Navy arrests 25 Tamil refugees in Mannar Sea

[TamilNet, Thursday, 23 June 2005, 16:58 GMT]
Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) Wednesday morning arrested twenty-five Tamil refugees returning from Tamilnadu in South India and the two boatmen in the Mannar Sea, sources said. The Talaimannar Police produced all of the arrested in Mannar Court Thursday morning.
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Civil groups to agitate over Omanthai Buddha statue

[TamilNet, Thursday, 23 June 2005, 15:32 GMT]
Vavuniya civil group leaders Thursday announced at a discussion held in the office of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) that they would launch an agitation if the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) fails to remove the controversial Buddha statue erected in the Omanthai Pillaiyar temple premises within seven days. The discussion was held between the officials of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and representatives of the civil groups including the LTTE district political section and the Hindu priest of the Omanthai Pillaiyar Temple in the presence of SLMM monitors, sources said.
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Ex-PLOTE member killed in Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Monday, 20 June 2005, 14:34 GMT]
Mr Tharmalingam Asokan, 26, an auto-rikshaw driver and an ex-PLOTE member was shot and killed inside his auto-rikshaw at 12.30 PM Monday in Thalikkulam 13 km west of Vavuniya. Police, tracing an eyewitness who has seen the assassins to escape from the scene, suspected that the assassins were also travelling in the auto-rikshaw.
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Ceylon Tamil Teachers' Union elects new President

[TamilNet, Sunday, 19 June 2005, 18:12 GMT]
Mr.Rajanathan, Principal of the Trincomalee Vigneswara Maha Vidyalayam was Sunday elected as the president of the 20,000 member-strong Ceylon Tamil Teachers' Union (CTTU). He was unanimously elected to the post of President at the CTTU Working Committee meeting held at the Trincomalee Vigneswara Maha Vidyalayam.
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Paramilitary cadre shot dead in Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Sunday, 19 June 2005, 16:17 GMT]
Mr. Uthayakumarasingam Vallipuram (42), a senior PLOTE cadre was shot and killed by unidentified gunmen Sunday at 8.30 pm in Kovilkulam - Therku Iluppaikulam Road, 4 km southeast of Vavuniya, Police said.
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Mannar Magistrate inspects damaged LTTE political offices

[TamilNet, Sunday, 19 June 2005, 09:17 GMT]
Mannar acting Magistrate, Mr.M.B.Farook, accompanied by a police team Sunday morning visited the two offices of the Liberation Tigers which were attacked by suspected members of the Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP), Saturday night.
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Tamil refugees rescued from sandbank in Mannar Sea

[TamilNet, Sunday, 19 June 2005, 01:39 GMT]
Fourteen Tamil refugees including four children returning from Tamilnadu in South India were rescued from a sandbank in the Mannar Sea by Mannar fishermen Friday. The refugees were taken into custody by the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) and handed over to the Talaimannar police Friday evening, sources said.
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Koushalyan Medical Unit serves villagers

[TamilNet, Sunday, 12 June 2005, 18:06 GMT]
Lt.Colonel Koushalyan Mobile Medical Service (KMMS) conducted its second medical camp in Vavuniya North on Thursday and Friday, sources said. KMMS was established to serve people in remote villages in the NorthEast where residents undergo untold hardships in obtaining access to basic medical care.
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Claymore attack kills Intelligence officer, EPDP cadre in Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Saturday, 11 June 2005, 06:35 GMT]
A Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Intelligence Officer, Lance Corporal Ellaperuma Rukman Edward,31, and an Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP) cadre, Mr. Gnanakumar Kannan, 28, were killed when unidentified gunmen attacked Kurumankadu EPDP camp located 1.5 km west of Vavuniya Saturday at 11.16 AM. Five paramilitary cadres and another SLA intelligence officer, Mr. Ajith De Silva, 30, were injured in the attack. The attackers used a Claymore mine on the wall of the camp, Vavuniya Police said. The cadres and the camp belonged to EPRLF-Varathar Group until the cadres converted to EPDP a few weeks ago, sources in Vavuniya said.
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Danish Group funds Vavuniya preschool building

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 June 2005, 11:11 GMT]
Opening ceremony for a new preschool building in Kilavikulam in Vavuniya district, funded by the Danish Refugee Council (DRC) was ceremonially opened at 1pm Wednesday. The 'Thamilenthi Preschool' was built at a cost of nearly Rs. 850,000 and will be administered by the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO).
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Hartal paralyzes NorthEast

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 June 2005, 11:06 GMT]
Normal life in the northeast province was disrupted Friday following the one-day general shut down condemning the failure by the Sri Lanka Government to withdraw troops from Trincomalee town in large numbers. More than fifteen hundred troops are deployed in the east port town following the controversy over the erection of a Buddha statue in a land located close to the central bus stand.
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Profile of a shadow war veteran

