Five soldiers, four civilians killed in series of incidents

Five soldiers and four civilians were killed in sporadic incidents in Vavuinya, Jaffna, Batticaloa and Trincomalee districts yesterday, a military spokesman said.

Three of the soldiers and a civilian were killed in a claymore mine blast at Chettikulam in Vavuniya last morning when Tamil guerrillas set off an explosion against a vehicle driven by a businessman.

The soldiers had requested the businessman to drop them at the nearby camp. In another claymore mine blast a soldier was killed at Uduvil in Jaffna last morning. A soldier was killed and three were injured at the Kajuwatta army camp in Batticaloa in an artillery attack yesterday morning.

Three Tamil youth who were abducted at Selvanayagapuram in Trincomalee by unidentified persons on Friday night were killed and their bullet riddled bodies were found on the roadside in the same area.
Two women were killed in a claymore mine blast at Nallur road in Jaffna. They were killed when a claymore mine was set off against an army foot patrol and missed the target.