Killing, Arrested and Weapons Recovered

On August 24, cadres of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) shot dead one civilian, identified as Thurairasa Pradeep Prabath, and injured another, Pushpanathan, in the Saliyasambalthivu area, according to Sri Lanka Army sources.

A day earlier, another civilian, identified as Selliah Chandram, was shot dead by the LTTE cadres in the Navaly area of Jaffna district.

Elsewhere, troops killed one LTTE cadre in the Rampettikulam area when he tried to infiltrate into the security forces (SFs) Forward Defence Line (FDL) in the area.

Further, on August 24, troops ambushed a group of LTTE cadres at Kannalkadu in the Manirasakulam area of Trincomalee district and killed on of them, while the others managed to escape. Troops recovered one T-56 weapon and two claymore mines from the possession of the slain cadre. On the same day, LTTE cadres hiding in the Polwatta area of Mannar district opened fire towards in the area west of Giant Tank. No casualties were reported.

The Trincomalee Harbour Police conducting investigations into an arrested person on suspicion have identified the suspect to be the LTTE's former ‘Police Chief’ in Sampur, according to the Ministry of Defence Website. The suspect, identified as Kalimutthu Vinodkumar (29), was arrested by the Harbour Police at a roadblock in Trincomalee on August 23. He is known among LTTE cadres as "Sanjeewan Master", police sources said.

Meanwhile, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has agreed to extend its presence at Omanthai crossing point in the Vavuniya district to five days a week. On the request of the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE, ICRC had agreed to extend its presence at Omanthai from August 27, the ICRC head of delegation Toon Vandenhove announced in Colombo on August 24. In June 2007, the organization reduced its presence at the crossing points to three days a week following a number of security incidents that jeopardized the safety of civilians crossing the Lines and that of ICRC personnel. ICRC will continue to be present at the Uyilankulam crossing point in Mannar district on the usual three days (Monday, Wednesday and Friday), as not many people reportedly use that crossing