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[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 September 2006, 22:40 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s government has imposed new conditions for talks with the Liberation Tigers, Minister Keheliya Rambukwella, chief spokesman on defence matters told the Sunday Times. The paper says the conditions are: “a specific time frame should be provided by the LTTE to resume and conclude peace talks; the LTTE should give an assurance to the international community and Donor Co-chairs of the peace process that it will not use sea routes to smuggle into Sri Lanka any military hardware and the LTTE should make a commitment that it would not resort to any violence during the period of the talks.”
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[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 September 2006, 17:00 GMT]
Basil Rajapakse, brother and Senior Advisor to Sri Lanka's President Mr Mahinda Rajapakse, informed a delegation of Batticaloa District Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians that no building materials can be transported into LTTE-held Vaharai area north of Batticaloa until further notice, during a meeting held at the office the Srilankan President Friday at 11.00 a.m., sources in Colombo said.
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[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 September 2006, 16:40 GMT]
A Sri Lanka Army (SLA) trooper riding in a motorbike was shot dead by unknown gunmen Friday night in Vavuniya Kovil Kulam area, Vavuniya Police said Saturday. Also in Vavuniya Tharanikulam area, an unidentified body of a youth, alleged to be a Sinhalese from Nedunkulam was recovered at 9:00 a.m. Saturday, sources in Vavuniya said.
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[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 September 2006, 14:16 GMT]
A 25-year old farmer was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in Athai, near Alvai 3 km west of Point Pedro Saturday morning, sources from Jaffna said. After nearly a week of absence of violence in Jaffna today's slaying following two other similar killings Friday appears to mark the resumption in arbitrary killings in the peninsula, sources added.
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[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 September 2006, 14:04 GMT]
The main opposition United National Party (UNP) Saturday appealed to the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), a Marxist, Sinhala Nationalist party, not to interfere with the progress made by the two main political parties UNP and Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), main constituent of the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA), in reaching a consensus in solving the ethnic crisis, sources said.
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[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 September 2006, 12:18 GMT]
Eleven cadres of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) were killed in an ambush carried out by the counter-insurgency Special Task Force (STF) personnel inside LTTE territory in Pullumalai in Batticaloa district around 5:30 a.m. Saturday, LTTE Military Spokesman Irasiah Ilanthirayan said. The bodies of the cadres killed in the STF attack were transferred in military vehicles into STF controlled area, he said charging the Sri Lankan forces for engaging in offensive attacks inside Tiger territory when the LTTE had informed to the facilitators that it ceased all retaliatory attacks following the call by the Co-Chairs to cease all violence.
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[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 September 2006, 11:23 GMT]
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) in a press release issued Friday noted that the "consistent failure" by the Sri Lankan government to respect or to take any measures to implement the view expressed by the Human Rights Committee, has caused the "bewildering absence of protection to the citizens and the total absence of effective mechanisms to investigate, monitor or prosecute gross human rights abuses.
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[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 September 2006, 09:40 GMT]
Six children below 15 years of age from a family threatened by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Madduvil, Thenmaradchi, were taken to UNICEF by the Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission officials as the parents had fled the area following alleged death threats from the soldiers, according to NGO sources in Jaffna Saturday. Meanwhile, residents in Madduvil said women and children in the area were sexually abused Thursday night when the soldiers launched a cordon and search operation. Around 15 families fled the village and their houses have been plundered.
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[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 September 2006, 07:00 GMT]
The role of Norwegian facilitator, fronted by the donor countries, must be limited to that of a "marriage broker," Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayake said addressing a public meeting in Matale, in the Central Province, Firday. A "marriage broker" is not empowered to decide the date and venue of the "wedding," he told the gathering. "We are capable of resolving problems through talks within the country and without foreign intervention," Mr. Ratnasiri Wickramanayake said, stating that the talks should be held within the country.
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[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 September 2006, 02:40 GMT]
Sri Lankan Army (SLA) officials are refusing to return the vehicles appropriated from Jaffna traders and residents under emergency regulations for military use following clashes between the Liberation Tigers and the SLA broke out in Jaffna district on 11 August, said the vehicle owners in a complaint registered with the Government Agent (GA) of Jaffna, Ganesh, Friday. 106 lorries, several mini-vans and a large number of motorbikes belonging to Jaffna residents are currently being used by the SLA, sources in Jaffna said.
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[TamilNet, Friday, 29 September 2006, 20:14 GMT]
Four teenagers including two 15-year-olds, and a 21-year-old youth were abducted allegedly by paramilitary cadres in separate locations in Eravur Police division of Batticaloa district, Police said Friday.
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[TamilNet, Friday, 29 September 2006, 14:15 GMT]
Hundreds of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) protested Friday in Vaharai demanding flow of humanitarian relief into Vaharai where 34,000 civilians have sought refuge in 6 welfare centres. Amid increased fear of health hazards during the expected monsoon rains in October, the protesting IDPs currently forced to live in open terrain, demanded temporary huts. "Only UNHCR, UNICEF and ICRC are allowed to enter our area. We are in urgent need of housing. But, Sri Lankan authorities are not allowing these organizations to bring in shelters," a protester said after submitting an appeal to Divisional Secretary Kiritharan.
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[TamilNet, Friday, 29 September 2006, 13:32 GMT]
Sri Lanka Air Force Kfir jets bombed Kandalady village in Vaharai Friday around 10:00 a.m. No casualties were reported although the bombers targeted an area where displaced families from Trincomalee had taken refuge, sources in Vaharai said.
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[TamilNet, Friday, 29 September 2006, 12:49 GMT]
Three Tamil men who were abducted in Colombo Wednesday, were found shot and knifed to death in Valaichchenai, 30 km north of Batticaloa, Thursday night. One of the victims was decapitated, two shot and killed Thursday night around 11:30 p.m. The decapitated man, a former cadre of the paramilitary group EPDP, had left the group two years ago, opposing the activities of the group. A white-van squad had visited the families of the victims earlier in the day.
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[TamilNet, Friday, 29 September 2006, 12:24 GMT]
A consignment of drugs and other medical items allocated for the third quarter of the year to government dispensaries and hospitals in the villages held by Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the Mannar district was dispatched Friday around noon in two lorries through Uyilankulam checkpoint of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA), sources said.
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[TamilNet, Friday, 29 September 2006, 12:06 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) Wednesday night captured two fishing boats in Talaimannar Sea ferrying 31 Tamil civilians, all are residents of Trincomalee. The civilians and the four boatmen were produced in Mannar magistrate's court Friday morning by the Talaimannar Police.
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[TamilNet, Friday, 29 September 2006, 11:15 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and Liberation Tigers exchanged artillery fire from Thursday midnight until early morning Friday, shells falling within High Security Zones (HSZs) in Jaffna, and LTTE controlled Pallai and Pooneryn areas, sources in Jaffna said.
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[TamilNet, Friday, 29 September 2006, 10:51 GMT]
A betel leaves vendor was shot dead inside the High Security Zone (HSZ) of Jaffna town by unknown gunmen at 7:25 a.m., and another civilian was shot dead in Kopay at 8:10 a.m. by unidentified gunmen riding in a motorbike, sources in Jaffna said. The arbitrary killings, following nearly a week of absence of violence in Jaffna, have brought back fear in the peninsula and has raised the specter of 1996-1997 killings and disappearances.
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[TamilNet, Friday, 29 September 2006, 08:10 GMT]
The sit-in-protest by the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians continued for the third day Friday in the Sri Lanka's parliament demanding the immediate re-opening of the A9 landroute connecting the Jaffna district with the rest of the country and the lifting of economic embargo on the Jaffna population since the fresh fight broke out between the government troops and the LTTE on August 11, parliamentary sources said.
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[TamilNet, Friday, 29 September 2006, 08:03 GMT]
Unidentified armed persons Wednesday night around 10:00 p.m. shot dead a Tamil civilian who was working in a tourist hotel located along the Nilaveli coast, about 13 km off north of Trincomalee town.
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[TamilNet, Friday, 29 September 2006, 03:02 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) is expected to hand over its report on the Pottuvil massacre to the Sri Lanka Government authorities on Monday or Wednesday next week, informed sources said. Sri Lanka Government and the Liberation Tigers have blamed the other for hacking to death on 18 September around 4.00 am. 10 Muslim workers who went to repair an irrigation tank in Rathal Kulam, Pottuvil.
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[TamilNet, Friday, 29 September 2006, 02:25 GMT]
One of the three students from Vallipunam, Mullaitivu, who were injured in the Kfir attack at the Sencholai building on 14 August, and taken to Kandy Hospital for further treatment, succumbed to her injuries Thursday night after she was brought back to the Vavuniya Hospital, hospital sources in Vavuniya said.
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[TamilNet, Friday, 29 September 2006, 01:20 GMT]
Valligamam Regional Director of Education K. Vigneswaran, appealed to the Residential Representative of UNICEF Jaffna to facilitate constructing temporary shelters to enable Tellipalai Union College and Father Chelva Memorial College located in the High Security Zone to resume educational activities again, said sources from Jaffna.
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[TamilNet, Friday, 29 September 2006, 00:04 GMT]
The fishermen of Jaffna islet Pungudutivu, hard hit by the two week old Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) imposed fishing ban, appealed in a memorandum to the Government Agent (GA) Jaffna Thursday, to help lift the (SLN) fishing ban, Jaffna Secretariat officials said.
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[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 September 2006, 19:56 GMT]
Anura Priyadharsana Yapa, Minister of Media and Information, said Thursday the Sri Lanka Government is considering an alternate land route for Jaffna district instead of re-opening the A9 highway which is closed after fighting broke out in August between the government troops and the LTTE. However Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Thursday announced that its parliamentarians would continue their sit-in-protest in Sri Lanka's parliament until the government re-opens the A9 highway and lifts the economic embargo on Northeast.
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[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 September 2006, 19:45 GMT]
The main opposition United National Party (UNP) expressed confidence Thursday that talks between the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) main constituent of the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) and the UNP would be brought to successful conclusion in formulating a common agenda in resolving national issues giving top priority to the ethnic crisis.
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[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 September 2006, 15:02 GMT]
Jaffna office of the Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission (SLHRC), in a report submitted to it's Colombo Head office this week said 131 individuals have fallen victims for individual killings apart from the deaths caused by shelling and other acts of war. The SLHRC report listed, 87 residents as forcibly disappeared in the months of August and September, 50 in August and 37 until Monday this week. 44 Tamil civilians have been reported missing after arrest by the Sri Lankan armed forces in the months of August and September in Jaffna district.
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[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 September 2006, 13:05 GMT]
Current acute problems facing the population of the Jaffna district since the closure of A9 landroute were came in for scrutiny at a conference held Wednesday morning at Kadduvan in Palaly High Security Zone in the peninsula. Major General Chandrasekara, Jaffna Military Commanding Officer presided and attended by a team of government high officials sent from Colombo. K.Ganesh, Jaffna Government Agent and heads of government departments in the district also participated. Government officials serving in the district were taken to Kadduvan in covered vehicles and were subjected to severe checks.
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[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 September 2006, 12:48 GMT]
Special Task Force (STF) personnel, based at the Thandiyady STF camp, Thursday morning around 7:00 a.m., fired mortar shells and directed gunfire on the Thandiyady Tsunami transit camps in the region, seriously injuring a woman and destroying property. Panic stricken Tsunami victims fled their camps as shells fell and exploded all around them. A section of the Thandiyady Vigneswara Vidyalayam too was badly damaged by the shelling.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 September 2006, 11:43 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians continued their sit-in-protest second day Thursday in Sri Lanka's parliament demanding the re-opening of A9 landroute and lifting the economic embargo imposed on the Jaffna population after the fighting between the Sri Lankan troops and the LTTE broke out on August 11. They wore black bands when they entered the well of the house to continue their protest, parliamentary sources said.
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[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 September 2006, 11:35 GMT]
New Jersey Congressman, Frank Pallone, speaking to the House Wednesday night, supported Norway, Co-chairs' call for unconditional talks between the Government of Sri Lanka and Liberation Tigers, advocated autonomy for Tamils, and endorsed U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher's statement "though we reject the methods that the Tamil Tigers have used, there are legitimate issues raised by the Tamil community and they have a legitimate desire to control their own lives, to rule their own destinies, and to govern themselves in their homeland.''
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[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 September 2006, 09:34 GMT]
Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), Sinhala national Marxist political party Wednesday launched a new organization "Joint Front to Protect the Nation" (JFPN) to defeat the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and to work for the abrogation of the Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) signed with the LTTE in the year 2002
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[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 September 2006, 05:43 GMT]
Unidentified armed men came in a "White Van" abducted two Tamil civilians on Tuesday night around 11:10 p.m. in Ward No.6 area opposite Udappu Tamil Vidiyalayam, according to a complaint made by the abductees' relatives with the Munthal police.
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[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 September 2006, 16:42 GMT]
Unidentified gunmen shot and killed 27-year-old Keyzer Rome Dias, a father of two, on St. Jude's Street in Pesalai around 7:40 p.m. Wednesday, Police said.
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[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 September 2006, 12:23 GMT]
Liberation Tigers Political Head S.P. Thamilchelvan Wednesday held discussions with the Head of Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) Major General Lars Johan Sølvberg, urging the Head of Mission to clarify the stand of Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) after the refusal by Sri Lanka Army in allowing the truce monitors access the Muhamalai area. Mr. Thamilchelvan questioned the HoM on the cooperation extended by GoSL in restoring normalcy in re-opening the land route and relieve the humanitarian sufferings of 500,000 civilians entrapped in economic embargo and GoSL refusal to open the Jaffna Kandy A9 route. Also other access routes to LTTE controlled areas in the East remain blocked.
