3 civilians, including child, killed in SLA shelling in Vanni

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 December 2008, 13:02 GMT]
A 5-month-old child, sleeping inside an IDP hut near Thakarap-Pi'l'laiyaar temple on Hudson Road in Vaddakkachchi, was decapitated by a shrapnel of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) fired artillery shell Saturday morning around 9:30. 26-year-old mother of the child was wounded in the artillery barrage that targeted the IDP settlement. Meanwhile, two males who went to their agricultural lands in Kanakapuram, a suburb of Ki'linochchi town, to unearth cassava roots, were killed in SLA shelling around 11:45 a.m. A 17-year-old youth narrowly escaped death with injuries from the shelling.
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RSF condemns Colombo's censorship of BBC, Sunday Leader

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 December 2008, 12:50 GMT]
Paris-based media watchdog, Reporters sans frontières (RSF), in a press release issued Friday, condemned Sri Lanka's jamming of BBC World Service and blocking Sunday Leader from referring to Sri Lanka's Defense Secretary, Gotabhaya Rajapakse. "We are worried by the increase in direct and indirect censorship in Sri Lanka," Reporters Without Borders said. "Coming after a broadcast media bill reintroducing news censorship, the selective blocking of BBC and Sunday Leader reports is disturbing. The authorities must accept the free flow of news even when it contradicts what officials are saying and irritates certain politicians," the press release added.
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SLA imposes rigid pass system on civilian access to Jaffna hospital

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 December 2008, 20:16 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) directed the Jaffna Teaching Hospital (JTH) administration Monday to introduce a 'pass' system under which even patients in need of treatment will have to prove their ailment to the police and army personnel manning the check post in front of the hospital. This system is being imposed to to ensure the safety of the Sinhalese medical officers of JTH by restricting the number of patients and visitors seeking entry to the hospital, hospital authorities said.
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NESoHR: Two thirds of civilian deaths caused by extrajudicial killings

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 December 2008, 13:29 GMT]
Since 2002, two thirds of the conflict related civilian deaths have been caused by extrajudicial killings, said North East Secretariat on Human Rights (NESoHR) in a press statement issued on Tuesday. Stating that the assessment was a moderate attempt to throw some light on the phenomenon of extrajudicial killings, the NESoHR said it was intriguing that the extrajudicial killings take place while the Sri Lankan police and judicial system are operating in Sri Lanka Army (SLA) controlled territories in North-East and elsewhere in Southern Sri Lanka.
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Tamil Nadu leaders condemn derogatory talk of Fonseka

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 December 2008, 00:40 GMT]
Political leaders of Tamil Nadu, including Chief Minister Kalaignar M. Karunanidhi, condemned Monday Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Chief Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka for his derogatory comments on Tamil Nadu leaders in an interview to a Sri Lankan state-owned newspaper on Sunday. Vaiko, the General Secretary of the MDMK has announced a protest in front of the Sri Lankan Deputy High Commission in Chennai on December 10 demanding unconditional apology from the Sri Lankan Commander-in-Chief Mahinda Rajapaksa and the Army Chief Sarath Fonseka to the latter's astonishing remarks in the Sunday Observer newspaper.
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3 civilians killed in DPU Claymore attack in Vanni

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 December 2008, 16:25 GMT]
Three civilians, including a child, were killed in a Claymore attack by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Deep Penetration Unit (DPU) on Monday, Tamileelam Police officials said. The attack has taken place in Mu'l'liyava'lai, south of Mullaiththeevu.
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'They went, saw and returned'

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 December 2008, 07:58 GMT]
The meeting of the representation from Tamil Nadu led by Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi with the Prime Minister of India on Thursday failed to achieve its basic objective of convincing the Indian government to take a stand against Colombo’s war on Tamils, revealed journalistic circles in Chennai. The silent listening of the Indian Establishment may have several meanings. Perhaps Dr. Manmohan Singh is not the authority to respond on this particular matter. But the message to Eezham Tamils is clear: either they ought to fight back the war thrust upon them, or face genocide, and probably they knew it long back, commented the circles.
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Colombo’s 'gala war' countered in Germany

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 December 2008, 04:03 GMT]
"A huge amount of Colombo’s war money is lavishly spent in foreign countries in fixing collaborators, capturing or coercing diaspora Tamils and in organizing gala programmes to shield its sins of inhuman war at home," said an activist of a vigilant group of German Tamils called 'Committee for People’s Uprising (CPU),' Friday. "The latest is a festive season’s grand dinner inviting German dignitaries and an exhibition of its 'contemporary civilization' to hoodwink the German public. The Eezham Tamils in Germany effectively neutralized Colombo’s devises on Friday through creative undertakings, right in front of Sri Lanka’s propaganda stall," the activist told TamilNet.
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5 Tamil civilians arrested in Colombo

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 03 December 2008, 17:13 GMT]
Five Tamil youths, most of them residents of north and others from upcountry estates, were taken into custody in cordon and search operations conducted by the police and the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) with the assistance of local home guards from Monday evening till Tuesday morning in Kohuwela area in Colombo district.
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3 STF killed, 2 wounded in Ampaa'rai - LTTE

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 03 December 2008, 13:10 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) official Nilavan in Ampaa'rai told media Wednesday that 2 Sri Lankan Special Task Force (STF) commandos were killed and 2 wounded on Ukanthai - Kumbukkan Oya Road in Ampaa'rai around 5:25 p.m., when a LTTE commando unit opened fire on a road patrol of the STF. The others escaped the site and a Buffel Armed Personnel Carrier came to the site to recover the casualties, the Tigers said.
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US government donates USD 100,000 for flood relief in North-East

