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Journalist hacked to death by soldiers

COLOMBO - A Sri Lankan television journalist has been hacked to death in an army-held area in the northern Jaffna peninsula.

COLOMBO - A Sri Lankan television journalist has been hacked to death in an army-held area in the northern Jaffna peninsula.

"Our Jaffna correspondent Paranerupasinghem Devakumar was hacked to death in the army-controlled area in Jaffna yesterday evening [Wednesday]," Susil Kindelpitiya, news director of Maharaja Television and Radio, said yesterday.

A military spokesman said a friend accompanying the ethnic-Tamil journalist was also attacked and died at hospital. The killings were being investigated by the police.

Human rights watchdogs have reported hundreds of abductions, disappearances and killings by both government security forces and Tamil Tiger separatists since Sri Lanka's 25-year civil war resumed in 2006.

A media rights organisation the Free Media Movement said Devakumar was the ninth journalist or media worker killed in Jaffna since 2006. - Reuters

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