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[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 September 2006, 11:51 GMT]
C.Chandrakanthan, son of slain former parliamentarian Ariyanayakam Chandra Nehru, was sworn in as national list parliamentarian of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) before the Speaker W.J.M.Lokkubandara soon after Sri Lanka's parliament resumed sitting Wednesday morning, parliamentary sources in Colombo said. The Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kadchchi (ITAK) has nominated Mr.Chandrakanthan to fill the vacancy created by the assassination of Joseph Pararajasingham.
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[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 September 2006, 11:40 GMT]
A Sri Lanka Army (SLA) trooper was injured when unidentified gunmen hurled grenades at the sentry point near Baradhi Road junction in Ariyalai along Jaffna-Kandy A9 highway at 5:00 p.m. Tuesday.
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[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 September 2006, 10:47 GMT]
Armed men arriving in a "White Van" opened indiscriminate fire Tuesday around 8:30 p.m. on devotees worshipping in the Periya Kallaru Kali Hindu temple in Batticaloa on the final day festival, injuring two boys who were rushed to Kallaru hospital for emergency treatment.
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[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 September 2006, 05:38 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance parliamentarians launched a sit-in protest in the Sri Lankan Parliament Wednesday morning demanding the re-opening of land routes to Jaffna and the East and urged the Government of Sri Lanka to lift the economic embargo. However, the peaceful protest, which did not disturb the proceedings of the parliament, has been ignored by the house, parliamentary sources said.
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[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 September 2006, 05:28 GMT]
Sri Lanka Navy chartered "Jetliner" vessel with about 948 Tamil civilians arrived Tuesday evening at the Kankesanturai port. The civilians were taken to the Jaffna Central bus stand in escorted vehicles and from there went to their homes.
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[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 September 2006, 00:48 GMT]
A Data Entry operator attached to the NorthEastern Provincial Telecommunications Headquarters in Trincomalee was abducted by a group of unidentified gunmen, Monday midnight, officials said. Premkumar, 35, a father of 2 children from Kallady, Batticaloa, was at his quarters when the gunmen abducted him after binding the watcher.
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[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 September 2006, 23:22 GMT]
The nineteenth death anniversary of Lt. Col. Thileepan, a political leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, who fasted unto death in 1987, and the fifth death anniversary of Col. Shankar, a senior commander and the founder of the Tiger air-wing, who was killed in a Sri Lankan Deep Penetration Unit triggered Claymore mine in Vanni in 2001, were commemorated in NorthEast on Tuesday. Hundreds of people took part in token fasts. Temple and church bells were rung at 10:48 a.m. The leader of the LTTE, Mr. V. Pirapaharan, paid homage to Thileepan and Shankar at a commemoration event.
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[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 September 2006, 23:12 GMT]
A Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldier was seriously injured when unidentified gunmen opened fire on the SLA sentry post in Thavady-Kulapiddy junction area in Thenmardchchy on Tuesday at 7:30 a.m., sources in Jaffna said.
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[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 September 2006, 18:59 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) Sunday night arrested a Tamil youth on a charge of allegedly transporting a consignment of welding sticks to Vidathaltivu in LTTE controlled territory in Mannar district. Twenty two boxes of welding sticks were also recovered by the SLN when they were on patrol duty along Pallimunai coast.
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[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 September 2006, 18:48 GMT]
Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) arrested a group of 49 Jaffna
residents for crossing Mannar sea illegally in 7 hired
boats to reach Delft islet Tueesday, sources in Jaffna said.
The Delft police produced the arrested before Kayts Acting Magistrate Mr. R. K. Vignarajah on Tuesday where the magistrate ordered the 14 boat operators from Mannar to be held in remand prison until October 10. The passengers were taken to the Jaffna Central bus stand and allowed to their villages, said legal sources in Jaffna.
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[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 September 2006, 17:50 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) intensified artillery and Multi-Barrel Rocket Launcher attacks into Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) territory from Palaly military base and the 52-4 Brigade headquarters in Varani, Thenmaradchi, Tuesday evening around 6:00 p.m. Jaffna district Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian, S. Kajendran, charged that the SLA is continuing attacks in Nagarkovil and Muhamalai areas to avoid re-opening the A9 landroute to Jaffna.
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[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 September 2006, 16:34 GMT]
Jaffna University students Tuesday observed the Memorial Day of Lieutenant Colonel Thileepan who led a fast to death campaign
protest demanding the withdrawal of the Indian Peace Keeping Forces (IPKF) from Northeast, said student union members who organised the event at the Jaffna campus.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 September 2006, 12:14 GMT]
Two Kifir jets of Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) Tuesday morning around 8:30 a.m. carried out aerial bombing on the village Vellankulam in the LTTE controlled territory in the Mannar district. Vellankulam is located about 33 km off north of Mannar town, civil sources said.
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[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 September 2006, 09:22 GMT]
Sri Lanka Navy charted "Jetliner" vessel Tuesday morning left Ashraff Jetty in Trincomalee harbour for Kankesanturai port in northern peninsula with about 948 Jaffna bound civilians who had been stranded in Vavuniya, gateway of A9 land route.
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[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 September 2006, 08:40 GMT]
Newly arrived Mission Director of the U.S. Agency for International Development Rebecca W. Cohn has said that the USAID is reassessing all its existing programs in Sri Lanka to determine the most appropriate direction for U.S. foreign assistance in the coming years, in light of the renewed conflict. "It’s important to work in a participatory way and involve the people we are assisting in the decisions regarding the projects we undertake," she was quoted as saying by the US Embassy in Sri Lanka, in a press release issued in Colombo Tuesday.
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[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 September 2006, 07:23 GMT]
A Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) airman wounded in a Claymore ambush at Poovarasankulam, 16 km west of Mannar, around 7:00 a.m. Tuesday, succumbed to his wounds. Two fellow wounded airmen were transferred to Anuradhapura hospital. Sri Lankan forces in the area opened fire after the Claymore explosion, residents said.
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[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 September 2006, 05:53 GMT]
Unidentified men shot dead a Muslim trader in Poompuhar in Palaiyootu area, a suburb in Trincomalee Monday night around 8:00 p.m.
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[TamilNet, Monday, 25 September 2006, 21:16 GMT]
Thirty seven members of seven Tamil families were arrested by the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) Sunday morning when they were waiting for a boat along the coast of Talaimannar in Mannar district to flee to South India to seek refugee. All of them have been residents of Trincomalee. After preliminary investigation the SLN authorities handed them to Talaimannar Police for further action.
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[TamilNet, Monday, 25 September 2006, 21:11 GMT]
The Uyilankulam entry point to Liberation Tigers held areas in the Mannar district was opened Monday for about six hours by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) with the facilitation of the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) enabling civilians to travel to and from government and LTTE controlled territories.
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[TamilNet, Monday, 25 September 2006, 16:09 GMT]
The Jaffna Students Consortium (JSC) Monday continued
boycott of schools ignoring the requests from the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) command from Palaly to return to schools, student sources in Jaffna said.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Monday, 25 September 2006, 15:27 GMT]
A mother of seven was injured being caught in the exchange of fire between paramilitary and Tiger cadres at Chunkankerny, Valaichenai, Sunday night around 8:00 pm, Police said.
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[TamilNet, Monday, 25 September 2006, 15:05 GMT]
Unidentified assailant shot dead a police constable with a pistol Monday around 11:15 a.m near a liquor bar at Paddiruppu junction, Kaluwanchikudy, 24 km southeast of Batticaloa town.
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[TamilNet, Monday, 25 September 2006, 13:25 GMT]
A civilian from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) controlled Mankikaddu in Batticaloa district was seriously injured in artillery attack launched from the Vavunativu Sri Lanka Army (SLA) camp in Batticaloa on the LTTE territory on Monday around 5:00 a.m., residents in Mankikaddu said. At least 5 houses in the area were damaged in artillery and mortar fire.
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[TamilNet, Monday, 25 September 2006, 13:06 GMT]
Fifteen year-old girl student Sobitha Jeganathan of Chettikulam-Mudaliyarkulam in Vavuniya district has been reported missing since 20th September. She had been staying in Murunkan Carmel Convent and studying in a school located in the area, according to a complaint lodged with the Murunkan Police in Mannar district by the convent authorities. Another young woman, 19-year-old, was also reported missing in Mannar, a few days ago.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Monday, 25 September 2006, 10:23 GMT]
A large number of Sea Tiger vessels completed an unspecified mission Sunday night, despite a five hour battle with the Sri Lanka navy (SLN). Liberation Tigers Military Spokesman Irasaiah Ilanthirayan, confirming fierce fighting between 25 boats of a Sea Tiger squadron and more than 20 SLN gunboats in the seas off Pulmoddai, dismissed the SLN claims that it had inflicted "heavy casualties" on the LTTE. Three Sea Tigers were killed. "Sea Tiger squadrons would continue their patrol missions as usual," the military spokesman of the LTTE said.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Monday, 25 September 2006, 08:05 GMT]
Nearly half of the two thousand stranded Jaffna residents in Vavuniya were taken in buses to Trincomalee harbour and from there they will taken in a ship to Jaffna, said Ms. Charles, Additional Government Agent (GA) Vavuniya Sunday evening, briefing the press at the Vavuniya Government Secretariat. Transport arrangements to the remaining will also be made soon, she added.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Monday, 25 September 2006, 07:50 GMT]
Heavy fighting was reported in the seas off Pulmoddai, 41 km southeast of Mullaithivu, Sunday night. Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) claimed that the sea battle was fierce, lasted for five hours, and the SLN had inflicted heavy casualties to the Sea Tiger fleet.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Monday, 25 September 2006, 00:31 GMT]
Tamil Co-ordinating Committee in Durban South Africa held an interfaith prayer meeting for peace Sunday at the Arutpa Kazhagam, remembering the 51 school children and 4 staff members killed in Vallipunam during an air-raid by Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) on 14 August.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Sunday, 24 September 2006, 16:26 GMT]
A 19-year-old woman who went to Mannar town for medical treatment from Muthalaikutti village in Uyilankulam, has been reported missing since noon 19 September, according to a complaint lodged by the girl's family at Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission in Mannar.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Sunday, 24 September 2006, 16:18 GMT]
Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) arrested and handed over the Delft police four Mannar boat operators for bringing 52 civilians from Mannar to Delft island illegally by boat, police sources said. The four fishermen were produced Sunday before Kayts Magistrate Mr R.T. Wignarajah who directed the police to place the fishermen in remand until 5th October, legal sources in Jaffna said.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Sunday, 24 September 2006, 15:47 GMT]
A homeguard was seriously injured in a grenade attack by unidentified assailants on a group of Sri Lanka Police which was on a road patrol in Kurumankadu in the heart of Vavuniya town at 7.10 p.m. Sunday, sources in Vavuniya said. The injured homeguard was admitted to the Vavuniya Teaching Hospital, hospital sources said.
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[TamilNet, Sunday, 24 September 2006, 15:37 GMT]
Two gunmen riding a motorbike shot and seriously wounded a 19-year-old youth in front of St. Peters Church in Uyilankulam, 14 km southeast of Mannar town, Sunday around 8:30 a.m. The youth, with three gunshot wounds, was rushed to hospital in a serious state, Police said.
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[TamilNet, Sunday, 24 September 2006, 14:54 GMT]
"Students will continue their struggle and abstain from schools until the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) respects students' education and facilitates creating an environment conducive for education," said Jaffna Students Consortium in a memorandum released to the press Sunday, in response to an appeal by the Palaly Military command urging Jaffna students to attend schools on Monday, sources in Jaffna said.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Sunday, 24 September 2006, 13:47 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers and Liberation Tigers exchanged rocket fire in the eastern Batticaloa at 4:30 a.m. Sunday lasting twon hours, LTTE sources in Batticaloa said. Fighting broke out when Sri Lankan government troops attempted to move from Pulipainthakal Bridge in Kiran, through Tharavai Road, into areas held by the Liberation Tigers.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Sunday, 24 September 2006, 09:50 GMT]
Following its first official visit to India last week, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) is "reassured" by Delhi’s thinking on the Tamil question in Sri Lanka, party sources said Sunday. A delegation led Parliamentary Group leader R. Sampanthan held "cordial, comprehensive and productive" meetings with top Indian officials, including National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan, Minister of State for External Affairs E. Ahamed and Foreign Secretary-designate Shivshankar Menon, the sources said. The TNA leadership hoped to meet with India’s Premier in future, but was pleased Dr. Manmohan Singh "is taking a personal interest in the Tamil question," a member of the TNA delegation said.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Sunday, 24 September 2006, 09:21 GMT]
Amparai District Tamil National Alliance Parliamentarian K. Pathmanathan's security official was shot and killed Sunday morning by gunmen riding in a white van at Vinayagapuram in Thirukkovil in Amparai District, Police said. Sri Lankan counter-insurgency Special Task Force (STF) checkpost is located 100 meters from the site where the bodyguard was slain, according to civilian sources at Vinayakapuaram.
