LTTE Headquarters,
                                                Tamil Eelam.
                                                20. April 1997


PRESS RELEASE
NEWS FROM TAMIL EELAM

POLICE SHOOT TAMIL SHOPPERS
	Sri Lankan paramilitary police opened fire on Tamil shoppers at
	Valaichchenai market (Batticaloa) killing three and severely
	wounding seven. The indiscriminate firing spread panic among
	ordinary people causing them to flee for their lives. Those
	injured lay without assistance for half an hour while the heavily
	armed police roamed the area. This random attack on Tamil
	civilians (including two Muslims) was in revenge for an earlier
	LTTE raid on a group of paramilitary police in which 2 police
	died.

DETAILS OF TAMIL CIVILIANS KILLED IN THIS LATEST INCIDENT

	NO	NAME OF TAMIL		AGE		SEX		RELATIVES               
	1.	Kasali			25		male		-
	2.	Adam Lebbe		35		male		-
	3.	Sithiravel		48		male		-


ANNAI POOPATHY'S DEATH-FAST REMEMBERED
	Annai Poopathy's sacrifice for the Tamil nation is being
	remembered with token day-long hunger strikes being staged across
	Vanni. She died on April 19, exactly nine years ago while
	protesting against IPKF presence in Tamil Eelam. In her name,
	TEEDOR mobilised the residents of Puthukudiyiruppu to carry out
	cleaning activities around the main hospital, which involved
	filling ditches and making the environment generally more
	hygienic.

11 SOLDIERS KILLED IN JAFFNA
	Eleven Sri Lankan soldiers were killed in the Jaffna peninsula
	when LTTE forces intercepted an army patrol travelling between
	Nakarkoil and Maruthankerni on Thursday. Immediately after the
	event, the army arrested 3 innocent Tamil people from nearby
	homes and took them away. Two of those taken are women and there
	is a strong likelihood they are facing torture and rape in
	custody. Such human rights crimes against women by Sri Lanka's
	armed forces are widespread in army-controlled Tamil areas, to
	where the Sri Lankan government has banned independent
	journalists.

DETAILS OF INNOCENT TAMIL CIVILIANS ARRESTED IN THIS LATEST INCIDENT

	NO	NAMEOFTAMIL		AGE		SEX		RELATIVES       
	1.	Periyathambi
		Kamalahasan		32		male		-
	2.	Ariyaratnam
		Selvakumari		22		female		-
	3.	Ariyaratnam
		Arulmani		21		female	sister of no.2


Political Committee,
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam

(English translation of the LTTE statement released by
LTTE International Secretariat, 211 Katherine Road, London E6 1BU,
United Kingdom. Tel:0181- 503 4294 / Fax: 0181-470 8593)