COLOMBO: Suspected Marxist rebels used a sword to behead a policeman and killed four other people in Sri Lanka’s southern Matara district, police said on Saturday,
They said the attackers; believed to be members of the People’s Liberation Front, forced a reserve police constable to place his neck on a log and severed his head on Friday night in Thihada Village, 9 km (6 miles) from Matara Town
Police also blamed the front, which opposes a peace pact with Tamil rebels for four other killings on Friday night in Matara district the front’s stronghold.
The victims were a former policeman, a ruling United National Party supporter and two members of an opposition party that supports the accord.
The island’s 10,000 schools and eight of nine universities were closed this week some indefinitely following student unrest instigated by the front, police said.
Article extracted from this publication >> October 21, 1988