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[TamilNet, Sunday, 24 September 2006, 00:19 GMT]
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister, Mangala Samaraweera, to make a concerted effort in planned peace talks with the Tamil Tigers, AFP quoted a senior US official as saying Saturday.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 September 2006, 18:22 GMT]
150,000 school children, 7,000 University students and 3,000 Technical College students remain unable to attend schools, campuses for more than 40 days in the Jaffna peninsula where the residents are "terrorized and held hostage by fear," said Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Parliamentarian of Jaffna District, N. Raviraj, at a press conference held in Renuka Hotel Colombo at 10:30 a.m. Saturday. TNA MPs from five districts addressed the press.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 September 2006, 13:07 GMT]
Bodies of five displace civilians from Thenmaradchy, killed following the 11 August clashes between Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and Liberation Tigers and unclaimed by their relatives, were given decent burials after postmortem examinations and death inquiries were conducted Saturday, legal sources in Jaffna said.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 September 2006, 11:51 GMT]
The magisterial inquiry into the 16 Tamil and a Muslim aid workers' massacre is to commence from October 4 in the Kantalai Magistrate' Court. Sri Lanka's Judicial Services Commission (JSC) has appointed Anuradhapura Magistrate Wasantha Jinadasa to conduct the inquiry, legal sources said. Earlier, on August 08, a Sinhalese Judicial Medical Officer (JMO) was brought from Anuradhapura to conduct the post-mortem examinations on the the orders of the Sri Lankan authorities. Later, Colombo transfered the NGO massacre investigation to Anuradhapura. Now the JSC has chosen to conduct the investigations at Kantalai courts. However, Anuradhapura magistrate is to hold the investigations.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 September 2006, 11:48 GMT]
The elections to forty two local bodies in the NorthEast fixed for September 30 this year have been put off for June next year due to the unsettled situation in the province, Department of Elections in Colombo said.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 September 2006, 10:48 GMT]
Government Agent (GA) in Jaffna, K. Ganesh, on Friday denied the reports from Colombo that the food stock for 3 months had reached Jaffna. Clarifying that 5,100 metric tonnes of supplies were needed for a month in Jaffna, Mr. K. Ganesh said Jaffna had recently received 6,399 metric tonnes in three cargo ships, and the remaining supplies were barely adequate for another 4 weeks.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 September 2006, 01:44 GMT]
Three Sinhala masonry workers from Monaragala in the South, who work in a post-tsunami construction project in the Kaluwela area in Komaari in Amparai district, were injured, two of them seriously, when an unidentified assailant hurled a hand grenade at them around 9.00 p.m. Thursday, sources said.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 September 2006, 01:03 GMT]
Congressman for the 12th district in New Jersey, Rep. Rush Holt, urged US Secretary of State Rice to appoint a special envoy to emphasize US's committment to peace in Sri Lanka and to include in the envoy's mandate "efforts to increase monitoring of human rights violations," in a letter sent Thursday.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Friday, 22 September 2006, 21:41 GMT]
Representatives of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) visited the sites damaged by the shelling and air-raids by the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) in the LTTE controlled areas in Batticaloa district, and met S. Seelalan, the deputy Political Head of the LTTE for Batticaloa district, and Manoj, the Head of the Planning division, at Thenaham Thursday, LTTE sources in Batticaloa said.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Friday, 22 September 2006, 21:31 GMT]
Nearly sixty lorries belonging to private businesses, trapped at the Muhamalai check point when clashes erupted on August 11 between the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and Liberation Tigers, were found damaged beyond repair by the owners when they went to retrieve their vehicles on instructions from the SLA, sources in Jaffna said Friday.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Friday, 22 September 2006, 21:06 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian and the M P for Vavuniya, Sivanathan Kishore registered strong protest with the Vanni Military Commanding Officer Major. Gen. Edrisinge on Friday for not issuing ‘arrest receipts’ for persons arrested by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Vavuniya, said sources. He added in his protest that the SLA which conducted massive cordon and search operations in Vavuniya in the recent past, has failed to notify the relatives of the persons arrested by them during these search operations and condemned the practice of releasing abducted residents, blind folded on to the streets, as serious violations of human rights, added the sources.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Friday, 22 September 2006, 18:19 GMT]
Britain extended its travel warning Friday to include Amparai town and Arugam Bay as well as the rest of Sri Lanka’s North and East, citing “the continued deterioration of the security situation” there. “We advise against all travel to the north or east of Sri Lanka. If you are in the north or east, you should leave at the first available opportunity,” the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) said.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Friday, 22 September 2006, 18:12 GMT]
Twelve young men were arrested when Sri Lanka Army soldiers cordoned off St.Patrics College and St. Charles Maha Vidyalam in Jaffna town in the early hours of Friday and thorughly searched civilians who were staying overnight in the schools for security reasons, according to complaints with Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission in Jaffna.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Friday, 22 September 2006, 17:36 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) detained three boats with 40 Tamil civilians, including women and children, in Mannar sea, while fleeing to Tamilnadu in South India, Thursday evening. Navy fired warning shots to stop the boats when the boatmen failed to obey the orders of the SLN patrol craft.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Friday, 22 September 2006, 17:25 GMT]
Unemployed graduates in the Batticaloa district Friday held a silent protest campaign at Batticaloa Gandhi Square demanding the government to recruit them into pubic service, Batticaloa District Unemployed Graduates' Union (BDUGU) organized the protest.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Friday, 22 September 2006, 11:37 GMT]
A body of a young man with gunshot wounds was recovered from a garden in Thalavai region in the Eravur police division in Batticaloa on Friday around 7 a.m.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Friday, 22 September 2006, 09:32 GMT]
Liberation Tigers officials at the LTTE's Peace Secretariat in Kilinochchi Friday said that the Tigers had responded positively for the International Community's call for talks in Oslo to Norwegian Ambassador Hans Brattskar, in a meeting Friday where LTTE's Political Head S. P. Thamilchelvan discussed the ground situation and the recent statement from the Co-Chairs, who represent the donor community to Sri Lanka.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Friday, 22 September 2006, 05:10 GMT]
The International Peace Day was held in Batticaloa Thursday organized by the Inter-Religious Association for Peace (IRAP) of the district. Rt. Rev. Dr. Kingsley Swampillai, the Bishop of Batticaloa- Trincomalee Diocese, Rev. Mahendran of Methodist Ministry, Swami Ajaratmanandaji, the Head of Ramakrishna Mission, Batticaloa branch, Moulavi Al-Hajj I.L.M. Mustafa Bahiji, Ven. Ampitiya Sumanaratne Thero, the chief monk of the Mangalaramaya in Batticaloa. Hundreds of civilians
participated in this event.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Friday, 22 September 2006, 04:44 GMT]
The bodies of 3 family men who were abducted by unidentified persons, Thursday morning, were found with gun shot injuries near Sri Lanka Army's Forward Defence Lines (FDL) at Pariyavilan in the Valikamam sector of the Jaffna pensula, Thursday evening. Gunmen riding in motorbike shot and killed a postal employee in Chankanai Thursday morning and a 59-year-old man was shot dead in Valvettithurai in Vadamaradchi.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 September 2006, 21:59 GMT]
Hindu and Christian religious dignitaries of the Vanni district organised a peaceful protest march Thursday around 3.30 p.m condemning the Sri Lanka Government's (GoSL) for the closure of the A-9 route to Jaffna peninsula pushing its people to the brink of starvation and calling for the release of Rev. Jim Brown, catholic priest and his assistant who were reported disappeared after last being seen at the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) check point at Allaipiddy one month ago, said sources from Killinochchi.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 September 2006, 21:14 GMT]
A Tamil women was shot dead by unidentified men at Pillayar Kovil Junction in Peththalai, about 32 km. north of Batticaloa, around 4:30 p.m., Thursday.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 September 2006, 15:42 GMT]
The Norwegian Government has granted 27 million rupees to fund the Peace Secretariat for Muslims in Sri Lanka for the next year, appreciating the Peace Secretariat’s committment to facilitate dialogue and build consensus among Muslim political parties and interest groups, in order to develop a co-ordinated positition for Muslims as input to the peace efforts in Sri Lanka, according to a press release issued Thursday by the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Colombo.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 September 2006, 13:43 GMT]
Two Sri Lankan Army (SLA) soldiers were seriously injured in a claymore mine attack by unidentified men on a SLA road patrol unit on Thursday morning in the Valigamam East region in the Jaffna peninsula.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 September 2006, 12:23 GMT]
34 Tamil civilians, all are residents of coastal villages in Trincomalee district waiting for a boat in the Mannar coast to flee to South India to seek refuge were arrested by the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) Wednesday evening. Later they were handed over to the Talaimannar Police.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 September 2006, 12:05 GMT]
Two unidentified gunmen riding a motor cycle shot dead a postal employee on Karainagar road at Chankanai in Valigamam on Thursday around 7.30 a.m. and in a separate incident on Thursday morning another civilian was shot and killed on Valvettithurai-Pt. Pedro road at Vembady in Valvettithurai.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 September 2006, 09:12 GMT]
Artillery attacks from Sri Lanka Army (SLA) positions towards Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Forward Defence Line in Vadamaradchi East intensified Thursday noon after exchange of mortar and gunfire in Nagarkovil. Earlier, around 10:0 a.m., Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) Kfir bombers dropped at least 9 bombs in Pachchilaippalli village in Pallai in Thenmaradchi, destroying at least five civilian houses. Meanwhile, informed military circles in Colombo said some SLA coastal sentries near Nagarkovil camp were destroyed by the Sea Tigers in the fighting that ensued.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 September 2006, 07:19 GMT]
A group of 33 civilians of the many stranded people in Vavuniya by the shutting of A9 road to Jaffna, reached the Jaffna islet of Delft in three hired boats from Thalai Mannar Wednesday evening, Police sources in Kayts said. A group of 13 civilians arrived at Delft earlier in the week in a hired boat from Thalai Mannar risking their lives on the seas. More than 3500 civilians from Jaffna are stranded in Vavuniya and elsewhere following the closure of the A9 Road to Jaffna.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 September 2006, 06:44 GMT]
Valaichenai Police Thursday morning located the dead body of a 23-year-old youth who was abducted by masked men at gun point Wednesday night from his relative's house at Kannankiramam in Valaichenai, 28 km northwest of Batticaloa. The victim, Mylvaganam Kohulan, 23, was an internally displaced person from Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) controlled Vellayadimadu in Vaharai.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 September 2006, 06:37 GMT]
A day after Sri Lankan police claimed the lone survivor of a massacre of 10 Muslim youths had blamed the Liberation Tigers for the attack, press reports Thursday said international truce monitors have been refused access to the man – because his throat was damaged and he was incapable of speaking for two weeks. Meanwhile the government’s Defence Spokesman, Minister Keheliya Rambukwella, rejected calls for independent investigations and, according to The Island newspaper, said those organizing hartals (general shutdowns) against the massacre are “supporting the LTTE.”
