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Former LTTE cadre arrested over murder of Sri Lankan police officer

Batticaloa Magistrate's Court has ordered Sri Lankan police to detain two men over the murder of a Sri Lankan policeman in Vavunathivu last week, including a former LTTE cadre.

A 55-year-old Tamil police officer attached to Valaichchenai police station, named by authorities as Thambipillai Sivarasar, was found murdered last week.

Gunasekaran Surendran,a  former LTTE cadre from Vavunathivu, was arrested alongside 31-year-old Mohamed Azmi in connectioned with the murder.

They are currently being held on remand.

Vavunathivu was also the site of the murder of two police officers in 2018. In that instance, Sri Lankan security forces arrested former LTTE cadres under the much criticised Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA).  Although Tamil political and community representatives had at the time of arrest maintained that former LTTE cadres were being unfairly scapegoated for the murders, the calls for their release dramatically intensified since a link had been established between the murder incident and the Islamist extremists who carried out the bomb blasts in Batticaloa and Colombo on Easter Sunday.

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