Military spokesman Brigadier Nihal Hapuarachchi said on Friday that the victims were on duty near a Hindu temple in the town of Chavakachcheri, located in the Tamil-majority peninsula of Jaffna and 350 kilometers (217 miles) north of the country’s capital, Colombo, late on Thursday.
He added that preliminary enquiries suggest that two soldiers were killed by a comrade, who then turned the gun on himself.
“We can rule out an involvement of an outside party,” Hapuarachchi pointed out.
The Sri Lankan army maintains a strong presence in Jaffna and adjoining areas over fears that Tamil Tiger rebels, who were defeated in a huge military campaign in 2009, could regroup and revive their cause for a separate Tamil state.
MP/HN/GHN
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