Police detain 8 Tamil youths in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 December 2008, 17:14 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and police, assisted by paramilitary men, arrested eight Tamil youths in a joint cordon and search conducted Sunday night in Kokkaddichchoalai, Batticaloa town, Kaaththaankudi and Ea’raavoor police divisions. More than 900 houses were searched while nearly 4000 persons were interrogated during the operation, police media spokesman said.
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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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4 STF commandos killed in Ampaa'rai - LTTE

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 December 2008, 08:03 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) official Nilavan in Ampaa'rai on Sunday said four Sri Lankan Special Task Force (STF) commandos were killed in mine explosions set up by the Tiger fighters in the morning while the STF commandos were engaged in a big search operation in Kagnchikudichchaa'ru jungle area.
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SLA death toll hits 120, army pushed back to Malaiyaa'lapuram - LTTE

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 December 2008, 16:18 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) officials told TamilNet correspondent in Vanni Thursday that the two-pronged SLA offensive on Ki'inochchi was pushed back Wednesday after heavy fighting in Puthumu'rippu in the west of Ki'linochchi and A'riviyal Nakar in the south. The final death toll of the SLA in both the fronts, according to the LTTE claim, was 120 killed in action and more than 280 wounded. Photographs given by the LTTE officials also indicate that there were some young recruits of the SLA among the dead. Meanwhile, the SLA, which admitted heavy fighting, has put the casualties at 20 SLA and 27 LTTE combatants as killed in the latest fighting.
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Somalia comparison irks Colombo

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 December 2008, 01:49 GMT]
Following the statement from John Campbell, a World Food Program (WFP) official, reporting from LTTE-held Tharmapuram to the BBC, that conditions there are "as basic as in Somalia," WFP country director for Sri Lanka, Adnan Khan, had reportedly said Mr Campbell was giving a "personal opinion." Peter Foster, in his column in UK Telegraph says Campbell has stepped unwittingly into the minefield of Sri Lankan politics, and adds "this piece of mealy-mouthism [of Khan] reflects the invidious position of all aid agencies in Sri Lanka, and particularly the UN which I know from personal contacts has a rocky relationship with the Sri Lankan government."
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90 SLA killed in two fronts of Ki'linochchi - LTTE

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 December 2008, 15:12 GMT]
More than 60 SLA soldiers were killed and 12 SLA bodies recovered by the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) defensive units, 5 km west of Ki'linochchi Wednesday after defeating the SLA formations that attempted to advance from Oottuppu'lam to Puthumu'rippu, Tiger officials said. At the same time, a heavy fighting broke out at A'riviyal Nakar, south of Ki'linochchi, where 29 SLA soldiers were killed in the clashes. The Tigers have seized four AK-LMGs, two PK-LMGs and eleven T-56 assault rifles with ammunitions in the clearing mission at Puthumu'rippu Wednesday afternoon.
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STF commando injured in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 December 2008, 07:03 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) triggered an explosive device targeting a unit of Special Task Force (STF) commandos engaged in road patrol at Iluppaiyadichcheanai along Chengaladi-Badulla road Tuesday around 11:30 a.m, seriously injuring one of them, sources in Batticaloa said. The injured commando was first rushed to Chengkaladi hospital and then transferred to Pollana’ruvai hospital for further treatment.
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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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Refugees housed in Kurunakar 'Rehabilitation centre' relocated to Koappaay

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 December 2008, 14:32 GMT]
42 families consisting of 132 persons who had fled to Jaffna peninsula from the ongoing war in Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) held territories and placed in Kurunakar Refugee Camp were transferred to Koappaay Government Teachers Training College premises. These families were moved from Kurunakar as their camp on the coastal area faced the risk of flooding according to warnings issued, Jaffna Secretariat sources said.
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STF commando killed in Ampaa'rai clash - LTTE

