COIMBATORE: In a bizarre incident, activists of the Periyar Dravida Kazhagam(PDK) and MDMK attacked a convoy of four military trucks on the Neelambur bypass road here on Saturday and damaged their diesel tanks, deflated tyres and set the clothes of the soldiers on fire alleging that the Army was carrying arms to be supplied to Sri Lanka.
The trucks were carrying soldiers from the Pangode Military Station, Thiruvananthapuram, who were returning after firing practice at Sameerpet near Secunderabad.
The soldiers were nearing the artillery unit at Madhukkarai, where they were scheduled to halt, when the convoy was attacked.
PDK and MDMK activists went berserk after rumours spread that India was supplying arms to the Sri Lankan Government and that the arms were being carried by road to Cochin port from where it would be sent to Colombo.
Waving black flags, the protesters tried to block the vehicles as they approached. As the first truck sped past them, the furious mob pelted stones at the convoy, smashed their windshields, stopped the trucks and ransacked them.
The activists entered the vehicles, threw out the belongings of the Army personnel and set them afire, police said.
Though policemen were present at the scene in large numbers, they could remain only mute spectators as the over 80-strong crowd went on the rampage.
As the activists escaped, the military men turned their ire on the lensmen and reporters who thrashed them mercilessly, police sources said.
