Navy detects 28 Tamil civilian escapees from LTTE areas: Army

T V Sriram

Colombo, Nov 5 (PTI) An alert Sri Lankan Navy traced down
two boats carrying 28 Tamil civilians, who had escaped from
the L.T.T.E. held area, and rescued them, officials said
Wednesday.

"A group of 28 Tamil civilians including 6 children, who
had escaped from the L.T.T.E. held areas, sought protection
from security forces in Jaffna last morning," the Defence
Ministry said.

The naval patrol craft which detected two boats in
northern seas immediately rushed to their assistance and
accompanied them ashore under naval protection, it said.

According to the sources, 22 adults including 13 males
and 9 females and 6 children are among the escapees and are
residents of Mullaian, Kaddaikadu, Paranthan, Kilinochchi and
Champianpaththu areas.

"The escapees said that the innocent Tamil civilians
living in non-liberated areas in the North have to undergo
severe hardships as a result of L.T.T.E. activities, including
extortion and conscription of youngsters," the ministry
statement said.

The escapees have been provided with food as well as
necessary medical treatments and later handed over to the
Kankesanturai Police in Jaffna.

All arrangements have been made to provide shelter for
civilians, the government officials in Jaffna said.

Meanwhile, the U.N. officials said the world body has
dispatched another major food convoy into the Wanni region for
the Tamil displaced persons of northern Sri Lanka.

The 29 truck World Food Programme convoy carrying 438
metric tons of food is part of a continuing humanitarian aid
effort to reach the estimated 2,30,000 civilians displaced
behind the lines of confrontation in the districts of
Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu.

The food convoy under the U.N. banner included 68 Metric
Tonnes (M.T.) of rice, 208 M.T. of flour, 76 M.T. of dhal, 24
M.T. of sugar, 24 M.T. of vegetable oil and 38 M.T. of other
dry rations.

The consignments are to be handed over to District
Secretaries of Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu to be distributed
among the Internally Displaced Persons (I.D.Ps) in
Mulleyaveli, Puthukudirippu and Tharapuram.

This is the fourth U.N. convoy since the U.N. was forced
to temporarily withdraw from the Wanni in mid-September due to
fighting, the officials said.

The convoy will deliver food to three locations before
returning to government-controlled territory.

The U.N. says that it has delivered 2,300 metric tons of
food to the Wanni since the beginning of October.