadamunai is a very remote village (see map). People from Vadamunai used to go to Welikande to purchase their needs. Welikande is the closest centre to them. For decades that is where they went to purchase their needs.

On 18 May 2006, a man and a young woman from Vadamunai were abducted when they went to Welikande to purchase items. Complaints were made to the police about the abductions but it has resulted in no action. Following the abduction, the paramilitary groups at Welikande have warned the Vadamunai villagers not to come to Welikande anymore to purchase items. Frightened villagers started to travel all the way to Kiran (see map) which is several kilometres away to buy their needs. There is no other centre near to them where they could go to purchase items. Given the long distance travel to Kiran, the villagers would get together and hire a tractor with a pickup trailer to take them to Kiran. It was on one of these trips their tractor-trailer was hit by the SLA landmine.

This is the largest attack on a civilian vehicle in the Northeast since the CFA was signed and was clearly carried out by the SLA in LTTE area against civilians.

LTTE political head for Batticaloa Mr.Thayanohan said that this attack was planned to evict Tamil civilians living in border villages in order to settle Sinhalese in the area. Thousands of Tamil civilians have been massacred in the past to achieve the same aim.

07 June 2006

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