Nearly 3000 reisdents were queuing in Jaffna as violence escalated

A Medical Laboratory Technician (MLT) and a pharmacist were killed by unidentified gunmen on Tuesday.

The murder of Thanush and Madyapuram was the latest victims of the trade unionists said.

Thousands of residents in the northern Sri Lankan town of Jaffna are trying to flee the town as killings and abductions continued.

Jaffna residents flee

Nearly three thousand people were seen queuing near Sinhala school of Jaffna in an attempt to board the ship bound to Trincomalee.

The ship, which, is about to leave Jaffna on Wednesday, is to take 650 passengers on board.

A pensioner told BBC Sandeshaya that he is going to the capital, Colombo, to collect his pension.

“We have to go to Colombo to get the pension. Even if we get the pension here, there is nothing much to buy in Jaffna,” he told bbcsinhala.com.

A 57-year old woman who has tried three times to board the Trincomalee-bound ship has passed away after admitting to the hospital with severe headache.

Meanwhile, Yogarajah Tamilselvam, 23, was shot dead on Tueady morning in Achchuveli, police said.