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 December 2008, 13:36 GMT]
A Sri Lankan Special Task Force (STF) commando was killed and two sustained serious injuries Monday morning at 8:50 when Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) fighters clashed with the STF in the jungle of Kagnchikudichchaa'ru in Ampaa'rai, the Tigers have claimed.
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Women in protective custody, transferred to SLA detention centre, fear for safety

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 December 2008, 00:40 GMT]
The women and children who faced death threats in Jaffna from the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and its paramilitary and placed under protective custody through the Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission in Jaffna at Kurunakar Rehabilitation Centre have been suddenly moved to the detention camp run by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) inside its High Security Zone in Thellippazhai. The women and children are being denied the opportunity of meeting their family members besides fear for their safety, according to legal sources in Jaffna. They have appealed to the team of Magistrates who visited the camp to relocate them to a protection facility in Jaffna city.
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Senior Tamil Journalist Joe Ariyanayagam passes away in Colombo

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 December 2008, 15:30 GMT]
“Joseph Gnanapragasam Ariyaratnam, popularly known as Joe, was a senior English journalist in Jaffna peninsula who did an excellent service to the people of the peninsula in conveying their true situation to the international community and his death is a great loss to the Tamil people as well as the media,” North Ceylon Journalist Association (NCJA) said in its tribute message Saturday. Joe Ariyaratnam passed away in a private hospital in Colombo Friday where he was being treated for his illness. Free Media Movement (FMM) is making arrangements to have Joe’s remains flown to his residence in Chu’ndikkuzhi Wednesday.
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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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CID-grilled TNA parliamentarians asked to appear in courts

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 December 2008, 06:31 GMT]
Colombo Chief Magistrate, Nishantha Happuarachchi on Friday ordered the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to seek the legal opinion regarding a complaint made by the Inspector General of Police (IGP) alleging the three Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians that they have made speeches in a Pongku Thamizh ceremony held in Germany in 2006, violating the Sri Lankan Constitution and the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA).
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SLAF, SLA bombardment targets Ki'linochchi suburbs

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 December 2008, 01:19 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) on Friday launched artillery fire towards Ki'linochchi town, its suburbs, Paranthan and Vaddakkachchi as Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombers targeted Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) defence lines along the suburbs of Ki'linochchi, according to the sources in Vanni.
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2 STF killed in Batticaloa ambush - LTTE

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 December 2008, 12:13 GMT]
A Sri Lankan Special Task Force (STF) officer and a commando were killed at Karadiyanaa'ru in Batticaloa district Thursday around 12:30 p.m. when Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) fighters clashed with the STF engaged in a search operation, the Tigers have claimed from Batticaloa.
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‘No ceasefire’ - UNP

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 December 2008, 20:05 GMT]
Military offensives aimed at curbing the LTTE should be continued and a ceasefire won't be necessary until the offensives come to an end, Sri Lanka’s main opposition United National Party (UNP) said Thursday. The UNP’s Badulla District MP Laksman Seneviratne told Parliament during a debate on the defence budget that this was the stance of his party, the website lankadissent.com reported. The vote was passed by 114 to 14, reports said.
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HRW: Colombo abuses anti-terror laws to muzzle media

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 December 2008, 08:59 GMT]
Accusing Sri Lanka Government for “shamefully using antiterrorism laws to silence peaceful critics in the media," Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a press release Monday that, "[t]his is no way for a government that claims to be a rights-respecting democracy to act." HRW demanded Colombo to drop charges and free J.S. Tissainayagam, a prominent Tamil journalist on trial for his writings, and Tamil publisher couple N. Jasiaharan and V.Valarmathy who were also arbitrarily arrested.
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SLA, LTTE clash in Kumizhamunai, Tigers recover SLA body

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 03 December 2008, 16:04 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) fighters on Tuesday recovered a dead body of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and seized a AK-LMG in the clearing mission after repulsing the SLA that attempted to advance from Kumizhamunai towards A'lampil in Mullaiththeevu, Tiger officials told media in Vanni.
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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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