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 September 2006, 06:22 GMT]
Allaipiddy land route connecting Jaffna with the entire islets of the peninsula was closed for all traffic on Wednesday morning for the third time in the past week, causing the return of hundreds of government officials and many lorries loaded with relief supplies to the islets.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 September 2006, 06:03 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has imposed restrictions for internally displaced families (IDP) to return to their homes located close to the Mannar public playground. SLA camp is located in the Mannar public playground. At a conference held in the Mannar district secretariat Wednesday with V.Visuvalingam, Government Agent in the chair, army officials present announced the conditions to be met by IDPs to return to their homes and to avoid any retaliation from the SLA in the event of attack on them, civil sources said.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 September 2006, 16:19 GMT]
A Tamil youth was shot dead by unidentified persons near terminal for private bus services in Vavuniya, around 08:25 p.m., police said.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 September 2006, 15:18 GMT]
As all land routes from the Jaffna to the mainland being closed by the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL), an elderly woman among the huge crowd of Jaffna residents vying for seats in 'Shakthi', the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) ship transporting civilians along with military personnel from Kankesanturai to Trincomalee died Tuesday due to rough handling by the SLA troopers at the Jaffna Sinhala Maha Vidyala where residents had to assemble for being selected for the sea journey by the SLA. Large numbers of Muslims too were among the many who are desperate to leave the peninsula where living has become dangerous because of the continuing extra-judicial killings, abductions and a severe shortage of food.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 September 2006, 14:11 GMT]
A teacher in the Jaffna district, severely injured when gunmen in a white van shot him on Tuesday afternoon in Karaveddy, Jaffna, succumbed to his injuries Wednesday at the Jaffna Teaching hospital.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 September 2006, 12:31 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance parliamentarian K. Pathmanathan, Wednesday condemned the massacre of 10 Muslim youths alleged to have been carried out by the counter-insurgency Special Task Force (STF) stationed close to the site of massacre at Rattal Kulam.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 September 2006, 09:37 GMT]
Three civilians-two Tamils and one Muslim were shot dead by unidentified men in separate incidents Tuesday evening in Trincomalee district. Of them two had been employed in the Kantalai government hospital and the third person, private heavy vehicle driver, civil sources said.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 September 2006, 05:39 GMT]
Fourteen Muslim protestors were wounded when Sri Lankan counter-insurgency Special Task Force (STF) troopers opened fire on Muslim protestors who turned violent as the STF personnel started attacking the Muslim shop owners to open the shops, disregarding the shut-down protest. 4 protestors, with serious injuries, were rushed to Kalmunai hospital. 10 protestors were admitted at Pottuvil hospital. STF has clamped down a curfew in Pottuvil and suburbs till further notice. Sinhalese civilians were seen fleeing Pottuvil area in boats towards Paanama in the south.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 September 2006, 22:43 GMT]
A claymore mine exploded at Kiran Korakallimadu area along Eravur-Valaichchenai road in Batticaloa district Monday morning around 7 a.m. Sri Lankan troops on road patrol were targeted. But they escaped unhurt, security sources said.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 September 2006, 16:27 GMT]
Sri Lankan Air Force (SLAF) Kfir fighters flew air sorties over areas near residential homes in the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) controlled territory in the Batticaloa district on Tuesday around 7 a.m, S. Seelalan, deputy head of the Batticaloa LTTE political wing said. Though two bombs were dropped simultaneously on Tharavi in Eerakulam region no one was hurt, Seelalan said.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 September 2006, 16:26 GMT]
Two unidentified armed men riding a motor cycle shot and killed a young man in Atchuvely town, around 7 a.m., Tuesday.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 September 2006, 15:13 GMT]
Paramilitary armed men arriving in a white van abducted three youths in Santhiveli, falling under Eravur police division in Batticaloa on Monday around 7 p.m. When the mothers of the three abductees went and enquired at the Karuna group paramilitary camp in Maruthangala, Welikanda in Batticaloa, they were told the youths were brought in to carry out some work and the parents were asked to go away.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 September 2006, 12:28 GMT]
Eravur Police arrested Monday 3 Tamil youths in Iyankerni, 13 km north of Batticaloa. Residents said the youths, cycling towards a house of their friend around 8:00 p.m., were arrested by the policemen who were hiding along the street. Eravur Police claimed that the youths were in possessing 3 grenades.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 September 2006, 12:01 GMT]
The second round of talks between the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), main constituent of the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) and the main opposition United National Party (UNP) were held Tuesday in the parliamentary complex. It began around 9:30 a.m. The objective of the talks is to formulate a common agenda giving top priority to reach a consensus to resolve ethnic conflict.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 September 2006, 11:26 GMT]
Amparai hospital sources Tuesday noon said the only survivor of the Pottuvil massacre, M. Meeramohideen, 55, survived after being admitted to Intensive Care Unit (ICU) from Tuesday morning 2:00 a.m. till Tuesday noon. Local news reports broadcast earlier cited Police sources claiming that the victim did not survive. The news of the survival of the victim, was released after the meeting between the Police, STF officials and the Muslim protestors took place in Pottuvil.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 September 2006, 04:37 GMT]
Rauff Hakeem, the Leader of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) in a statement issued Monday condemned the massacre of 10 Muslims in Pottuvil in Amparai district and . "The perpetrators of this horrendous act, whoever they are, should be punished severely and a thorough investigation should be held to bring the murderers to light" Mr. Hakeem said in his statement.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 September 2006, 03:46 GMT]
Muslim community leaders were summoned in Pottuvil Tuesday morning as the only survivor and the eyewitness to the massacre was reported dead Monday night. The eyewitness, M. Meeramohideen, 55, was blocked by the Sri Lankan armed forces at a checkpost and redirected elsewhere "on orders from Colombo," from being transferred to Kalmunai Ashraf Memorial Hospital for treatment by Muslim doctors, the community leaders charged. Meanwhile, Tamil speaking people in Amparai district were observing a shut down protest over the massacre where 10 Muslim youths were butchered to death Monday early morning.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Monday, 18 September 2006, 23:26 GMT]
Unidentified armed men shot and killed four Tamil civilians on Sunday afternoon and Monday morning in separate incidents in Jaffna district. Victims of the three incidents have been identified. The deceased in the fourth incident is yet to be identified.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Monday, 18 September 2006, 21:21 GMT]
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Monday told Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse that only negotiations can resolve the island dragging ethnic conflict. “A political, and not military, solution is what Sri Lanka should aim at - this was India's message,” IANS reported from the Non-Aligned Movement Summit in Cuba. The Indian leadership had also pressed that the island's Tamil-majority Northeastern province should not be de-merged without a referendum and that such a referendum would only be possible when there was a 'conducive atmosphere,' IANS reported.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Monday, 18 September 2006, 19:26 GMT]
Pointing out that the killings of Tamil civilians by Sri Lankan security forces and Army-backed paramilitary groups have shot up since President Mahinda Rajapakse assumed power last year, the Liberation Tigers said this week that in keeping with the agenda of Sinhala extremist forces, Rajapakse is determined to pursue the military option to the ethnic conflict. “All attempts by the LTTE to value, abide by and protect the CFA have been undermined by the military option pursued by the Rajapakse regime,” the LTTE said in a statement Monday.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Monday, 18 September 2006, 19:20 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army soldiers and Liberation Tigers exchanged rocket fire in the eastern Batticaloa in the early hours of Monday. Fighting broke out when Sri Lankan government troops attempted to move from ‘Karuthapaalam’ (Black Bridge) in Chenkalady, through Badulla road in to areas held by the Liberation Tigers, around 2:30 a.m., Monday.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Monday, 18 September 2006, 18:10 GMT]
Two Tamil civilians were shot dead in Jaffna district Sunday and Monday. In the first incident Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troopers took away a Tamil youth from his house and shot him dead in front of Kondavil Hindu Maha Vidiyalayam Sunday around 8.30 p.m., according to his relatives. In the second incident another civilian was shot dead by unidentified armed men Monday morning around 10 a.m. at Karaveddi.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Monday, 18 September 2006, 15:03 GMT]
Blaming the elite Special Task Force (STF) for the killings of 10 young Muslim men, the Muslim community in Pottuvil is demanding the unit be transferred out, the BBC reported. Earlier angry protestors stoned STF and police vehicles, rejecting Sri Lankan government accusations the Tamil Tigers were responsible for the killings near the Yala game reserve. Sri Lanka's police chief, Inspector-General Chandra Fernando is now in the eastern Amparai district for talks with senior Muslim politicians, the BBC also reported.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Monday, 18 September 2006, 10:29 GMT]
Special Task Force (STF) personnel and Policemen who were deployed in Pottuvil fired several shots into the air to disperse the angry Muslim protestors who stoned STF and Police vehicles around 11:30 a.m. Monday following the massacre of 10 Muslim youths. All the slain Muslims were youths below 25 years. Two of the victims are 15-year-old boys. The bodies of the victims were taken to Periya Pallivasal Mosque in Pottuvil. Tension had re-surfaced in the area, a few days ago, when the dead body of a Sinhala person was brought to burial inside a Muslim cemetery, according to the sources at the Mosque.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Monday, 18 September 2006, 07:37 GMT]
The death toll in the Anpuvallipuram shooting incident that took place Sunday afternoon has risen to four. Two more persons succumbed to injuries in the Trincomalee general hospital Sunday night. A Tamil youth and a two year old girl died on the spot when unidentified armed men came in a van fired at them while they were in a house located along Ambal Road in Anpuvallipuram, a suburb in Trincomalee town.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Monday, 18 September 2006, 07:23 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) arrested two Tamil youths Sunday afternoon at Mavilankerni in Mannar district. They have been identified as Mariyathas, 25 and Gnanaseelan Thavaseelan, 23 of Puthirakandal in Murunkan police division, civil sources said.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Monday, 18 September 2006, 07:22 GMT]
Liberation Tigers Amparai District Political Head, Mr. Jeya, has blamed Sri Lankan military for "indulging in sabotage activities." In a statement issued in Tamil Monday, the Tigers charged that the Sri Lankan counter-insurgency Special Task Force (STF) was behind the slayings and "sabotage activities" aimed at creating tension between the Tamil and Muslim communities in Amparai district. Conveying condolences to the Muslim victims in Pottuvil and expressing sympathies to their families, Mr. Jeya, urged the civilians "not to fall prey to the calculated propaganda of the Sri Lankan military till the truth behind the slayings is uncovered."
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Monday, 18 September 2006, 05:38 GMT]
Ten Muslim workers who went Sunday to repair, Rattal Kulam, a water tank, 9 km south of Pottuvil in Amparai district, were found butchered to death, Monday morning, Police said. One person was recovered with wounds and another person is reported missing. The massacre has taken place near a Special Task Force (STF) training camp near Yala National Park. A dispute was present in the area regarding the repair of the reservoir between the Sinhalese and Muslim farmers, according to initial reports. Tension prevails in Pottuvil.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Sunday, 17 September 2006, 19:59 GMT]
A Tamil youth and a child were killed and three others including a woman were injured when unidentified armed men opened fire at them Sunday afternoon around 2.30 p.m. in a house located along Ambal Road in Anpuvallipuram, a suburb located about three km off south west of Trincomalee town.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Sunday, 17 September 2006, 17:48 GMT]
Days after Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court declared that rulings by the UN Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) in Geneva can be ignored if they go against the country’s constitution, international rights activists said the UN body needs to take action on crises in Sri Lanka and Darfur to secure its credibility and usher in a new era of rights monitoring.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Sunday, 17 September 2006, 14:17 GMT]
A soldier of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA), a home guard and two civilians were injured in a claymore mine explosion that took place Sunday morning around 7.30 a.m. at Thampalakamam, a village located along Trincomalee Kandy highway about 24 km off southwest of east port town.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Sunday, 17 September 2006, 13:01 GMT]
Internally displaced people (IDP) should not resettled in the government controlled territory against their wishes and to do so would be violating their human rights, stated P.Ariyaneththran, Batticaloa district Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian at a conference held Saturday morning in the Batticaloa district secretariat which discussed the urgent need of providing relief assistance to those families who fled from the government controlled area and sought refuge Vaharai division in Batticaloa district.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Sunday, 17 September 2006, 12:27 GMT]
Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) closed the only land route to Jaffna islets through Allaipiddy from Sunday morning, civil society sources in Jaffna said. Civilians are stranded on either side of the closed road, and with the shortage of essential items prevailing in Jaffna district, islets' residents will suffer further deterioration of living conditions, civil society members said.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Sunday, 17 September 2006, 10:08 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army troopers shot dead a family man, father of four, Saturday evening around 3:00 a.m. at Nasivanthivu in Valaichenai police division.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Sunday, 17 September 2006, 06:06 GMT]
An employee of the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) was killed and two others were injured when armed men fired at the vehicle in which they were traveling, at Alukkai in Allaveddi, 11 km north of Jaffna town, around 8 p.m., Saturday. The vehicle was fired at about 200 metres from Sri Lanka Army check post at Alukkai.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 September 2006, 22:47 GMT]
Bodies of three civilians from Varani in Thenmaradchy district, two from the same family who died in artillery attack by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) on 11 August, and a youth who was shot dead by the SLA on 13th August, were exhumed and given a decent burial after proper post-mortem examinations were carried out, sources in Jaffna said.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 September 2006, 22:04 GMT]
Investigators began exhumation of bodies of seventeen aid workers of the Action Contre La Faim (ACF-Action against Hunger) who were killed in execution-style in Muttur. Two bodies were exhumed on the first day in the Trincomalee Hindu Cemetery in
the presence of the Anuradhapura Additional Magistrate. ACF officials and relatives of those killed, legal sources said.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 September 2006, 17:14 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers in Thenmaradchy Forward Defense Line (FDL) areas have been accused of allegedly stealing millions of rupees worth of belongings left behind by the fleeing refugees from Thenmaradchy villages following clashes between the Government troops and the Liberation Tigers, civil society sources in Jaffna said. SLA troopers from Varani 52-4 Brigade Head Quarters located along Point Pedro- Kodikamam road have come under severe criticism from residents slowly returning back to their homes in villages surrounding the Varani camp for having ransacked their houses and stealing valuable property, residents said.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 September 2006, 16:36 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapakse, under pressure from the international community to negotiate peace with the Liberation Tigers, launched a blistering attack on the movement during his address to Summit of the Non Aligned Movement (NAM) in Havana, Cuba. Without referring to his adversary by name, he described the LTTE as “a dictatorial terrorist group” and said that “all efforts that have been taken by successive governments, including mine, to enter into dialogue with this group, have so far failed.”
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 September 2006, 12:50 GMT]
Northern Regional Transport Board (NRTB) bus services operating from Kondavil, Point Pedro and Karainagar Bus Depots in the Jaffna peninsula, ground to a halt from Saturday noon as the fuel stock in the depots completely depleted due to the closure of A9, Kondavil depot officials said. Meanwhile, electricity supply for the peninsula from the Chunakam Electricity Board has been cut down to a mere one hour per day as the fuel stock for the gas-fired generator station also had gone low.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 September 2006, 12:21 GMT]
The second round of talks between the committees of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), main constituent of the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA), and the main opposition United National Party (UNP) to reach a consensus on national issues has been fixed for Tuesday, 19 September. A joint sub-committee appointed at the first round of talks held Friday has been tasked to submit its recommendations on proposals tabled at the inaugural event at the next meeting, said a joint statement issued by the SLFP and UNP Friday evening.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 September 2006, 12:15 GMT]
Mannar Police recovered a live hand grenade in the premises located in front of Mannar Co-operative Wholesale Establishment (CWE) at 11:00 a.m. Saturday morning. Bomb disposal squad of the security forces rushed to site and defused the hand grenade, sources in Mannar said.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 September 2006, 11:36 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court says rulings by the UN Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) in Geneva can be ignored if they go against the country’s constitution or the legal framework, the BBC reported Friday. The UNHRC had pointed out that as a signatory to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), Sri Lanka has accepted the UN body’s authority to rule on breaches of the Covenant. Chief Justice (CJ) Sarath Nanda Silva also observed that Sri Lanka’s leaders “should be more responsible in signing international treaties affecting the country’s sovereignty,” the BBC Sinhala service reported.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 September 2006, 09:54 GMT]
Gunmen shot a vehicle driver in front of his house in Morakkoddanchenai, Friday around 6:45 p.m., Eravur Police said. The victim, Thavarajah Thavesarajah, 25, a father of two, succumbed to his wounds in Batticaloa hospital, Friday midnight, medical sources said. He was an employed driver at an American Mission training facility located in Urany near Batticaloa town.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 September 2006, 06:58 GMT]
British Tamil Councillors and Associates (BTCA) will be holding peace vigils across 32 London boroughs on the Inernational Day of Peace on Thursday, September 21, urging for "Peace with Dignity" for the Tamils of Sri Lanka, the cross-party Council members from Greater London region said in a Press Release. The organisation has called for a "peaceful resolution that recognizes the Tamil people's right to self-determination and fulfills the legitimate aspirations."
