SLN arrests 29 civilians fleeing war, in Jaffna lagoon

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 December 2008, 17:23 GMT]
Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) arrested Sunday morning 29 civilians, fleeing Sri Lanka Army continuing artillery barrage, bombings and economic sanction, from Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) held Vadamaraadchi East, Iyakkachchi and Pa’lai, across Ki’laali lagoon, sources in Vadamaraadchi said. The boat, with a 6-month-infant children and pregnant women dared to cross the lagoon, was about to sink when the SLN arrested them, according to government sources.
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Tamil civilian shot dead in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 December 2008, 05:06 GMT]
Unidentified armed persons shot dead a Tamil civilian Saturday night in Vavuniyaa police division. His body was recovered near a cemetery along Nelukulam-Koomaangkulam road Sunday morning with gunshot injuries in his head. The victim has been identified as Seevaratnam Pushparajah, 36, a recruitment agent persons for foreign employment opportunities, sources said.
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SLA steps up attacks on hospitals in Vanni, disregards Geneva Conventions

[TamilNet, Sunday, 21 December 2008, 18:37 GMT]
Mullaiththeevu Government Hospital has come under artillery fire by the Sri Lanka Army despite the Sri Lankan military and civil authorities being repeatedly urged by the medical authorities at the hospital not to fire shells on the civilian medical facility. The government hospital was attacked Monday, Friday and Saturday. Two patients sustained injuries last Monday and two medical staff were wounded in the artillery attack on Friday. The building sustained damage in the bombardment Friday when 5 shells hit the premises. The quarters of the Medical Superintend has also sustained damage for the second time.
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EPDP stages ’protest march’ in Vadamaraadchi

[TamilNet, Sunday, 21 December 2008, 17:13 GMT]
Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP), the paramilitary-cum-political party led by Douglas Devanda, a cabinet minister in Rajapaksa regime, organized a ‘protest march’ in Vadamaraadchi Sunday around 3:15 p.m along Point Pedro-Jaffna road in which hundreds of persons, mostly women, were forced to take part with the armed escort by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers. The marching protestors were instructed to shout slogans calling the SLA to "liberate" the North and to "free" people from LTTE controlled territory in Vanni.
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Douglas, Anandasangari prepare for election campaign in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 21 December 2008, 12:48 GMT]
Douglas Devananda, a cabinet minister in the Rajapaksa government and the leader of paramilitary-cum-political party EPDP and V. Anandasangari of the TULF, are both busily engaged in preparatory meetings for election campaign in Jaffna, informed sources in Jaffna told TamilNet. No official announcement, however, has been made by Sri Lanka government on holding elections in Jaffna peninsula.
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Civilians fleeing war feared drowned in Naakarkoayil seas

[TamilNet, Sunday, 21 December 2008, 11:42 GMT]
Civilians fleeing war in Vanni in a 17 foot boat are feared drowned, fishermen who had seen the boat towed empty by Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) Friday evening to Kaangkeasanthu'rai (KKS) harbour from Naakarkoyil seas, raised suspicion. Friday morning gunfire was heard from Naakarkoayil seas indicating fleeing civilians being fired upon in the sea and their boat being towed by SLN went under water on Point Pedro seas Friday evening, fishermen in Jaffna who saw the incident said.
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Gampaha police arrest 14 Tamil civilians

[TamilNet, Sunday, 21 December 2008, 02:44 GMT]
Sri Lanka Police, with the assistance of home guards, Saturday arrested 14 Tamil residents during a search operation conducted in several parts of the Gampaha town and its suburbs. The police said the arrested residents were taken in for questioning as they failed to prove their identity and to justify their presence in the location. However, civil sources said the arrested Tamils have been working in buisness establishements in Gampaha for several years.
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Floods displace thousands in Vanni again

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 December 2008, 18:30 GMT]
More than hundred thousand were displaced due to floods in Mullaiththeevu and Ki'linochchi districts earlier this week, the Government Agent for Ki'ilnochchi district, Imelda Sukumar, told media Saturday. Meanwhile medical sources in Vanni said one civilian was killed by the floods. Students who sat for GCE O/L exams have been disturbed due to the floods, air attacks and artillery shelling by the SLA.
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2 civilians killed in SLA shelling in Vaddakkachchi

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 December 2008, 17:21 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) fired shells killed 2 civilians in Vaddakkachchi in Ki'linochchi Saturday around 3:00 p.m., medical sources in Tharmapuram hospital said. One dead body was brought to Tharmapuram hospital.
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Tigers recover 12 SLA bodies after preemptive strike, 60 killed, 150 wounded

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 December 2008, 16:03 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) counter-offensive units carried out a preemptive strike on Sri Lanka Army (SLA) offensive formation in Mu'rika'ndi - Ira'naimadu area Saturday, killing at least 60 SLA soldiers, LTTE officials told TamilNet. The SLA was pushed back 2 km, and the Tigers said they have recovered 12 dead bodies of SLA soldiers so far in the clearing mission, according to latest update from the LTTE officials in Ki'linochchi. More than 150 SLA soldiers were wounded in the counter operation, Tiger officials told TamilNet.
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US at fault for not stopping Colombo's abuses- Boston Globe

