Violence flared in Muthur after the mother of one of the missing youths committed suicide on 15 April. In addition to the deaths, 13 Tamils and five Muslims were wounded. According to Muthur Pradeshiya Sabha (regional council), 6,779 Muslim, 1,118 Tamil and 34 Sinhalese families were displaced in 34 Grama Sevaka (Village Headman) divisions. They have taken refuge in mosques, schools and churches. Over 100 houses in several settlements were damaged or burned. In Muthur alone 40 houses were reduced to ashes.
The police imposed a curfew in Muthur from 1.15pm on 18 April, after a shooting incident in Kaddaiparichchan, two miles east of Muthur, in which six people were injured. More troops were deployed on the streets with orders to shoot any law-breaker.
Government ministers Rauf Hakeem and Mohamed Maharoof, were sent to Trincomalee on 15 April by the Prime Minister to diffuse tension and attend to the needs of the people. But they soon began querreling among themselves over political differences.
A discussion took place between a Muslim delegation and LTTE leaders on 22 April, in the presence of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission. A statement issued by both sides called for immediate end to violence, urging the government to maintain law and order in areas under its control without taking sides. The LTTE undertook to ensure the safety of Muslims in territory under their control. Both parties agreed to cooperate in achieving peace and unity.
But the following day, unidentified persons shot dead Zainulabdeen Lebbe at Selvanagar in Thoppur, five miles south-east of Muthur. A Muslim woman named Sabeela was shot and injured at Allainagar in the same area. The LTTE blamed a hidden hand behind the shooting, and an attempt to drive a wedge between the Tamils and Muslims.
Further south in Batticaloa District, supporters of EPRLF and LTTE clashed on 13 April at Arayampathy. EPRLF members Subramaniam Jegathevan and Alaguthurai Ganeshan were shot dead. Police arrested three youths and the local magistrate ordered an identity parade.
Paramananthan Ravindrakumar, 37, an Army intelligence officer, was shot and injured in Batticaloa town on 15 April. Two days later, Alayadivembu Pradeshiya Sabha chairman and EPDP member Marimuthu Rasalingam, 42, was shot dead by two assailants at Akkaraipatru, 35 miles further south. Tamil group EPDP says that the LTTE is responsible for these shootings.
