28 Tamils arrested in Gampaha town

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 January 2009, 16:29 GMT]
Twenty eight civilians, majority of them Tamils working in business establishments and other institutions, were arrested in a cordon and search operation conducted in Gampaha town Thursday morning. The arrested are detained in police stations and being interrogated as they failed to prove their identity, police sources said.
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Civil society decries internment of Vanni families in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 January 2009, 13:53 GMT]
Sri Lanka military and Police in Kopaay are keeping more than 155 members of 60 families who arrived in Jaffna as refugees from Vanni in a newly established camp in Kopaay Teachers Training College without basic facilities and without any freedom of movement, civil society sources in Jaffna said.
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5 killed, 28 wounded in SLAF attacks on Murasumoaddai for second day

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 January 2009, 09:41 GMT]
Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombers hit civilian settlements three times in Murasumoaddai in Vanni killing civilians and causing injuries to many on Thursday. At least 5 civilians have been reported dead so far by the medical staff at Tharmpuram hospital. 28 civilians, including five children, were admitted at the hospital after the attacks. Civilians were still trapped in the site as Sri Lanka Army (SLA) launched artillery barrage on the settlement after the indiscriminate air strike. 10 civilians have been killed and more than 50 wounded within 30 hours on Wednesday and Thursday in Murasumoaddai.
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5 civilians killed, 16 wounded in air strikes, hospital reports blood shortage

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 31 December 2008, 04:26 GMT]
Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombers attacked a civilian settlement near Murugananda school in Murasumoaddai on Paranthan - Mullaiththeevu Road killing two females of a family and a male on the spot. Another man, who was seriously wounded, succumbed to his injuries at the hospital. 16 civilians, including a couple, were wounded. The attack has targeted three civilian settlements in Murasumoaddai Wednesday around 8:00 a.m. The indiscriminate bombardment on fleeing civilians, Internally Displaced Person's huts, close to the ICRC Karaichchi branch office, a school, temple and agricultural lands aims at instilling fear at the minds of the civilians in Vanni, observers said.
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17-year-old SLA soldier killed in Vanni battlefront

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 December 2008, 16:14 GMT]
One of the Identity Cards recovered with a dead body of a young Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldier revealed that the SLA trooper killed in the offensive forefront in Mullaiththeevu district on Saturday was a 17-year-old boy. LTTE officials displayed photos for reporters in Vanni on Sunday. According to the Article 1 of the the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict, signed and ratified by the Sri Lankan government, the government (State Party) should ensure that members of their armed forces who have not attained the age of 18 years do not take a direct part in hostilities.
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SLAF bombings kill woman, 10 injured, in Vanni

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 December 2008, 10:17 GMT]
Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) kfir fighter jets bombed Saturday three civilian settlements killing a 24-year-old woman and seriously injuring ten persons, including an 18-year-old girl who lost both her legs, sources in Vanni said. The bombers first struck Iyakkachchi around 9:20 a.m and attacked the civilian settlements in Vaddakkachchi, Ira’naimadu, around 2:10 p.m. Sri Lanka Army (SLA) kept firing artillery shells on Iyakkachchi, Ira'naimadu and Vaddakkachchi, as the jets bombed the areas.
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Bomb blast in Colombo suburb kills SLA officer, 6 home guards

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 December 2008, 10:17 GMT]
A Sri Lanka Army officer, six homeguards and a male whom the police alleged was a human bomb were killed in a bomb explosion at a military post at Wattala, a suburb of Colombo around 9:00 a.m. Sunday. More than 10 home guards and a few civilians sustained injuries in the explosion, Police said. The explosion has taken place in front of the Civil Defence Force (home guards office).
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Residents of remote Mannaar village protest against NGO removing soil

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 December 2008, 15:59 GMT]
Civilians of Madukkarai, a remote village in Naanaaddaan division of Mannaar district, marched towards their Divisional Secretariat Friday after armed policemen from Murungkan Police beat up the protestors last Tuesday. Police interfered after the villagers held NGO workers of LEADS (Lanka Evangelical Alliance Development Service) as captives for almost one day alleging that the NGO workers were removing fertile soil from the premises of their housing scheme in Madukkarai for a long time despite their objection.
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Tamil civilian hacked to death in Mannaar

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 December 2008, 14:07 GMT]
The body of a Tamil civilian with cut injuries was recovered Wednesday night in Keeri area along main road in Thaalvupaadu in Mannar district. The body has been handed over to the Mannaar general hospital for postmortem examination, sources said.
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Large scale search in Colombo, several taken into custody