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 September 2006, 06:12 GMT]
Two young men riding in a motorbike were shot dead by unidentified persons riding another motorbike in Urumparai, around 3:30 p.m., Friday, bringing the total number of killings in Jaffna to eight, during the 24 hours, ending 6 p.m., Friday.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 September 2006, 01:07 GMT]
Thirteen Jaffna residents, stranded in Vavuniya due to the closure of the A9, took the perilous sea voyage in a hired boat from Thalai Mannar and reached the island of Delft on Thursday 14th night, civil sources in Jaffna said. The Delft police took the civilians into custody and transferred them to the Kayts police station on Friday, sources in Kayts said.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 September 2006, 00:18 GMT]
Ratnasiri Wickremanayake, Prime Minister and acting Minister of Defence, laid conditions for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to take part in future peace talks with the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL). "LTTE must first lay down their arms if they want to start peace negotiation with our government. There will not be any place for peace talks in our agenda if this condition is not met," said Mr. Wickremanayake addressing the 25th anniversary of the Land Reform and Development Organization held at Sethsiripaya in Colombo Thursday, political sources in Colombo said.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Friday, 15 September 2006, 19:55 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s Central Bank has asked the country’s licensed money changers to increase collections to be allowed to continue in business but a new tax may be pushing more dollars underground, Lanka Business Online reported Thursday. Meanwhile, AFP reported inflation is running at 15%.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Friday, 15 September 2006, 19:37 GMT]
India's Apollo Hospitals has decided to exit its operations in Sri Lanka after failing to stave off a hostile takeover bid by a local business tycoon, press agency reports said Thursday. The Indian parent has been engaged in a bitter row recently to retain ownership and had Indian High Commissioner Nirupama Rao intervene on behalf of the company to secure their holding, PTI reported.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Friday, 15 September 2006, 16:00 GMT]
"White van" squad allegedly operated by Sri Lanka Army, abducted a 19-year-old female, beat the victim to death and hung her Thursday night in Uduvil, Jaffna. The victim was the fiancee of a 23-year-old male who was abducted, shot into eyes and dumped in Innuvil Monday. Meanwhile, an eyewitness from the bar on Manipay Road in Jaffna, said Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers were behind the killings at the bar where two youths from Punguduthivu were gunned down in execution style Thursday night. Another youth was killed in Anaikoddai, shot into his eyes. The other victims to die were a 28-year-old employee at a fuel station Thursday night in Kalviyankadu and a 25-year-old fisherman, Friday morning.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Friday, 15 September 2006, 13:17 GMT]
Fishermen of Mannar district are finding difficult to market their produce to Colombo due to stringent checks carried out by the Sri Lanka Army at every checkpoint along the route. Checks are carried out first in Mannar town before being loaded in lorries and there after boxes of fish are unloaded again in check points in Madawachchi and others along the route.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Friday, 15 September 2006, 12:56 GMT]
The first meeting of the two committees appointed by the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), main constituent of the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government and the main opposition United National Party (UNP) was held Friday morning at the parliamentary complex located in Jayawardhanapura in Colombo to work out a common national agenda on seven prioritized areas with the ethnic conflict being the most important, political sources said.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Friday, 15 September 2006, 11:40 GMT]
Liberation Tigers Political Head S. P. Thamilchelvan met Friday with the new Head of Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, retired Maj. Gen. Lars Johan Sølvberg. Mr. Thamilchelvan, talking to press, after the meeting, said that the Tigers discussed the humanitarian crisis as the top priority issue. The closure of A9 is "not a mere violation of the Ceasefire Agreement, but an offence against humanity, denying basic supplies to hundreds of thousands of people," Mr. Thamilchelvan said.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Friday, 15 September 2006, 11:20 GMT]
A Christian church located in Santhipuram '100-Housing Project' in Mannar was burnt down, around 11:30 p.m., Thursday. Church authorities suspect sabotage. Complaint has been lodged with the Mannar Police, civil sources said.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Friday, 15 September 2006, 11:04 GMT]
Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) Thursday evening arrested seventy members of seventeen Tamil families from Trincomalee district when they were waiting for fishing boats along the coast of Talaimannar to flee to South India, civil sources in Mannar said. The SLN also
arrested two boatmen who were to take the refugees by Mannar Sea. The arrested civilians were handed over to Talaimannar Police for inquiry by the SLN, police sources said.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Friday, 15 September 2006, 10:13 GMT]
Unidentified men shot dead a Tamil civilian Thursday night around 10:35 p.m. at Karuwakerni in Valaichchenai police division in Batticaloa district. The victim has been identified as Niranjan Vasantharajah, 28 and a father of two children, police sources said.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Friday, 15 September 2006, 09:54 GMT]
Unidentified armed person Friday morning around 7:00 a.m. shot dead a member of Karuna paramilitary group at Chenkalady near Kommathurai SLA camp in Eravur police division in Batticaloa district. The victim has been identified as Samithambi Thirumal, 28, police sources said.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Friday, 15 September 2006, 06:03 GMT]
Nearly 150 patients from Vanni who had completed their treatment at Jaffna Teaching Hospital have been stranded in Jaffna town, unable return to their homes for more than a month due to the closure of A- 9 highway since August 11 .Patients include mothers who had just delivered their babies. Hospital sources said the young mothers and their infants are in good health.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Friday, 15 September 2006, 04:55 GMT]
Three men have been shot dead by unidentified persons in Jaffna town and its suburbs, Thursday night, according to hospital and police sources in the northern town.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Friday, 15 September 2006, 01:30 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s government (GoSL) is demanding a written assurance from LTTE leader Velupillai Pirapaharan that the LTTE would end its violence before GoSL will agree to hold talks with the Tigers, newspapers reported Friday. The GoSL demand was spelled out to Norwegian facilitators by Sri Lankan officials who met Norwegian Ambassador Hans Brattskar on Thursday, they said. Meanwhile the government’s Defence Spokesman, Minister Keheliya Rambukwella, told the Daily Mirror that Norway was informed that “a single bullet fired by the LTTE after agreeing for talks would compel the government to withdraw from the Ceasefire.”
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Friday, 15 September 2006, 00:38 GMT]
Three young men from Kondavil East, Jaffna have been missing since Thursday morning, said relatives of the missing men in a complaint filed at the Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission (HRC) office in Jaffna, civil society sources in Jaffna said. Kondavil is located about 8 km north of Jaffna town.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 September 2006, 19:34 GMT]
A young man was shot dead by unidentified persons near Malu junction in Nelliyadi in Vadamaradchi, around 8:30 a.m., Thursday. Satchithanantham Sasitharan, 25, of Alvai South, was working in a fuel station. Meanwhile, two bodies in highly decomposed stage were found under a bridge in Velanai, islet off Jaffna town, police in Kaytes said.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 September 2006, 16:08 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Thursday refused passage for stranded Tamil civilians in the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Mannar territories and in areas controlled by the Sri Lanka government to cross over through Uyilankulam SLA check point, civil sources said.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 September 2006, 15:06 GMT]
Unidentified armed men Thursday morning around 11.30 a.m. shot dead a Tamil government servant working in the Trincomalee district secretariat when he was going to his office crossing the Trincomalee playground in a motorbike. The incident took place behind the Mc Heyzer Stadium located in the playground.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 September 2006, 12:20 GMT]
Several Tamil traders and businessmen have fled Sri Lanka following a spate of killings and abductions, IANS reported Thursday quoting officials and refugees. Sinhalese gangs in Trincomalee are targeting prominent Tamils and many ordinary Tamils in the capital were gripped by a "fear psychosis" the agency reported, quoting activists as saying the recent violence has led to one of the most traumatic periods for the island's Tamil community.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 September 2006, 11:03 GMT]
District Judge for Mallakam, Wednesday ordered the Jaffna Police to investigate and submit a full report when the Judicial Medical Officer (JMO) of the Jaffna Teaching Hospital said in his report to court that the young woman, Valarmathy, admitted by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) alive had no cyanide substance in her stomach, legal sources said. Meanwhile, the autopsy of the other girl, Tharshika Pathmanathan, whose body was handed over to the hospital by the SLA, is scheduled to be held Thursday in Jaffna Teaching Hospital to ascertain the cause of death whether she died due to cyanide poisoning or any other reason, medical sources said.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 September 2006, 10:26 GMT]
Two members of a paramilitary group Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP) were shot and injured at Kurumankadu area in Vavuniya by unidentified persons. The injured cadres were first admitted to the Vavuniya general hospital and later transferred to Anuradhapura hospital. The shooting had taken place close to the EPDP office in Kurumankadu, Vavuniya Police said.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 September 2006, 08:43 GMT]
Three more youths have been abducted and killed by unidentified persons in Vavuniya, Thursday morning, police said. Separately, another youth was shot dead at Kurumankadu, a suburb of Vavuniya, Wednesday evening, police said. He is yet to be identified.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 September 2006, 05:30 GMT]
Sri Lankan Army (SLA) soldiers on a foot patrol shot a youth who allegedly attempted to run away having thrown a hand grenade on them in Vinayagapuram in the Valaichchenai Police area in Batticaloa district, around 1.30 p.m. Wednesday, Valaichchenai Police said.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 September 2006, 05:23 GMT]
About 4850 students studying in 26 Tamil schools
in villages located in Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) held areas have been badly affected. The second term examination for these students scheduled to be held in August was not held as the education authorities were unable to transport question papers and related learning materials due to the closure of the Uyilankulam checkpoint by the
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) since August 11.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 September 2006, 05:18 GMT]
A young man was shot dead in Uduppiddi in Vadamaradchi, around 12 noon, Wednesday. Meanwhile, Human Rights Commission in Jaffna said two men have been reports “missing” in Udupiddy since Monday evening.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 September 2006, 00:03 GMT]
Welcoming the call by the Co-Chairs of Sri Lanka’s donor community for the Colombo government to abide by the February 2002 Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) and implement the pledges it made in Geneva, the Liberation Tigers said Wednesday it is the responsibility of the Norwegian facilitators and international community to ensure the Rajapakse government adheres to the territorial demarcations, terms and conditions of the CFA and thereby creates a conducive atmosphere for talks.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Wednesday, 13 September 2006, 20:44 GMT]
A relief worker for the Seattle-based non-profit group World Concern has been killed in the Trincomalee district, where six weeks ago 17 aid workers were shot dead execution-style by Sri Lankan forces, reports said Tuesday. Ragunathan Ramalingam, a Tamil, was shot Monday while returning to the World Concern office on a motorcycle.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Wednesday, 13 September 2006, 18:38 GMT]
A local media watchdog Wednesday slammed Sri Lanka’s government for abruptly ending a television series after altering the dialogue in the last episode that was broadcast. The Free Media Movement (FMM) said it “condemns this cultural censorship” and asked Sri Lanka Rupavahini Cooperation (SLRC) to resume broadcasting the ‘Sudu Kapuru Pethi’ programme, whose story line, written in 2003, is set in island’s ethnic conflict. According to a BBC Sinhala service report, the SLRC says the teledrama ‘disgraced’ the Sri Lankan security forces at a time of war.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Wednesday, 13 September 2006, 16:26 GMT]
A Sri Lanka Army soldier was seriously injured when a water tanker was hit by a claymore mine blast at Rasenthirakulam in Vavuniya, Wednesday afternoon. The incident occured along Nellukulam - Cheddikulam Road, police said.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Wednesday, 13 September 2006, 16:24 GMT]
Body of a young man with stab injuries was found in Samankulam in Vavuniya, Wednesday morning. The victim's head had been burnt beyond recognition, police in Vavuniya said.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Wednesday, 13 September 2006, 13:40 GMT]
Erik Solheim, the Norwegian International Development Minister, Wednesday told Norwegian state radio NRK that Norway had International Community's resolute backing and the mandate of the parties to the conflict for resuming the talks, after attending a cruicial meeting of the Co-Chairs in Brussels Tuesday. The radio, in its "World Today," programme said experts on the Sri Lankan issue were of the opinion that the EU proscription of the Tamil Tigers was a "big mistake." The EU ban contributed to the worsening of the already fragile situation into bloody confrontations this summer, the Radio said.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Wednesday, 13 September 2006, 09:01 GMT]
17 civilians, including a woman, were wounded when an attacker lobbed a grenade into a chicken meat shop in Vavuniya town Wednesday around 10:50 a.m., Vavuniya Police said. Paramilitary cadres working with Sri Lanka military have been targeting traders and shop owners who refuse to pay ransom of cash.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Wednesday, 13 September 2006, 05:20 GMT]
A women who was abducted from her home in Aanaikottai by unidentified men in white van on Sunday was released, Tuesday, her parents informed the Human Rights Commission office in Jaffna. The woman was released from a Sri Lanka Army camp in Anaikottai area. However, her parents have refused to reveal further details to media.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Wednesday, 13 September 2006, 05:10 GMT]
