A Sinhala soldier, posing as ‘grease devil’, entered a house Monday night at Aalangkaddai in Vathiri of Vadamaraadchi in Jaffna, was caught by the villagers. The man, when confronted by the residents, claimed that he belonged to Sri Lanka Army intelligence. At the same time, occupying SLA soldiers who came to the site in a white-coloured van rescued the intelligence man and took him to their camp, firing warning shots and dispersing the protesting villagers. However, the residents gathered outside the military camp and demanded the SLA handed over to the SL Police in front of them. The soldiers at the camp opened fire to disperse the crowd. In the meantime, two villagers were wounded in a similar confrontation at Naavanthu’rai, near the city of Jaffna.
The residents of Naavanthu’rai, a coastal suburb of the city of Jaffna, had caught four Sri Lanka Army soldiers who entered a house. As the females at the house started shouting, the villagers confronted the soldiers. The intruders were ‘rescued’ by the SLA soldiers also at Naavaanthu’rai.
The angry villagers who gathered outside the camp started to throw stones at the SLA camp when the SLA officers there refused to hand over the alleged SLA ‘grease devil’ soldiers to the SL Police.
The SLA opened fire threatening the protesting villagers and assaulted them.
Amidst gunshots being fired from the SLA camp, the angry residents were seen protesting outside the camps, both at Vathiri and at Naavaanthu’rai.
Women, children and elders, displacing to safer locations said they preferred to stay in groups.
Naavaanthu’rai is situated 3 km away from the city of Jaffna.
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