Tamil Guardian's Mullaitivu district correspondents were assaulted this morning by four persons in Murippu, Mullaitivu, while reporting on illegal logging and timber smuggling in the area.
Kanapathipillai Kumanan and Shanmugam Thavaseelan, who caught the smugglers on video, were attacked with iron rods. The attackers then destroyed the video recordings on their cameras and phones and looted their jewellery and money before fleeing.
See the video below to hear Shanmugam speaking on the incident:
Both correspondents have been admitted to the hospital for their injuries and a complaint has been registered with the Mullaitivu police.
We need your support
Sri Lanka is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a journalist. Tamil journalists are particularly at threat, with at least 41 media workers known to have been killed by the Sri Lankan state or its paramilitaries during and after the armed conflict.
Despite the risks, our team on the ground remain committed to providing detailed and accurate reporting of developments in the Tamil homeland, across the island and around the world, as well as providing expert analysis and insight from the Tamil point of view
We need your support in keeping our journalism going. Support our work today.
For more ways to donate visit https://donate.tamilguardian.com.
