News - Kayts civilians fleeing to LTTE areas

More than 1,500 civilians living in the Allaipiddy area of the Kayts island — where 13 civilians were massacred last Saturday — fled to Jaffna yesterday and were moving into the LTTE-controlled Wanni, saying there was little or no security for them in their villages.

The families carrying their belongings arrived in the Gurungar area and were moving into temporary sheds.

The exodus from the area came after the security forces informed the Kayts Magistrate Jeyaram Trotsky that they were not in a position to provide additional security to the villages due to lack of human resources. The Magisterial inquiry into the killings of the 13 civilians including two children is being conducted by the Kayts Magistrate.

Residents in Jaffna said that some of the persons arriving in Jaffna were heading towards Wanni, the uncleared areas held by the LTTE.

On Friday the Magistrate visited the Jaffna hospital where some of the injured in last Saturday’s attacks are being treated. He summoned the police and the Navy and had queried as to why security had not been increased in the village as well as to those in hospital.

The Police and Navy informed the Magistrate that they were not in a position to provide sufficient security due to lack of manpower.

The Magistrate had informed the Navy and police to provide the required security for the people to move out from their areas for their requirements.
The Scandinavian monitors and international NGO’s were helping the civilians to move out from their areas. The move came as investigations into the massacre continued yesterday.

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) accused the Navy and paramilitary groups working with the government of carrying out the attacks.
Amnesty International said it had ‘received credible reports that Sri Lanka Navy personnel and armed cadres affiliated to the EPDP” were present at the scene of the killings.

However Police Chief Chandra Fernando yesterday told The Sunday Times that the CID investigating the killing in Kayts Island had established that the LTTE had been present in the island during the period of the attack. “We have found evidence that LTTE cadres had entered the areas of Allaipiddy and Vellanai last Thursday (May 11) night. The cadres who had entered the area had been giving leaflets through their civil volunteer force ‘Makkal Padai’ to close down shops early and switch off all lights after dusk on the day before the killings took place,” IGP Fernando said.