TNA parliamentarians continue sit-in-protest third day

[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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SLMM to release report on Pottuvil massacre next week

[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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STF shells Tsunami transit centres in Thandiyady, Amparai

[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.
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Chandrakanthan sworn in as TNA national list parliamentarian

[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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Thileepan, Shankar commemorated in NorthEast

[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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Police Constable shot dead in Batticaloa

[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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"White van" squad kills TNA MP's bodyguard

[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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Jaffna terrorized, held hostage by fear- TNA

[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.
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Elections to 42 local bodies in NE postponed

[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.
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Grenade attack injures three workers in Amparai

[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.
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Britain urges citizens to leave Northeast

[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.
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Police deny SLMM access to sole survivor – paper

[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.”
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STF shoots Muslim protestors in Ullai, 14 wounded

[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.
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Pottuvil massacre survivor alive, conflicting reports

[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.
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Muslim leaders condemn Pottuvil massacre

[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.
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Massacre survivor dies, Amparai shuts down

[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.
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Muslims want STF out of Pottuvil

[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.
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Muslim protestors stone STF over Pottuvil massacre

[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.
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Tigers blame Sri Lanka for Pottuvil killings

[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."
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10 Muslims massacred, one wounded, one missing in Pottuvil

[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.
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