Saindamarudu Ops: Tracer bullets fired by suspects: SSP

● SAYS IT REVEALS THEY HAD SPECIAL WEAPON TRAINING ● WE FOUND THE BODY OF A MAN LYING ON THE ROAD ● SECURITY FORCES ALSO RECOVERED RS.980,OOO IN CASH

The tracer bullets used by the suicide bombers during the Saindamarudu shootout has revealed they had received special weapons training, Monaragala SSP and Ampara Police Division’s former SSP Deepal Wijesekera yesterday informed the PCOI on the Easter Sunday attacks.

He said these bullets allowed the shooter to visually trace their fight path, especially during a night battle.“tracer fire can also be used as a marking tool to signal other shooters to concentrate their fire on a particular target during a battle,” he said.

SSP Wijesekara said the Saindamarudu shootout and blast happened at around 7.10 p.m. on April 26, 2019, and Maj. Gen. Mahinda Mudalige deployed soldiers to seal off the entire area. “The battle took place at Volivarian which is known as a tsunami village in Saindamarudu. We saw the suicide bombers on the roof of the house where they were located and started firing tracers in the sky.

There was a crossfire between the soldiers and the suicide bombers for some 40 minutes,” he said and added that the army had secured the entire area before entering the village. “On entering the village we saw the body of a man lying on the road. He was later identified as Mohammed Niyaz, the man who is alleged to have rented out the two safe houses in Sammanthurai and Nintavur,” the SSP said. He said Niyaz had a T56 weapon in his hand but the way it was positioned meant he had used it for firing and added that during the operation the police had recovered Rs.980,000 made up of Rs.5,000 rupee-notes beside Niyaz’s body.