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 December 2008, 14:40 GMT]
Asserting that “there have been several disturbing examples of the US national interest standing in the way of actions to defend human rights,” Saturday’s Boston Globe editorial blames the United States and Europe for failing to do enough to intervene, asserting that “[t]he United States and its European allies have gone only so far in trying to halt the Darfur genocide,…[or] the Sri Lankan government's abuses of civilians in its counter-insurgency war against the Tamil Tigers…”
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Colombo steps up bombardment on Vanni, 3 wounded

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 December 2008, 05:49 GMT]
Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombers attacked Saturday a coastal area in Mullaiththeevu where thousands of civilians, recently displaced, had established temporary shelters. The bombers dropped eight bombs on fishing huts and boats, lighting up the stretch using para lights, causing panic among the refugees and the fishermen engaged in fishing at 4:55 a.m. The bombers arrived again at 5:35 to bomb the area with 8 eight more bombs, targeting the temporary shelters of refugees. The SLAF bombers attacked Mullaiththeevu and Ki'linochchi five times within four hours in the morning. Meanwhile, the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) launched an artillery barrage from all the frontiers of Vanni from 4:20 a.m. till 5:50 a.m.
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Sri Lanka attacks hospital, settlements in Vanni, children among victims

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 December 2008, 15:00 GMT]
Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombers attacked civilian settlements in Mu'l'livaaykkaal village Friday morning and in the noon causing injuries to 11 civilians, including 6 children, according to medical sources in Puthukkudiyiruppu hospital. A 13-year-old girl was seriously injured. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has also fired artillery shells on Mullaiththeevu General Hospital injuring two members of the medical staff and caused extensive damage to the complex including the operation theatre.
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Colombo's military campaign will not resolve conflict - British Minister

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 December 2008, 11:53 GMT]
The current approach by the Government of Sri Lanka, to defeat the LTTE militarily before developing a political solution, does nothing to win the hearts and minds of conflict-affected civilians in the north and it will not resolve the underlying conflict, said Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office Bill Rammell, while responding to the concerns raised Thursday evening by British Parliamentarians at an adjournment debate on Sri Lanka at the UK Parliament. However, another response by the minister exposed the fact that the British Government still has faith in the APRC myth created by the Rajapaksa regime.
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Police arrest 7 Tamils in Ea’raavoor

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 December 2008, 03:24 GMT]
Ea’raavoor police arrested seven civilians on suspicion Wednesday morning in their division in a cordon and search launched jointly with Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Aiyangkea’ni, Tha’lavaay area in Batticaloa district, Ea’raavoor police said.
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12 Tamil civilians arrested in Katunayake

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 December 2008, 15:33 GMT]
Twelve Tamil civilians including five women were taken into custody in cordon and search operations conducted in the security zone of the Katunayake international airport on Monday night. Several houses and lodges were searched during the operation, police said.
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SLAF bombs refugee settlements: 2 killed, 13 wounded, 4 child victims

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 December 2008, 02:30 GMT]
A 5-month-old child and a 25-year-old male were killed and 13 other refugees including three children were wounded Wednesday when Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) fighter jets bombed refugee settlements in Vaddakkachchi four times, on each sorties bombing the refugees twice. The SLAF bombardment on civilian targets comes in the wake of high casualties to the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in its latest offensive push in Ki'linochchi and Jaffna frontiers. The second attack was reported 250 meters near the hospital in Vaddakkachchi. Civilians in Vanni interpreted the indiscriminate attacks, which were repeatedly carried out on displaced peoples settlements, as 'collective punishment' by the Sri Lankan forces that have suffered heavy casualties in the battlefront.
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Tigers recover 8 SLA bodies, seize 18 weapons in Ki'laali fighting

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 December 2008, 15:36 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) said Tuesday that they seized two Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG) launchers, one AK-LMG, fourteen T-56 assault rifles and a 40 mm Grenade Launcher after repulsing an SLA-initiated offensive push that lasted for 9 hours from 1:20 a.m. Tuesday. The Tigers have earlier claimed that at least 40 SLA soldiers were killed and more than 120 sustained injuries. Information from Jaffna also indicates heavy casualties on SLA-side. The latest debacle of the SLA in Jaffna comes after a recent by the SLA commander Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka and the Sri Lankan Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa.
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Colombo-Vavuniyaa train service to resume

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 December 2008, 13:35 GMT]
Direct train service between Colombo and Vavuniyaa, suspended ten months ago due to security reason, is to resume Tuesday morning, sources in Colombo said. The first train bound for Vavuniyaa will leave Tuesday morning at 5:45 am from Fort-Colombo, sources added.
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3 police officers arrested for aiding LTTE cadres in Colombo

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 December 2008, 02:55 GMT]
A Sri Lanka Police Inspector of special crime branch of the Western Province with two constables were taken into custody by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) for allegedly helping LTTE cadres in Colombo, and extorting money from civilians in Wellawatte and Bloemendhal area in Colombo, police spokesperson Ranjit Gunasekara said. The breakthrough came following the interrogation of three Tamil youths earlier arrested in cordon and search operations, according to police.
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