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 December 2008, 12:14 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA), Sri Lanka Police and Special Task Force (STF) Thursday and Friday conducted cordon and search operations covering Muhathuwaaram, Kotahena, Wellawatte, Rajagiriya, Dehiwala, Kohuwela and Nugegoda in the western province. Several civilians, majority of them Tamil upcountry residents, were taken into custody. Police headquarters did not reveal till Friday evening the number of civilians under custody, civil sources said.
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2 students, child wounded in SLAF attack

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 December 2008, 10:22 GMT]
Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombers Saturday noon bombed a locality, at 9th division in Puthukkudiyiruppu of Mullaiththeevu district, where refugees are settled with ICRC provided shelters, causing injuries to at least three civilians, initial reports from the medical authorities at Puthukkudiyiuruppu hospital said. Two teenage students and a 4-year-old child were the wounded victims rushed to the hospital.
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19 Tamils arrested in Gampaha

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 December 2008, 10:13 GMT]
Nineteen Tamil civilians were taken into custody in cordon and search operations conducted from Friday morning for several hours in parts of Gampaha town in the Western province by the Sri Lanka Army and Sri Lanka Police with the assistance home guards units. Police said the arrested are being detained in police stations to ascertain their identity as they failed to provide the national identity cards and other legal documents.
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Boston Globe: Grant Tamils autonomy in homelands

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 December 2008, 22:51 GMT]
Boston Globe in an editorial published today warned that Sri Lanka’s military campaign will only produce “new phase of protracted guerrilla warfare,” and that lasting peace is possible only when Sri Lanka's government “grant[s] the Tamils meaningful autonomy in their homelands.” The paper also asserted a cautionary note to the Sri Lanka Government that “[e]thnic or nationalistic pride should not be allowed to inflict such suffering on civilians who committed no crime but to be trapped in a war zone.”
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SLAF bombardment kills livestock

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 December 2008, 13:08 GMT]
Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) Kfir fighter jets bombed Friday morning a locality on Ki'linochchi Paranthan Road killing another herd of cows. SLAF fighter jets continued bombardment on Thursday and Friday while the Sri Lanka Army stepped up artillery attacks on several fronts. SLAF bombers hit 4 times a civilian settlement in Mayilvaakanapuram in Visvumadu Friday around 5:30 p.m.
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SLA artillery shells hit Ki'linochchi Hospital

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 December 2008, 12:46 GMT]
Two Sri Lanka Army (SLA) fired artillery shells landed within the compound of Ki'linochchi General Hospital at 7:30 p.m. on Christmas day damaging three hospital buildings and narrowly missing several hospital staff, including Medical Superintendent of Ki'linochchi, Dr Sathiyamoorthy, sources in Kilinochchi said. Glass panes of the New-born nursing section for mothers, Outpatients Department, and the Hospital Reception building were damaged in the attack, according to hospital sources.
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STF abducts 2 Tamil civilians in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 December 2008, 10:59 GMT]
Sri Lanka Special Task Force (STF) commandos abducted two family men who passed through their camp at Pearatheevu in Ka’lavaangchikuddi police division in Batticaloa district Saturday as they were returning from Ka’luvaangchikudi hospital to their homes in Thumpangkea’ni in Paduvaankarai area, according to the victims' relatives.
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Sri Lanka Air Force attacks convent in Vanni, deploys cluster bombs

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 December 2008, 07:40 GMT]
Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombed a convent named Holy Cross Convent, located on Paranthan Mullaiththevu Road, 600 meters away from Paranthan junction Tuesday night around 10:30 p.m., a day before Christmas. TamilNet correspondent who visited the site Wednesday morning witnessed that the attacked premises was marked with Red Cross on the roof. The nearby church also sustained damage. The SLAF deployed cluster munitions in the bombardment, residents who fled the site said. 85 cows of a herd a few meters away from the convent were killed in the attack.
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Tamil civilian reported missing in Colombo

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 December 2008, 05:48 GMT]
A 26-year-old Tamil civilian has been reported missing since he left home in Wellawatte to Fort in Colombo on business purpose on December 16, according to complaints lodged by his wife to the Wellawatte Police and human rights organizations.
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Four seek humanitarian protection with HRC in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 December 2008, 12:29 GMT]
Four Tamil civilians in Jaffna have sought protection with the Human Rights Comission in Jaffna due to threats to their lives, especially after the worsening situation in Vara'ni in Thenmaraadchi following the recent abductions of two youths.
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Tamil civilian reported missing in Wellawatte

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 December 2008, 12:23 GMT]
Sinnakili Nimalakaran, 26, father of four month old child, has been reported missing since he left home in Wellawatte to Fort, Colombo, for business purposes on December 16, according to complaints lodged by his wife to the Wellawatte Police and human rights organizations.
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