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 June 2005, 01:02 GMT]
The veteran intelligence officer, Lieutenant Colonel Nizam Muthaliff, was a central figure in the atrocity-punctuated paramilitary aspects of the counter-insurgency campaign against the LTTE in the early nineties then had a critical role in the deep penetration attacks on LTTE commanders and officials, the Tamil Guardian reported Wednesday.
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Colombo holds key to restore normalcy, says LTTE

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 June 2005, 14:51 GMT]
Government of Sri Lanka has a moral responsibility to demonstrate its serious commitment to the Cease Fire Agreement (CFA) and its will to maintain the integrity of the CFA by delivering on it in terms of its obligation to restore normalcy, Mr. Thamilchelvan, LTTE's Head of Political Division, told Swiss Ambassador Mr.Bernadino Reggazzoni on Thursday in a meeting in Kilinochchi. LTTE's Political Head expressed fear over the state of the CFA in the context of "fanatical elements" trying to cash in on a volatile situation in Trincomalee and Vavuniya, the LTTE Peace Secretariat website reported.


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TELO's Vavuniya TV retransmission station attacked

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 June 2005, 01:07 GMT]
Sun Television retransmission station in Vairavarpuliyankulam in Vavuniya district operated by cadres of Tami Eelam Liberation Organization (TELO) was attacked with hand grenades by unidentified attackers at 1.45 AM Thursday morning, causing damages worth Rs 1 million to equipment.
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SLA, Police agree to remove Buddha statue in Omanthai

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 June 2005, 00:31 GMT]
After a visit to the Omanthai Pillaiyar Temple grounds Wednesday by Vanni district parliamentarians Mr.Selvam Adaikalanathan, Mr.Sivasakthi Ananthan and Mr.Sivanathan Kishore and LTTE Vavuniya district deputy political head Mr.Dharmendra accompanied by Vavuniya Police Officer in charge Mr. Abeyasinghe Bandara, TNA parliamentarian Adaikalanathan said that the Police and the Army have agreed to remove the Buddha statue from the Hindu temple grounds, sources in Vavuniya said.
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Buddha statue installed in Omanthai Pillayar temple grounds

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 31 May 2005, 13:24 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers in Omanthai camp has erected a three foot statue of Buddha in the grounds of Omanthai Pillayar temple in Vavuniya last March, according to local residents. The custodian priest of the Pillaiyar temple fled the area after the soldiers harassed him to hand over the land deeds, residents further said. All residents living close to the temple have been forcibly photographed by the SLA and have been warned against tampering with the statue. Residents say that no one goes near the statue out of fear of the soldiers.


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Senior Military Intelligence officer shot dead in Colombo

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 31 May 2005, 08:14 GMT]
A high ranking Sri Lankan Military Intelligence Corps (MIC) Commanding Officer, Major Thuwan Nizam Muthaliff, 39, was shot and killed Tuesday morning around 8.00 AM by unidentified gunmen at Polhengoda Junction in Narehenpitya, Colombo. The gunmen following him in a motorbike shot him at point-blank range while his car stopped at the Wijaya Kumarathunga signal crossing along the Baseline Highway. Muthaliff is the highest ranking Sri Lankan Military Intelligence officer to be killed since the signing of Cease Fire Agreement (CFA) between the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in February 2002.
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World Bank team to assess housing reconstruction in east

[TamilNet, Monday, 30 May 2005, 17:30 GMT]
A World Bank (WB) team is scheduled to visit the districts of Trincomalee and Batticaloa on June 1st and 2nd to assess the progress made in the reconstruction of houses in war and tsunami affected areas under the North East Housing Reconstruction Programme (NEHRP), sources in Colombo said.
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Military blocks LTTE commanders’ return

[TamilNet, Monday, 30 May 2005, 14:17 GMT]
Amid the continuing cycle of violence in Sri Lanka’s eastern province, hopes of improving trust between the Sri Lankan military and the Liberation Tigers are being undermined by Colombo’s refusal to provide safe passage to senior LTTE commanders and other cadres across Army-controlled areas, officials said. In the wake of the massacre of an LTTE political leader and his team when travelling by road through Army-controlled roads, there are accusations the use of helicopters is being denied to expose LTTE officials to paramilitary attack.
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Village Development discussions held in Sinnadampan

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 May 2005, 11:11 GMT]
Village development discussion organized by Vavuniya North Pre-School Development Organization and Nedunkerni Development and Rehabilitation Organization was held Thursday at 2 pm at the Sinnadampan Common Hall, sources said. Pre School teachers, Director of Social Welfare and other officials visited several households in Sinnadampan to discuss issues specific to the households between 8.30 am and noon before the general meeting.
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