35,000 isolated as Tigers blast bridge

By Asif Fuard

More than 35,000 civilians in Panichchankeni in the Batticaloa district were isolated when a bridge was damaged by the LTTE, an Army spokesman said.

Yesterday the government was preparing for a humanitarian mission to provide aid to the people at Panichchankeni, after the LTTE destroyed the bridge that led to the area in the midst of Friday’s heavy fighting, blocking food supplies and essential items to around 35,000 people.

The Panichchankeni bridge is the only means of land access to the area.

Military Spokesperson Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe told The Sunday Times that the Government supplied essential items to the area using this bridge, but now around 35,000 people there will have to suffer.

Meanwhile, the International Committee of the Red Cross made arrangements to send 12 bodies retrieved by Government forces after Friday’s heavy fighting in the Panichankeni, Mankerni and Kajuwatte areas, but the rebels declined to accept 11 bodies as they claimed they did not belong to them as they were those of civilians.

“We obtained the weapons used by those who were killed. Some were in military fatigues while a few others were dressed as civilians. We know definitely they were LTTE cadres,” Brigadier Samarasinghe said in response to the LTTE’s claim.