LTTE kills 12 civilians

Manjula Fernando and Trincomalee group correspondent K.D.Jayasekera

TRINCOMALEE: In a brutal attack on ordinary citizens, the LTTE shot dead 12 civilians in Omadiyamadu, close to the uncleared areas of Welikanda on Monday night, Welikanda police said yesterday.

Army and police teams escorted by the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) went to the site of the attack and recovered the bodies of the 12 Sinhalese villagers from Mahasenpura. They had been restoring a neglected stream to get water for their families.

Welikanda Police said the victims had gunshot wounds on their heads.

"The area is not demarcated so it is hard to say if this happened in uncleared areas or not," the Army Media unit spokesperson said.

Two workers who survived the LTTE's ambush and the lined-up shooting had reached Welikanda the next morning and informed Police.

Of the two escapees, one had taken off before the shooting began and the other who had survived the injuries came to the Welikanda hospital the next morning.

The injured worker is receiving treatment at the Polonnaruwa hospital.

LTTE massacres 12 civilians

Our Special Correspondent

WELIKANDA: The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has brutally shot down 12 civilians working at an irrigation canal construction site in eastern Welikanda area last night. An eyewitness told police that 15 armed cadres of LTTE - some in striped uniforms and some in civilian dress tied the construction workers together and fired at them point blank range killing 12 instantaneously.

One person who received three bullet wounds managed to escape death as the LTTE terrorists left the areas soon after believing all of them had died. Before fleeing, the assassins also set fire to a tractor and a bicycle. Another person at the construction site managed to escape as the Tamil Tigers surrounded the place.

One of the two eyewitnesses, Priyadharshana Wijebandara reached Welikanda Police station early morning and described the gruesome massacre. He was immediately admitted to Welikanda hospital, but later transferred to Polonnaruwa hospital for surgery, OIC at Welikanda police Saman Perera said.

He told the police that attackers spoke to them in Tamil and most of them wore LTTE striped uniforms. He told the police that the victims were killed in most brutal and inhuman manner.

The workers were engaged in constructing an irrigation canal at Ransaratenna in Omadianamadu in Welikanda. The construction of a canal and a tank at Ransaratenna was a part of Mahaweli Scheme and a subcontractor from the village hired workmen.

Subcontractor P. G. Abesuriya, popularly known as Mahatun Mudalali and his tractor driver Kumara, Dharmasiri, a mason and nine other labourers were killed. The labourers were from nearby village Maithreegama. Two representatives from Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), Tagrie Ktala of Finland and Paul Erik Lauritsen of Denmark arrived at the site by midday.

They admitted that they were shocked by the gruesome scene. "This is a brutal and senseless violence," Lauritsen said. However he added that he could not comment as to who was responsible for the ruthless murders as they had not yet made any queries. "We are going to interview the eyewitnesses and study all the information available before making a statement," he added.

The people at Welikanda were shocked and outraged at the killing of innocent civilian workers. All the shops and business establishments were closed as a mark of protest.

Lt. Col. Rajapathirana of the Welikanda Camp said that the LTTE had failed in its earlier attempts to attack villages because of strengthened security in the area.

Homeguards have been deployed to all the villages to provide security. "Hence the Tigers have selected an unprotected construction site on noman's land between the cleared and uncleared areas as their target," he said.