Bishop raises concern over education in East

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 September 2006, 20:53 GMT]
Rt.Rev.Dr.Kingsley Swampillai, the Bishop of Trincomalee-Batticaloa diocese, and Thurairatnasingham, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parlimentarian for Trincomalee, brought to the urgent attention of Mr. Mahinda Samarasinghe, the Minister for Diaster Management and Human Rights, the dire state of education of children in several villages in the East, and the difficulties faced by people relocated by war.
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SLA sustains heavy losses in fresh offensive

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 September 2006, 12:48 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s military launched a ground offensive Saturday against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) territory in the northern Jaffna peninsula, after bombarding the area for two days. At least 25 Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers were killed and around 125 wounded, informed military sources said. Wounded soldiers in more than five busses were rushed to Palaly and airlifted elsewhere for treatment. The artillery attacks ceased around noon as SLA forces were evacuating the wounded troopers.
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Rajapakse hails Sampoor ‘capture’

[TamilNet, Monday, 04 September 2006, 08:20 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troops have advanced into Sampur village in the LTTE-controlled part of the eastern Trincomalee district and are consolidating their positions, the government said Monday in Colombo. LTTE political officials in Trincomalee said fighting was ongoing in the Sampoor region. “This is a severe breach of the ceasefire agreement with the Sri Lankan military taking LTTE-controlled areas,” S. Puleedevan, head of the LTTE peace secretariat, told Reuters. “They are not honoring the ceasefire agreement. They are forcing it to the brink of collapse,” he added. “On our side we are fully committed to it.”
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LTTE seeks road supply to Jaffna civilians

[TamilNet, Thursday, 31 August 2006, 14:16 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers are ready to allow food and medicine for the civilians in Jaffna to be transported by road through the Vanni, to ease the difficulties of the population there, LTTE officials told the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Wednesday. Agreement on the use of a sea route to the peninsula is proving problematic as the Sri Lanka military is seeking to resupply its garrison there under the guise of aid for civilians, LTTE officials said.
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Sampoor battle: toll mounts

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 29 August 2006, 08:18 GMT]
Sri Lankan military Tuesday continued its new offensive for the second day against the Tamil Tiger controlled region of Sampoor in the Trincomalee district. Around 50 Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers had been killed and 108 wounded so far, LTTE officials claimed Tuesday afternoon. They said 12 LTTE fighters have been killed and 15 injured. But the military says it has killed 66 Tigers and lost 13 troops. A civilian, wounded on Monday, succumbed to injuries Tuesday. 21 fleeing IDP's have been killed during the past 30 hours in artillery and aerial bombardment, according to LTTE officials.
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Tamil News Manager abducted in Colombo

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 29 August 2006, 02:50 GMT]
Nadarajah Kuruparan, News Manager of Sooriyan FM Radio broadcast from Colombo and the programme leader of popular weekly programme, Viluthukal, in Sooriyan FM, is reported missing since Tuesday morning around 4:30 a.m., Dehiwale Police said. Mr. Nadarajah Kuruparan, a senior Tamil news editor, was on his way to work in his car, when he was reported missing 300 meters away from his house, on Pinthali Road. Journalist associations and Free Media Movement in Colombo held an urgent protest calling for the release of Kuruparan in front of Colombo Fort Tuesday from 12:30 p.m. till 13:30 p.m.
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Dozens killed in new Sri Lankan offensive on Sampoor

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 August 2006, 11:38 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s military launched a major offensive Monday to capture Tamil Tiger controlled Sampoor in the Trincomalee district. Bombs and shells have killed at least 20 civilians and wounded 26 more, LTTE sources in Sampoor told TamilNet. At least 11 SLA soldiers were killed and 79 wounded, AFP reported. The objective of the offensive was to capture Sampoor and Thoppur area, Sri Lanka Army (SLA) commander Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka told The Associated Press. The LTTE's Military Spokesman Irasaiah Ilanthirayan told Reuters the Sri Lankan government was trying to resume a full-scale war.
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Thamilchelvan thanks Nordic EU Members

[TamilNet, Friday, 25 August 2006, 13:37 GMT]
The outgoing Head of Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission Major General Ulf Henricsson and the newly appointed Acting Head of Mission, Major General Lars Johan Sølvberg, met Liberation Tigers Political Head Mr. S. P. Thamilchelvan in Kilinochchi Friday evening. Mr. Thamilchelvan, on behalf of the LTTE leadership, thanked Maj. Gen. Ulf Henricsson for his courageous and determined efforts, at the risk of his own safety, to resolve the Maavilaru dispute and thanked the truce monitors of Nordic EU Member States for their "four and a half year profound service."
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Cowardly act, says Vallipunam survivor