More than 10 000 families in Jaffna peninsula, around 7000 from Thenmaradchchi and the rest from the islet villages of Allaipiddy, Mandaithivu and Naranthanai, and the coastal areas within the Jaffna Municipality, have been displaced because of the recent battles. This was revealed at a conference held at the Jaffna District Secretariat Tuesday.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Wednesday, 13 September 2006, 05:10 GMT]
The leading Jaffna daily, the Uthayan, is the “worst hit media” in Sri Lanka’s conflict, said Tuesday, voicing outrage about new armed attacks on the paper, in which gunmen burst into its offices in the Army-controlled town and threatened the journalists present twice in the space of three days.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Wednesday, 13 September 2006, 05:01 GMT]
A young man and his 2-year old child were shot dead by men in white van while they were standing outside their house in Aathikkovilady in Valvettithurai, in the Vadamaradchi sector of the Jaffna peninsula. The incident occured around 5 p.m., Tuesday.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Wednesday, 13 September 2006, 04:26 GMT]
Two women took cyanide capsules when a group of soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) on routine patrol during curfew hours in Vakaravaththai-Avarankal area in Valikamam East in Jaffna district had attempted to search them on Monday midnight. One woman died instantaneously and the other was admitted to Jaffna Teaching Hospital in a critical condition, Police informed Mallakam District Judge quoting SLA report.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 September 2006, 23:46 GMT]
The Co-Chairs are particularly concerned that even major cases of human rights’ abuses are not successfully investigated or prosecuted. "As in any modern state, the culture of impunity must stop," the Co-chairs of the Tokyo Donor Conference on Sri Lanka said Tuesday. "There should be no change to the specific arrangements for the north and east which could endanger the achievement of peace," the statement alluded in response to the moves in the South aimed at de-merging the NorthEast.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 September 2006, 18:18 GMT]
Sri Lankan government spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella denied Tuesday that his governement will begin unconditional negotiations with the Liberation Tigers. "We will put forward our conditions," Rambukwella told the Associated Press. He criticized Norway for allegedly not having consulted the government before announcing a date and a venue.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 September 2006, 14:59 GMT]
Representatives of Co-Chairs of Sri Lanka’s donors said Tuesday they had received “signals” from the Liberation Tigers and the Colombo government that they were ready for talks “without preconditions,” and urged both parties to meet “urgently” in Oslo in early October, saying the Co-chairs would review the progress of the talks later that month. “The international community insisted that the two parties sit immediately and also stop the violence,” Norwegian International Development Minister Erik Solheim told the BBC’s Sinhala service.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 September 2006, 13:23 GMT]
India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Monday India's efforts would be to ensure that the current ceasefire holds in Sri Lanka as a pre-requisite for a durable solution to the island's crisis, IANS reported.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 September 2006, 12:46 GMT]
Two policemen attached to the Kaluwanchchikkudy Police Station were shot dead by unidentified gunmen while they were travelling with two other colloquies, in a passenger bus bound to Batticaloa, around 10.30 a.m. at Cheddipalayam, Police sources said.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 September 2006, 10:20 GMT]
Three policemen and three civilians were injured when a claymore mine kept along the Central Road in Trincomalee town exploded Tuesday morning around 11.30 a.m. The claymore mine had been detonated targeting a police jeep travelling through the road at that time, police sources said.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 September 2006, 10:06 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) repulsed an attack launched by the Sri Lanka's Special Task Force with artillery fire in an attempt to move towards LTTE held areas from
Kaluwanchchikudy-Paddiruppu Bridge from Tuesday morning around 6.30 a.m. Artillery shells fired by the STF fell and exploded in the villages Palugamam, Porativu and Munaitivu in the LTTE held areas.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 September 2006, 09:33 GMT]
Continuing offensives by the Sri Lankan military will compel the Liberation Tigers to switch from defensive operations to launching their own offensives, the LTTE said Wednesday. In an exclusive interview with Reuters, the head of the LTTE’s Political Wing, Mr. S. P. Thamilchelvan said the Sri Lankan military’s offensives and continuing forcible occupation of Tamil areas had rendered the 2002 Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) "meaningless" but "since the facilitators and the international community are eager to strengthen peace efforts, the LTTE is also continuing to examine options for strengthening the CFA."
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 September 2006, 08:01 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse and Ranil Wickremasinghe, Leader of the main opposition United National Party (UNP) Monday held a one hour discussion at Temple Trees residence in Colombo regarding the invitation to reach a southern consensus on peace process.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 September 2006, 07:55 GMT]
S. P. Thamilchelvan, the political head of the Liberation Tigers, in a letter addressed to the ICRC Head of Delegation in Sri Lanka, Toon Vandenhove, Tuesday reiterated that the LTTE pledge to stop all retaliatory fire during the land passage of, humanitarian supply convoys, ambulances, and employees of non-governmental organizations. The Ceasefire agreement (CFA), does not have specific articles about demarcation lines in sea, the letter said. "This issue [of demarcation] remains unresolved to this day. Under these circumstances it is not possible for us to provide protection to ICRC sponsored ship using the seas."
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 September 2006, 06:57 GMT]
Unidentified persons shot and killed a 35 year-old farmer, father of two children Monday night around 8.30 p.m. in his residence located along Moonkilady Road in Vantharumoolai village in Eravur police division in Batticaloa district. The dead who had been also working as a tractor-driver were identified as Nagappan Shanmukarajah.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 September 2006, 02:55 GMT]
"The education of at least 20 thousand displaced Tamil students, temporarily staying in the LTTE controlled area in the districts of Batticaloa and Trincomalee, has been affected very badly. These students had fled from their homes with
their parents in the aftermath of indiscriminate aerial bombings and artillery fire by the Sri Lankan Forces”, said P.Ariyaneththiran, the Tamil National Alliance Member of Parliament for Batticaloa District Monday.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Monday, 11 September 2006, 23:15 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army Saturday begun forcing fishermen along Vadamaradchi North to fill the mooring points and jetties with stones. "The mooring points, the only means of sea access for the fishermen who have struggled for years for their livelihoods are now being closed, shutting down all hopes of the fishermen in Vadamaradchi North," fishermen's Co-op Society sources said.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Monday, 11 September 2006, 20:53 GMT]
A bullet-ridden body of young man with face mutilated beyond recognition was found at Theater Lane in Inuvil in Jaffna, Monday morning. The youth is believed to have been abducted from his home by unidentified men in white van, with out carrying registration number, Sunday evening, neighbours said.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Monday, 11 September 2006, 18:28 GMT]
Eight civilians, including 2 young women were abducted in Jaffna by unidentified armed persons in white van, in five separate incidents, during the last 24 hours, ending at 6 p.m., Monday. Meanwhile, Surenthiraraja, the coordinator of Human Rights Commission in Jaffna Monday said that 67 persons were reported "disappeared" in August alone.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Monday, 11 September 2006, 18:24 GMT]
Two armed Sri Lankan Military Intelligence (MI) operatives in civil dress Sunday midnight entered the Uthayan News paper editorial office in Jaffna allegedly to assassinate any senior members of the editorial team who may be working there, said civil sources in Jaffna.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Monday, 11 September 2006, 16:29 GMT]
Pesalai Police with the assistance of Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) Monday afternoon
around 3 p.m. recovered two live claymore mines along Talaimannar road.
Each claymore mine weighed about 20 kg, police said.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Monday, 11 September 2006, 11:11 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) exchanged artillery fire in Kadjuwatte located along the border of SLA and LTTE controlled areas in Valaichchenai police division in Batticaloa district on Sunday night for about one hour.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Monday, 11 September 2006, 11:03 GMT]
A member of the Karuna paramilitary group fired at another paramilitary cadre seriously injuring him after an argument near Alankulam in Vaharai division in Batticaloa district on Sunday night around 9.30 p.m, sources in Batticaloa said. The injured member P.Sinnan, 28, of Mankerni was admitted to the Pollonaruwa hospital, Valaichchenai Police sources said.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 September 2006, 19:28 GMT]
Two fishermen have been reported "missing" in the Vadamaradchi, according to compalints made with the Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission (HRC) in Jaffna. The fishermen were last seen while they were being interrogated by Sri Lanka Army soldiers at a check post, according to eyewitnesses.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 September 2006, 19:01 GMT]
Heavy artillery shelling and fighting between the Sri Lankan forces and the Liberation Tigers erupted in Kilali and Muhamalai Forward Defence Line (FDL) of the Northern Front from 7:30 p.m. Sunday, sources in Kilinochchi said. Artillery shelling and gunfire were continuing Sunday midnight.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 September 2006, 16:48 GMT]
Civilians in Pasaiyoor, Kolumbuthurai and Ariyalai East Sunday evening fled from their coastal villages towards Jaffna town as artillery shells from Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) postions hit Sri Lanka Army (SLA) deployments along the coastal areas.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 September 2006, 16:44 GMT]
Sri Lankan police personnel lying in ambush shot and killed 2 members of the Liberation Tigers at Karuwakkerny Vikneswara Vidyalayam in Valaichenai, about 30 km. north of Batticaloa, around 8 p.m., Saturday.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 September 2006, 14:43 GMT]
Unidentified men shot dead a Tamil civilian Sunday early morning around 2 a.m. along Nanattan-Vankalai road in Mannar when he was going for work. The dead has been identified as 38 year old Thiruchelvam Sebastian, father of two children and a resident of Naruvalikulam in the Murunkan Police division.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 September 2006, 13:10 GMT]
Five Wanni district Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians boycotted the Mannar District Co-ordinating Committee (DCC) meeting held Saturday in the Mannar district secretariat with Rear Admiral Mohan Wijewickrema, North East Provincial Governor in the chair. "Development is not an immediate priority at this time when hundreds of Tamil civilians fleeing to South India to save their lives from abduction, killing and harassment from Sri Lanka armed forces," said TNA parliamentarians, sources said.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 September 2006, 13:02 GMT]
A twenty-member armed gang had forcibly entered ten houses in Kurumankadu area and robbed more than 300 sovereigns worth gold jewellery, several hundred thousand rupees cash and cellular phones during early hours on Saturday, according to complaints to Vavuniya Police by victims.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 September 2006, 09:22 GMT]
Six civilians were killed by unidentified persons in Jaffna peninsula in separate incidents during the 24 hours ending at 6 p.m., Saturday, accoring to hospital sources in the peninsula. Meanwhile, the body of Sivalingam Suthaharan,23, who was abducted Saturday from his home in Sankaanai, was found Sunday morning at Vaddukoddai, civilian sources said.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 September 2006, 07:42 GMT]
Three Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers were killed and two injured in a claymore attack at Aasikulam in Vavuniya, around 10:45 a.m., Sunday, police in the northern town said.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 September 2006, 20:53 GMT]
Rt.Rev.Dr.Kingsley Swampillai, the Bishop of Trincomalee-Batticaloa diocese, and Thurairatnasingham, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parlimentarian for Trincomalee, brought to the urgent attention of Mr. Mahinda Samarasinghe, the Minister for Diaster Management and Human Rights, the dire state of education of children in several villages in the East, and the difficulties faced by people relocated by war.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 September 2006, 17:59 GMT]
Sri Lanka military chartered vessel arrived Trincomalee harbour Saturday evening around 6 p.m. with about 795 civilian passengers who had been stranded in Jaffna district since the fresh fight between the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) broke out since August 11.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 September 2006, 17:51 GMT]
Ranil Wickremasinghe, leader of the main opposition United National Party (UNP) with his deputy Karu Jayasuriya are scheduled to meet Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse during the weekend probably on Sunday to work-out modalities for a bi-partisan approach to the resolution of ethnic conflict. This is another step following the invitation of the President asking the main opposition to join his government.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 September 2006, 12:48 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s military launched a ground offensive Saturday against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) territory in the northern Jaffna peninsula, after bombarding the area for two days. At least 25 Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers were killed and around 125 wounded, informed military sources said. Wounded soldiers in more than five busses were rushed to Palaly and airlifted elsewhere for treatment.
The artillery attacks ceased around noon as SLA forces were evacuating the wounded troopers.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 September 2006, 11:38 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister vowed Friday to capture “more and more” territory from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and said the international community was coming forward to help his government "root out terrorism from the island." Ridiculing the LTTE’s assertion that there can be no moves towards peace as long as the Sri Lankan military occupied the Sampoor region which it captured last week in a ground offensive, SL Premier Ratnasiri Wickramanayake said “not an inch of Sampoor will be relinquished now or in the future.”