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 03 December 2008, 11:35 GMT]
The United States Government will provide $100,000 for emergency relief to assist people affected by the flooding in the North and the East, said a press release issued by the Embassy of he United States of America. The US donation will be used for non-food relief items and targeted to victims in Jaffna and in the Vanni, where particularly serious flooding has occurred in recent days. Ambassador Blake requested funds from the US government after Major General Hettiarachchi of the Disaster Management Centre asked for American assistance, the press release said hinting that the aid would be channeled
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TNA MP urges global community's awareness on Sri Lanka's use of cluster munitions

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 03 December 2008, 11:24 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian S. Gajendran, who represents Ki'linochchi district (Jaffna electorate), Wednesday urged the global community to "unreservedly condemn" the Sri Lankan government for deploying cluster munitions against civilians in Vanni in its air strikes and artillery attacks. Appreciating the Norwegian initiative which has led to the landmark treaty on baning the cluster munitions, the TNA parliamentarian said the Sri Lankan forces were deploying cluster munitions against civilians after expelling the international witnesses and blocking foreign journalists from entering Vanni.
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NESoHR: 16 cluster bombs dropped on refugee camp

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 December 2008, 16:44 GMT]
North East Secretariat on Human Rights (NESoHR), in its monthly report for November said there were five major air strikes and shelling attacks on civilians in Vanni in November. On Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) indiscriminate bombardment on IDP camp in Uzhavanoor in the early hours of Saturday, the NESoHR said the SLAF had dropped 16 cluster bombs on the settlement.
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25 Tamils arrested in Upcountry, Colombo

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 December 2008, 13:21 GMT]
Twenty five Tamil civilians, including a woman, were taken into custody in two separate combined cordon and search operations conducted by the Sri Lanka Army and Sri Lanka Police Sunday morning, sources in Colombo said. Three persons, including a woman, were arrested in Maligaawatte. 22 Tamils were taken into custody in search operations conduct at Talawakelle, Nuwara Eliya, Hatton, Norwood and Kotagala in upcountry districts, police sources said.
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Quick IDP action averts carnage from Cluster bombs

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 December 2008, 01:33 GMT]
“Three bombs exploded first time. Second time, when the bomber returned after 5 minutes from the opposite direction, there were 3 more blasts. But, the third time, bombs exploded with a parachute effect, like an auto explosion,”  said the head of the camp of the Internally Displaced Peoples (IDPs) that came under indiscriminate attack by the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) in the early hours of Saturday. Many children fled into the jungle during the five-minute window before the aircraft returned for the second attack. If not for the fast action of Ketheeswaran, the head of the settlement, and Pulendran, an intrepid IDP, in escorting and moving IDPs away from the refugee camp, the cluster bombs would have wrought havoc killing many, according to the refugees who escaped. TamilNet interviewed both Ketheeswaran and Pulendran, and several wounded civilians for this feature.
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SLN arrests 26 persons in Northern seas seeking refuge in Tamil Nadu

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 November 2008, 20:46 GMT]
Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) arrested 26 persons, including a 6-months-old infant, who were trying to escape on boats on their way to Tamil Nadu seeking refuge. Civilians took the perilous journey to escape continuing artillery barrage and bombings of civilian settlements in Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) territories in Vanni. When the arrested refugees were produced before the Point Pedro magistrate Sunday, the Magistrate ordered the refugees to be placed in the Rehabilitation Camp.
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Tamil farmer shot dead in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 November 2008, 12:40 GMT]
Unidentified gunmen shot and killed a Tamil farmer Saturday around 9:30 p.m in Ka'luvaangchchikudi police division at his house in Ward 12, Kuruma'nve'li area. This is the first killing after a 12-hour police-curfew was clamped down in Batticalao district, taking place just after three hours after the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) cordon and search operation during the curfew, the sources added. A Special Task Force (STF) camp is located 200 m from the site of the killing.
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Colombo's cluster bomb attack on civilians in Vanni challenges international norms

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 November 2008, 02:21 GMT]
Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombers that attacked the hamlet of Internally Displaced Persons bordering Piramanthanaa'ru and Uzhavanoor in the early hours of Saturday have deployed Russian made OFAB-500 cluster bombs in their indiscriminate attack that killed three civilians, including a child, eyewitnesses told TamilNet's Vanni correspondent on Saturday. Seven children were among the wounded. Colombo's use of cluster bomb comes as more than 100 countries are scheduled to meet in Oslo on Wednesday to sign a treaty banning the use of cluster bombs.
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International media, human rights watchdogs lopsided - Jaffna MP

[TamilNet, Saturday, 29 November 2008, 20:39 GMT]
"The Colombo government is embarked upon a killing spree of children and women in refugee camps who are already victims of war, displacement, cyclone and floods. This act of 'state terrorism' is in what way less deplorable than the Mumbai killings, for failing to attract condemnation and action from the International Community," asks Padmini Sithamparanathan, Tamil National Alliance MP for Jaffna.
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Tamil civilian shot dead in Batticaloa district

[TamilNet, Saturday, 29 November 2008, 15:41 GMT]
Unidentified gunmen forcibly took away a Tamil family man from his house in Pankudaave’li area in Karadiyanaa’ru police division Friday around 12:00 p.m and shot him killed, police said. Meanwhile, a Tamil youth shot and seriously injured by unknown armed men in Ea’raavoor police division Thursday night succumbed to his wounds Friday night in Batticaloa Teaching Hospital.
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