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wounded scrambled out, took cover from the vehicle and opened fire, however
Fernando was soon killed. Thilakaratne kept firing until home-made grenade blew off one hand and all but blew off one foot. Cpl. R. A. U. Perera and Cpl. Sumathipala kept on firing and the latter in addition lobbed his grenade. In his dying moments Private Manapitiya gave his grenade to the Cpl. Sumathipala who changed their magazines and kept on the pressure on the enemy. At one stage they alighted from the vehicle and kept on firing at the enemy in two different directions thus pinning them down. At 2340 hours a message was sent to Brigadier Balthazar that radio contact with the patrol was lost and that a sentry had heard gunfire and explosions in the distance. The Army camps in Palali, Madagal, Thondamanar and Velvettiturai were alerted and the ambush prepared for Four Four Charlie was canceled by Brigadier Balthazar. It was sent in search of Four Four Bravo.
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Karunaratne in the rear and a Tata Benz half truck with the rest of the patrol with
Sergeant S.I. Thelakaratne in the front seat with Corporal G.R. Perera at the wheel and Private A.J.R. Fernando between them. Five minutes of leaving Urumpirai the Jeep was slowing down near Tinneveli because of the obstruction on the road due to the installation of telecommunication equipment. As it was passing the excavation on the road, the exploder set off the mines, followed by a hail of machine gun fire on the Jeep and the half-truck. The explosion of the mines wounded many of the men in the jeep including 2nd Lt. Vaas Gunawardene who leapt out of the Jeep and pulled out a hand grenade, but was mowed down by machine gun fire. The rest in the jeep scrambled out attacked the enemy with hand grenades before being killed. Cpl. C.D. Perera charged at the enemy firing his SLR, his body was found a short distance from the jeep.
510:, were that the patrol should be back in Madagal before 2359 hours, if necessary shortening the prescribed route: Gurunagar - Jaffna - Naga Vihara - Nallur - Kopay - Urumpirai - Kondavil - Kokuvil - Jaffna- Kaliyan - kadu - Madagal. 2nd Lt. Gunawardene received the instructions from Major De Silva who further emphasized that the patrol must be in Madagal Camp by midnight. Four Four Bravo left Gurunagar at 2206 hours and was in radio contact every five minutes all reports indicated that Jaffna was quiet.
537:, Iyer, Victor, Pulendran, Shellakili, Santhosam and Appiah gathered at Tinneveli on the Palali - Jaffna road at a point where the road was dug up to install new telecommunication equipment. Near one such excavation four mines were placed and a plunger stolen from the Kankesanturai Cement Factory was placed on the balcony of a nearby house. A machine gun nests were placed near the exploder and across the road. The force was split in two and placed on both sides of the road with Sellakili present.
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Four Four
Charlie located the destroyed vehicles at 0009 hours and reported in. Cpl. R. A. U. Perera also telephoned from the Kondavil CTB Depot about that time. He had fired till he ran out ammunition there after retreated, wounded in both legs. He gave the location of Cpl. Sumathipala, who had also
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Patrol Four Four Bravo was scheduled to leave
Gurunagar (code name Four Four) at 2200 hours as a routine patrol from the C Company of the 1st Battalion of the Sri Lanka Light Infantry based at Madagal about 20 miles away. The patrol arrived at 2147 hours. It consisted of a detachment of 15 soldiers
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On witnessing the explosion the half truck stooped and it too came under fire from both parties of the terrorist. The fire killed Cpl. Perera in the driver's seat, Private Robert, Sunil and
Wijesiri in the rear and wounded Private Manapitiya. Sgt. Thelakaratne and Private Fernando who were both
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At 2328 hours the patrol reported that it was leaving
Urumpirai junction and everything was quiet. The patrol was made up of a jeep with 2nd Lt. Vaas Gunawardene, Private N.A.S. Manutange driving and Corporal G.D. Perera and Private S.S. Amarasinghe, Private S.P.G. Rajatillake and Private K.P.
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fired till his ammunition was almost expended, and thereafter had retreated and was lying wounded. Brigadier
Balthazar himself reached the location, and found Sgt. Thelakaratne in critical condition and sent him to the hospital. He died on the way.
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Pain, Pride, and
Politics: Social Movement Activism and the Sri Lankan Tamil Diaspora in Canada
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led by Second
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aka Seelan and had observed the army patrols. That night a group of 25 LTTE men, including
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in 1980 as an
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Flashback: Tinneveli, July 1983: The aftermath in Colombo
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