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 September 2006, 08:57 GMT]
The Sri Lanka military charted ship "Lanka Muditha" that carried military supplies to Jaffna sailed from Kankesanthurai (KKS) harbour Saturday morning with civilians who were transported Friday in busses from Jaffna town to KKS. More than six Dvora Fast Attack Crafts were providing escort to the ship towards Trincomalee. Meanwhile, the cargo ship "Marcus Ruhunu," said to be carrying 3800 MT essential supplies to civilians in Jaffna, reached KKS harbour Friday night. Ruhunu will not be unloading supplies in Point Pedro as scheduled, but at KKS military harbour. A team of all Sinhalese port workers from south would unload the supplies at KKS.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 September 2006, 06:30 GMT]
Tweleve youths were arrested and detained on suspicion by Kandy police during a cordon and search operation Thursday afternoon. The police sources said 10 of the youths were Tamils and the other two were Sinhalese.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Friday, 08 September 2006, 23:42 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) launched artillery shelling towards Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) controlled Forward Defense Line (FDL) in Thenmaradchi Wednesday morning. The artillery attacks have been continuing for 48 hours and have forced hundreds of families to flee from Mirusuvil Educated Women’s Scheme and Usan areas, civil society sources in Jaffna said.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Friday, 08 September 2006, 21:27 GMT]
A Sri Lankan Army (SLA) soldier and a video shop owner were killed. A SLA trooper and 3 civilians were injured in a Claymore explosion that targeted a SLA road patrol in Chenkalady, 13 km northwest of Batticaloa Friday around 12:15 p.m., Police said.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Friday, 08 September 2006, 17:58 GMT]
Mannar additional magistrate T.J.Pirapaharan Friday ordered that forty Tamil civilians arrested by the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) Thursday afternoon while fleeing to South India to seek refuge, to be handed over to Mannar civil officials. The arrested Tamil civilians are natives of Allesgarden and Kuchchaveli in Trincomalee district. The Magistrate ordered remand for the three boatmen, who were transporting the refugees, till September 11.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Friday, 08 September 2006, 17:53 GMT]
Civilians in Jaffna alleged Friday that Sri Lanka Army personnel in plain cloths were behind five separate killings in a single day on Thursday. An 18-year-old student, a woman and a photographer were among the victims. One of the five victims was abudcted by gunmen riding in a white van, shot and killed during the curfew hours at midnight, civilian sources said.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Friday, 08 September 2006, 17:51 GMT]
Two brothers from Eravur, who left for fishing Wednesday afternoon, were found shot dead along the Savukkady coast by Eravur police Thursday and their bodies were recovered Friday morning. The dead Parthipan Ananthan, 28 father of two and his brother Parthian Thavaseelan, 16 had gun shot injuries on their bodies.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Friday, 08 September 2006, 17:35 GMT]
Final phase of talks between Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapakse's Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), the main constituent of the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) and the Sinhala ultra nationalist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), aimed at finding ways to join JVP with the ruling government, took place Friday evening in Colombo.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Friday, 08 September 2006, 12:13 GMT]
Eight civilians including Tamils and Muslims were arrested at Ikkirigollawa village in Anuradhapura district in the North Central Province in a seven hour combined cordon and search operation by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA), Police and home guards conducted on Friday morning from 5 a.m. till noon.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Friday, 08 September 2006, 11:40 GMT]
Four students and a policeman were injured when a three-wheeler exploded Friday morning around 6.55 a.m. at Kulumaattu junction in Vavuniya. The explosion took place while policemen were recovering the body of a homeguard from a hijacked three-wheeler.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Friday, 08 September 2006, 11:31 GMT]
Saying food supplies were “urgently” needed in the Jaffna peninsula, the Rector of St. Patrick’s College this week called for the A9 highway to be opened and military restrictions on fishing to be lifted. Fr. Justin B Gnanapragasam also called for the military’s curfew in Jaffna to be lifted or at least confined to night time. “Our people are suffering immensely. Please keep them in your prayers,” he said in a letter to past pupils. Five thousand displaced people who sought shelter in St. Patrick’s are refusing to leave, disrupting classes which should have resumed by now, he said.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Friday, 08 September 2006, 11:28 GMT]
The main opposition United National Party (UNP) is likely to nominate a five-member delegation for talks with the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), the main constituent of the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA), on the written request of Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse in a bid to reach consensus on the ethnic conflict, political sources in Colombo said.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Friday, 08 September 2006, 10:49 GMT]
Gunmen forced their way into the Jaffna offices of the Uthayan newspaper Thursday evening, threatened the staff and handed over a statement to be published in the newspaper, the Free Media Movement (FMM) said Friday. “The armed group had come in motorbikes. This incident took place during the curfew hours in heavily militarised Jaffna,” the FMM said, quoting details from the Managing Director of the newspaper group, Mr. E. Saravanapavan.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Friday, 08 September 2006, 09:17 GMT]
Around 650 civilians, out of 7000 persons, who rushed to Sinhala Mahavidyalayam site in Jaffna Friday, following announcement by the civil authorities of the Sri Lankan government in local media that a travel arrangement was made for 650 persons to be selected on a first priority basis, are being held inside buses without notifying the travellers on the mode of travel. Meanwhile, NGO sources in Jaffna expressed fear that Sri Lanka Navy was about to use the civilians as human shields to undertake a ship movement from Kankesanthurai.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Friday, 08 September 2006, 06:01 GMT]
Commander of the Sri Lanka Navy, Vice Admiral Wasantha Karannagoda, visited Thursday Northern Naval Area Command in Karainagar and inspected the SLN installations Elara at Karainagar, Uttara in Kankesanthurai (KKS) and the key officers of the six shore establishements. The SLN commander also visted Mandaithivu's Allaipiddy area where around 40 civilians were reported killed or missing in Sri Lankan artillery fire 3 weeks ago when the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) marines entered Mandaithivu. Food supplies to Jaffna islets would be transported by Sri Lanka Navy, the navy commander told a civilian audience.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 September 2006, 12:42 GMT]
The Commission of Jurists (ICJ) this week raised questions about the sweeping mandate of the Sri Lankan government’s Select Committee to investigate non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to root out activities "inimical to the sovereignty and integrity of Sri Lanka" and "detrimental to the national and social well being of the country", and that adversely affect "national security." The ICJ expression of concern about Sri Lanka’s handling of NGOs comes days after Colombo moved to block the funds of the Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) under the mandate of investigating terrorism financing – but without charging the TRO or setting out the allegations.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 September 2006, 10:34 GMT]
A Sri Lanka policeman was injured when unidentified men fired at the policeman Wednesday evening around 6.15 p.m. at Uppukulam in Mannar town. The injured police constable was identified as Upali Bandara, a member of the Police Intelligence Unit.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 September 2006, 09:09 GMT]
Hundreds of people from the Jaffna Islet of Velanai, began fleeing towards Jaffna town, Wednesday, for safety as anonymous posters requesting the people to move to safer areas appeared Wednesday overnight.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 September 2006, 07:07 GMT]
Tamil people in villages controlled by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Mannar district have been facing severe shortage of food, fuel and other essential materials urgently needed for their day to day life due to the prohibition on transporting these by private traders from the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) controlled area by Uyilankulam army check point since August 11 with the outbreak of fight between the SLA troops and the Tigers.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 September 2006, 02:27 GMT]
Gunmen riding in a white van without a number plate shot dead two civilians in Jaffna Wednesday. A civilian shopping at a grocery in Thirunelvely and a young man who owns a video shop on Adiyapatham lane in the same area were the victims. Two civilians were seriously wounded and rushed to Jaffna hospital. Fear psychosis prevails in Jaffna following the resurfacing of "white van" squads and the increased number of extra-judicial killings by Sri Lanka Army men in civil cloths.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 September 2006, 21:46 GMT]
Sri Lanka's parliament Tuesday adopted a motion of extending the State of Emergency for another month by a majority of 99 votes. 108 members including the ruling United peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA), main opposition United National Party (UNP), Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), all monks' party Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) and other constituent parties of the government voted for the motion. Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians voted against.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 September 2006, 18:02 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Judicial Service Commission (JSC) has instructed that the inquest proceedings in the Muthur Magistrate's Court in the Trincomalee district regarding the killing of seventeen workers of the French non-governmental organization, Action Faim, Action against Hunger (ACF) in Muthur town during the first week of August, to be held before the Anuradhapura Magistrate, legal sources said.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 September 2006, 17:41 GMT]
More than 600 women gathered in front of the main entrance to the Government Secretariat in Jaffna Wednesday morning at 10:30 demanding immediate action to arrange safe passage out of Jaffna for over 11,000 persons from other districts and foreign countries trapped in the peninsula.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 September 2006, 16:57 GMT]
The consortium of Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) in Jaffna Tuesday urged the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to re-open the A9 road without delay and allow the transportation of the essential items to Jaffna as officials of the Jaffna Secretariat had announced last week that the food brought in by the cargo ship Ruhunu was adequate only for one week and the bakery owners association has complained that the stock of flour is enough to meet their needs only for the next three days.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 September 2006, 16:47 GMT]
"The United National Party (UNP) will be in power within ninety days," declared Ranil Wickremasinghe, Leader of the Opposition and the main opposition UNP Tuesday when addressing the sixtieth anniversary of the party held at Sri Kotha, party headquarters in Colombo.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 September 2006, 15:32 GMT]
An offensive launched by the Sri Lanka Special Task Force (STF) troopers Wednesday morning from Kanjirankudah STF camp in Amparai district towards the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) controlled Kanchikudicharu area, was repulsed by the Tigers, said LTTE's Military Spokesman I. Ilanthirayan. According to medical sources in Amparai, at least 18 STF and paramilitary men were killed, and more than 25 wounded in the STF offensive.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 September 2006, 11:52 GMT]
The Sri Lankan government’s aggression on LTTE-controlled territory has blocked progress towards peace, the Liberation Tigers told Norwegian facilitators Wednesday. The LTTE’s Political Head, S. P. Thamilchelvan, told Norwegian Ambassador Hans Brattskar that Colombo’s invasion and occupation of LTTE-held territory has put an end to peaceful ways of stabilising the 2002 Ceasefire Agreement (CFA). Sri Lankan jets overflew Kilinochchi as Mr. Brattskar met Mr. Thamilchelvan.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 September 2006, 08:54 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Tuesday morning around 11.15 a.m. temporarily re-opened its entry check point located at Uyilankulam for the first time and allowed civilians to travel to and from government controlled and LTTE held villages in the Mannar district. Those civilians stranded more than 20 days on both sides were allowed to go to their destinations, civil sources said.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 September 2006, 06:56 GMT]
Two Tamil persons said to be supporters of para military Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP) were shot dead Tuesday night between 8 p.m. and 8.30 p.m. in Valaichchenai area in Batticaloa district. A message saying "death for traitors," was written in posters signed by Ellalan Brigade found near the bodies, sources said.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 September 2006, 22:03 GMT]
An estimated 60,000 Tamils displaced by Sri Lankan military attacks in the eastern province are caught in a humanitarian crisis which aid workers say is being deliberately deepened by the Colombo government. The most recent displacements in the east join tens of thousands of people forced to flee their homes by military attacks in Wanni and the northern Jaffna.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 September 2006, 19:59 GMT]
The Sri Lankan counter insurgency Special Task Force (STF) personnel, manning the Kaluwanchikudy-Paddiruppu Bridge, a gateway to Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) controlled territory in Batticaloa district, on Tuesday, did not allow transport of vehicles through the entry point that was partly re-opened Saturday after 3 weeks.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 September 2006, 17:02 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army 23-3 Brigade troopers handed over Tuesday 3 civilians who were arrested in a boat in the Batticaloa lagoon Monday around 5:00 p.m., Batticaloa Police said.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 September 2006, 15:21 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army fired Multi-Barrel Rocket Launcher shells hit Kathiraveli, 10 km north of Vaharai, where Internally Displaced People from Muthur East and Eacchilampatru have sought refuge. 3 civilians were killed, 9 wounded, according to LTTE officials in Kathiraveli. Medical sources in Batticaloa reported that ICRC personnel transported at least 2 wounded civlians to Valaichenai hospital. The MBRL attack on Tuesday on Kathiramalai in Batticaloa district's north, comes amid speculation by analysts in Colombo that Sri Lankan military was planning another offensive towards southern Trincomalee and northern Batticaloa areas where thousands of IDP's have taken refuge.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 September 2006, 14:31 GMT]
Seven Sri Lanka Army troopers were seriously wounded in a Claymore attack targeting a SLA truck in Valikamam East in Jaffna district Tuesday around 5:00 p.m., SLA sources in Jaffna said.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 September 2006, 11:08 GMT]
Mannar acting Magistrate M.P.Farook Monday ordered remand for a twenty three year old youth A.Jeyaseelan till September 13 on a report by Murunkan Police that the youth was alleged had been arrested by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers at Parapankandal, legal sources said.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 September 2006, 10:43 GMT]
A Sri Lanka Army (SLA) trooper was killed and four wounded when Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) fired artillery shell hit the Selvanagar SLA camp in Muthur division Tuesday around 7:15 a.m., according to Sri Lanka government controlled Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) report that quoted military officials as saying.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 September 2006, 05:38 GMT]
Another batch of 20 Talaimannar civilians while fleeing to South India to seek refuge was taken into custody by the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) on Monday morning. Two boatmen who are residents of Talaimannar were also taken into custody. Later they were handed over to Talaimannar Police for further inquiry.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 September 2006, 04:59 GMT]
A Tamil teacher was shot dead allegedly by members of a paramilitary group operating with Sri Lankan government troops at his home in Mavadivembu, 20 km north of Batticaloa town, around 6:45 p.m., Monday.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Monday, 04 September 2006, 19:57 GMT]
Motorbike riding Sri Lanka Army (SLA) men in civil clothes shot and killed three civilians in three separate shootings in Jaffna Monday. An owner of a garage 100 meters away from an SLA sentry point in Stanley Road in Jaffna, a devotee returning home from Thurkai Amman Temple festival was gunned down at Maruthanarmadam Junction and a painter was shot dead in Uduppidy in Vadamaradchi. Two 8-year-old children and a mother wounded in the shootings were admitted to Jaffna hospital.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Monday, 04 September 2006, 12:46 GMT]
A private aircraft with a consignment of food cargo assigned for workers of international non governmental organizations arrived in Palaly military airbase in Jaffna district from Ratmalana in Colombo Monday morning. Basic supplies to the INGO offices and tents for IDP camps were transported to Jaffna. A group of INGO officials were scheduled to leave Jaffna in the aircraft, NGO sources said.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Monday, 04 September 2006, 12:34 GMT]
Seven more mutilated bodies of civilians killed in artillery fire in Allaipiddy 20 days ago, were photographed and burried Monday at the presence of Jaffna District Magistrate, E. T. Vignarajah. Around 40 civilians were reportedly killed in Allaipiddy. So far, 25 deaths have been verified by humanitarian and legal sources. Relatives of 12 more civilian victims have appealed to the Jaffna regional office of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka seeking help to remove the bodies lying inside the houses located in Ward No: 4 of Allaipiddy. Sri Lanka Navy is not allowing any civilians to enter Allaipaiddy. There are more bodies, lying along the coast, according to the latest civilian reports.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Monday, 04 September 2006, 12:23 GMT]
A bus carrying about twenty policemen from Madawachchi to Anuradhapura was ambushed Monday morning around 10:30 a.m. at Ikkirigollawa in the Anuradhapura district. The claymore mine which was fixed on a tree along the road was detonated but it missed the target, police sources said.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Monday, 04 September 2006, 12:20 GMT]
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse and Ranil Wickremasinghe, the leader of the main opposition United National Party (UNP), are expected to meet coming weekend to hold discussions on Rajapakse's invitation to UNP to join the ruling alliance. The meeting between the two leaders would take place after the conclusion of the annual conventions of the two main political parties Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and UNP, political sources in Colombo said.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Monday, 04 September 2006, 08:20 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troops have advanced into Sampur village in the LTTE-controlled part of the eastern Trincomalee district and are consolidating their positions, the government said Monday in Colombo. LTTE political officials in Trincomalee said fighting was ongoing in the Sampoor region. “This is a severe breach of the ceasefire agreement with the Sri Lankan military taking LTTE-controlled areas,” S. Puleedevan, head of the LTTE peace secretariat, told Reuters. “They are not honoring the ceasefire agreement. They are forcing it to the brink of collapse,” he added. “On our side we are fully committed to it.”
