| VILLAGERS today stabbed to death a man suspected of stealing from tsunami victims in southern Sri Lanka and handed over six more suspects to police, a senior policeman said. Residents of the village of Thalapitiya in the district of Galle had turned against a group of men they believed had been stealing from the December 26 tsunami victims, said deputy inspector-general D W Prathapasinghe. "One man has been stabbed to death," Prathapasinghe told AFP. "We are still investigating and the initial report I have is that the relatives of the victims had turned against the looters." The murder came as the government moved to arm itself with more powers to deal with looting and other tsunami-related crimes along the island's coastal regions where nearly 31,000 people were killed. There have been reports of the rape of survivors and robberies following the disaster, which brought out both the best and the worst in local residents. |