Saturday, July 07, 2007

Paramilitaries clash in Kommaathu'rai SLA base

A Karuna Group paramilitary member was killed and two Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP) pararmilitary personnel were wounded when the two groups, attached to the Kommaathu'rai Sri Lanka Army (SLA) base in Chengkaladi in Batticaloa, clashed Wednesday evening around 5:00 p.m., Ea'raavoor Police said. The Karuna group has been harassing the EPDP, the only paramilitary group established in SLA controlled areas of both North and East, against carrying out campaign activities in Batticaloa district for the last two months.

Five Karuna group personnel entered the premises of the EPDP camp, charged grenades and fired at their house, wouding two EPDP personnel, Sivagnanam Suthaharan, 23, and Kovinthan Vishnu, 21.

Sri Lanka Army troopers providing security to both the camps had to fire at the hostile attackers to control the fight, Police said.

A Karuna Group member was killed. He is yet to be identified.

The wounded EPDP personnel were rushed to Batticaloa Teaching hospital.

Kommathu'rai SLA base is the largest camp, located between Batticaloa and Vazhaichcheanai.

The clash between the paramilitaries comes in the wake of LTTE's withdrawal of its conventional forces from its former strongholds in Batticaloa and Trincomalee and Colombo planning to conduct an election in the East.

Karuna group has banned dissemination of most editions of Tamil newspapers from Colombo in Batticaloa.

Both the EPDP and the Karuna Group personnel have been engaged in distributing their newspapers in the district from different SLA checkposts in Batticaloa city.

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