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Monday, 04 September 2006, 06:55 GMT]
Paramilitary gunmen attached to the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) located in Valaichenai fisheries harbour, rounded up Pethalai and Pattiyadichenai in Valaichchenai-Kalkudah police division in Batticaloa district shot and killed three Tamil civilians in the area between 7 and 9:30 p.m. Sunday.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Monday, 04 September 2006, 06:10 GMT]
Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) Sunday morning handed over 56 members of sixteen Tamil families and seven boatmen to Talaimannar Police on a report that they were taken into custody in Mannar Sea when they were attempting to flee to Tamilnadu in India to seek refuge. Forty two of them were taken into custody while fleeing in three boats. The rest were arrested while staying in a church in Thalvupadu.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Sunday, 03 September 2006, 23:18 GMT]
Unidentified gunmen shot and killed a former paramilitary cadre of Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP) in Eravur Saturday night around 7:40 p.m., Police said.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Sunday, 03 September 2006, 18:40 GMT]
The TRO protested the freezing of its accounts in Sri Lanka Sunday, saying the Colombo government had made no communication with the NGO, which has been registered as a charity there since 1985. Warning that “the current humanitarian situation in the NorthEast of Sri Lanka is reaching a critical stage,” the TRO said “there is a desperate need, recognized by all who are involved in humanitarian work, which the international community is being prevented from responding to effectively.” TRO appealed to international institutions, human right bodies and humanitarian organizations to make representations to the Sri Lanka Government and intimate the importance the continued functioning of TRO.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Sunday, 03 September 2006, 16:54 GMT]
Sri Lankan Army (SLA) soldiers cordoned off several hamlets in Karaveddy area in Vadamaradchi and conducted a search from Sunday noon till evening. Around 600 villagers were herded to a tempel and were interrogated in front of of masked spotters. Three have been detained for further intorrogation, villagers said.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Sunday, 03 September 2006, 16:36 GMT]
Two men were shot dead separatley by unidentified men ridding in motorbike in the northern Jaffna, Sunday, sources said.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Sunday, 03 September 2006, 13:32 GMT]
Artillery shells, fired from LTTE controlled Nagarkovil, during the recent clashes off the Point-Pedro sea Friday night and Saturday morning, had targeted a Sri Lanka Army Intelligence Camp, located in Puloli, Point Pedro, sources in Jaffna said.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Sunday, 03 September 2006, 13:05 GMT]
Fighting ensued for more than an hour between the Sri Lanka Army and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam along the Northern Foward Defence Lines in Thenmaradchi, Jaffna. Heavy shelling was reported from Varani SLA camp towards the LTTE FDL positions.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Sunday, 03 September 2006, 12:46 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) launched artillery shelling towards Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) controlled territory in Vavunatheevu in Batticaloa district. LTTE responded by counter-artillery fire toward the SLA postions, civilian sources said. The artillery duel lasted from Sunday midnight till 3:00 a.m. Sunday. Tension prevailed in the area.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Sunday, 03 September 2006, 12:35 GMT]
Exodus of Tamil families from the Trincomalee district to Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam controlled Vaharai has been continuing due to ongoing military operations by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in the Muthur East LTTE territory. "Till now about 62,643 members of around 16,540 Tamil families have sought refuge. Of this about 10,657 families have been sheltered in five camps in Vaharai division in the Batticaloa district", Mr.K.Mahesan, Batticaloa District Additional Government Agent said Sunday.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Sunday, 03 September 2006, 10:35 GMT]
The parliamentary group of the main opposition United National Party (UNP) is scheduled to meet Monday evening to take a final decision on matters to be discussed with the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse following the invitation sent by the latter last week to join his United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government, political sources said in Colombo.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Sunday, 03 September 2006, 07:00 GMT]
The Sri Lankan government has frozen the funds of the Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) with immediate effect, the Sunday Times reported. The directive has been given by the Central Bank on the basis of combating the financing of terrorism, the paper said.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Saturday, 02 September 2006, 23:21 GMT]
An Actuarial Manager of Union Assurance in Colombo was found dead Saturday morning at Thotalanga, Grand Pass in Colombo. The victm, Reginald Jesudasan, 31, son of a retired Tamil Inspector of Police, was abducted Friday around 7:20 p.m. when he left the office.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Saturday, 02 September 2006, 18:05 GMT]
Representatives of Tamil political parties addressing a press briefing held Friday in Colombo Holiday-In-Hotel said they are going to hold awareness meetings among Tamil people in Colombo from next week against the increase of abduction by the intelligence service of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA). They stressed that several Tamil youths in Colombo had been abducted by SLA intelligence unit in past and immediate action should be taken to stop this.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Saturday, 02 September 2006, 12:50 GMT]
Armed gunmen from ENDLF, a paramilitary group working with the Sri Lankan military, forcibly occupied the District office of the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO), a Tamil National Alliance (TNA) party, Friday midnight, the party sources said. Paramilitay cadres chased away the party officials and two families staying in the residence office, said Ranga, the Trincomalee District Organizer of TELO. The TELO leader and TNA parliamentarian Selvam Adaikalanathan, condemning the forcible occupation of TELO office said the party would initiate legal action against the intruders.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Saturday, 02 September 2006, 09:22 GMT]
The IT employee of Maharajah TV who was abducted Friday morning was released Friday night around 10:30 in Wellawatte, Colombo. Sri Lanka Army Military Intelligence operatives blindfolded the abductee and questioned her about her previous engagement at Central Bank as IT consultant, informed sources said.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Saturday, 02 September 2006, 08:18 GMT]
Planning officer attached to Tsunami reconctruction project of the Sewalanka, a non governmental organization, was shot dead at his home in Karaveddy in Jaffna, around 8:45 p.m., Friday. His 55 year-old mother, who attempted to block the killers, was also killed by the armed men. The NGO officer's wife and his brother have been admitted at the Manthikai hospital with injuries, sources said.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Saturday, 02 September 2006, 07:24 GMT]
Three employees, including a woman Finance Director of the Aero Lanka Air Line have been abducted in Colombo by unidentified persons who came in a white coloured van on 22 August, according to a complaint lodged with the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL).
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Saturday, 02 September 2006, 04:04 GMT]
Two Dvora Fast Attack Crafts were sunk and another damaged in the clashes that took place in the seas off Vadamaradchi Point Pedro Munai, Sri Lanka Navy sources in Jaffna said. The SLN sources claimed that they had destroyed several Sea Tiger vessels. Heavy fighting was reported from 9:00 p.m. Friday till 4:00 Saturday morning between the Sea Tigers and the Sri Lanka Navy.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Saturday, 02 September 2006, 03:59 GMT]
Dismissing the Sri Lankan military’s justification for its latest major offensive against the LTTE in Sampoor as “spurious” and “deceptive,” the Tigers’ political representative in the area said the LTTE first fired on the naval base in Trincomalee when resisting the SLA’s initial offensive in late July.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Saturday, 02 September 2006, 03:57 GMT]
The Vatican’s representative to Sri Lanka this week appealed to the humanity of those responsible for the disappearance of a Catholic priest in the northern Jaffna peninsula while Jaffna Bishop Thomas Savundaranayagam said he is yet to get a response to even his second appeal to Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaske over Father Jim Brown’s disappearance. The church-run Centre for Peace and Reconciliation (CPR) in Jaffna joined calls for a proper investigation.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Friday, 01 September 2006, 15:33 GMT]
Heavy fighting erupted between the Sea Tigers and the Sri Lanka Navy off the coast of Point Pedro, on the northern coast of Jaffna, Friday evening, sources in the peninsula said. Clashes in the seas off Manalkadu, in Vadamaradchi East, spread fled their houses.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Friday, 01 September 2006, 15:13 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army is deliberately razing Tamil villages to the
ground as part of its military offensive against the LTTE in Muthur
East region of Trincomalee. Through Norwegian facilitators, the LTTE
has condemned in the "strongest possible terms Sri Lanka's 'scorched
earth' policy of occupying Tamil civilian centers and rendering them
uninhabitable," the LTTE's military spokesman, I. Ilanthirayan, said
Friday.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Friday, 01 September 2006, 14:05 GMT]
Amid the furore triggered by international truce monitors’ findings that Sri Lankan security forces carried out the massacre of 17 aid workers, other conclusions by the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) lost focus, including the charge the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) carried out “deliberate, planned and coordinated offensive military operations” against LTTE cadres and civilians in LTTE-controlled areas from April 1, weeks after Norwegian facilitated talks in Geneva to de-escalate rising violence.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Friday, 01 September 2006, 11:06 GMT]
The British High Commission in Colombo said this week that a second evacuation from the Jaffna peninsula is being organized for foreign nationals and advised those wishing to leave to stay in close contact with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Government Agent (GA) in Jaffna "The evacuation is on a voluntary basis and while all reasonable efforts will be made to ensure the safety of any operation, evacuees should be aware of the risks involved with the evacuation process," the UK mission said.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Friday, 01 September 2006, 10:36 GMT]
The deliberate displacement of over 160,000 Tamils by Sri Lankan military offensives and attacks this year combined with the purposeful blocking of food, medicine and relief supplies amounts to a 'slow pogrom' of the Tamils, the Tamil Guardian newspaper argued in its latest editorial. "Whilst trotting out the tired counter-insurgency rhetoric of 'hearts and minds' and a glib insistence that Tigers, not Tamils, are the target, Sri Lanka's military has always been ready to punish the Tamils for the LTTE's violence," the paper said.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Friday, 01 September 2006, 10:26 GMT]
A Tamil woman, employed in the computer section of the Maharaja Televion (MTV), was abducted Friday around 7:30 a.m. in Wellawatte, Colombo. Six armed men, riding in a white-van, abducted Thavarajah Thavamani, 26. More than 10 Tamil civilians, including three females, have been abducted in Colombo city and its suburbs during the past week alone, humanitarian sources said.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Friday, 01 September 2006, 09:56 GMT]
Jaffna Bishop Rt. Rev.Thomas Soundaranayagam Friday appealed to the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Thamileelam (LTTE) to extend their assistance with the facilitation of the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) for the transportation of food to Jaffna peninsula. The Jaffna Bishop has pointed out in his appeal that acute shortage for food is currently prevailing in the district and action should be taken immediately to avert famine in the peninsula.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Friday, 01 September 2006, 08:55 GMT]
A police constable who was shot by unidentified armed man Thursday evening around 6 p.m. succumbed to injuries around 11 p.m. on the same day at Batticaloa Teaching Hospital. He was identified as 37 year-old Meerasahibu Riyal, father of three children. The shooting incident took place along Punnaikuda road in Eravur police division in Batticaloa district.
Full story >>
[TamilNet, Friday, 01 September 2006, 08:19 GMT]
About one hundred Tamil civilians were arrested Thursday in Vavuniya town in a combined cordon and search operation by soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and Police. They were brought to Vavuniya Police Station and subjected to severe interrogation.
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[TamilNet, Friday, 01 September 2006, 04:55 GMT]
A Sri Lanka Army Lance Corporal was killed and five troopers wounded in a Claymore blast when a group of SLA soldiers on a road clearing patrol were ambushed near Karaveddy Predeshiya Sabha (PS) office in Vadamaradchi, around 7:45 a.m., Friday. SLA announced over its radio that curfew has been re-imposed in Vadamaradchi sector from Friday noon and launched a cordon and search operation in Karaveddy. Several civilians were assaulted by the soldiers following the attack. Tension prevails in Vadamaradchi.
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