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 August 2006, 07:54 GMT]
Paranthan Hindu Mahavidyalam student, Mary Arulappan Juliet, 18, a survivor of the August 14 Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) Kfir jet attack which killed 51 girls and four staff at Sencholai children's home campus in Vallipunam in Mullaithivu district, in an interview to TamilNet Tuesday, said the attack was a "cowardly act," and appealed to the International Community to unreservedly condemn the Sri Lanka Government for the attack on school girls.
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53 Division bears brunt of war

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 August 2006, 12:10 GMT]
Amid continuing heavy fighting in the northern Jaffna peninsula, hundreds of wounded Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers have been brought to hospitals in and around Colombo, with hundreds more awaiting transfer from Anuradhapura, medical sources in the capital said Saturday. While the government officially says 106 soldiers have been killed in a week of fighting, defence sources in Colombo said Friday the bodies of more than 400 soldiers had been brought to the south. They said the majority of the casualties have been borne by the SLA’s elite 53 Division.
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SLA denies medical treatment to Jaffna injured civilians

[TamilNet, Thursday, 17 August 2006, 03:43 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Army (SLA) blocked attempts by the Government Agent (GA) of Jaffna District, K.Ganesh, to transport injured civilians in Thenmaradchi and in the Islands to the hospitals, and remove the dead bodies from the area, Jaffna Secretariat sources said.
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SL Military had 'precise coordinates' of bombed peace zone

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 15 August 2006, 11:32 GMT]
The site bombed by Sri Lankan jets on Monday had been designated a humanitarian zone and the LTTE had passed its coordinates on to the military via the UN children’s agency, UNICEF, and the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC), NGO sources said Tuesday.
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Killed students, participants of leadership workshop - Ilankumaran

[TamilNet, Monday, 14 August 2006, 22:33 GMT]
The Director of Tamileelam Educational Board, V. Ilankumaran, in an interview to TamilNet Monday said that the schoolgirls killed and injured in Monday's Kfir attack were participants in a 10-day residential "Leadership, Self-Awareness and First Aid workshop." More than 400 G.C.E. A/L students from 18 different schools in Kilinochchi, Mullaithivu, and Oddusuddan Educational Zones, and selected girls from other educational organisations took part in the annual programme, Mr. Ilankumaran said. According to the timetable of the course, 7:00 a.m. on Monday, the time the air-strike took place, was the time of morning-assembly.
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Muhamalai overrun, battle on Mandaithivu

[TamilNet, Saturday, 12 August 2006, 07:11 GMT]
Heavy fighting is reported at different locations in the southern Jaffna peninsula between Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troops and the Liberation Tigers. The Voice of Tigers (VoT) radio confirmed that LTTE forces repelling SLA offensive towards Elephant Pass have now broken through SLA forward defence lines (FDLs) at Muhamalai. But Jaffna correspondents quoted military sources as saying that FDLs had been "breached in several locations." SLA artillery and Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) jets are bombing Mandathivu island, which LTTE officials say had been prepared as a launch pad for another offensive into Vanni.
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Muhamalai, Pallai residents flee to Kilinochchi

[TamilNet, Saturday, 12 August 2006, 02:25 GMT]
Residents of Muhamalai, Pallai through Iyakachchi on A9 highway are fleeing for safety towards Kilinochchi. Two elderly refugees, Mrs. Thavamanithevi Mahalingam, 56, mother of 5 children, and Seran Selliah, 85, who trekked, found transport to Kilinochchi under severe duress, detailed their ordeal to TamilNet reporter. Sri Lanka Army (SLA) shells were targeted to hit A9, fleeing civilians said.
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Tiger aircraft rockets Palaly base, curfew in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 11 August 2006, 15:53 GMT]
At least one unidentified aircraft flew over the Sri Lankan military base at Palaly firing rockets at around 9.30 p.m. Friday, sources in Jaffna town said. Sri Lanka Army (SLA) artillery fire being directed from the base stopped after the attack, the sources said. Meanwhile a curfew has been clamped on Jaffna town. The LTTE has vowed to repel the SLA offensive on the Elephant Pass area.
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"Objective accomplished, forces returned to CFA positions" - LTTE

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 August 2006, 11:04 GMT]
The militay spokesman of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Irasaiah Ilanthiayan, told TamilNet that the LTTE troops, by midnight Friday, returned to their original positions as per February 22, 2002 Ceasefire Agreement. 32 LTTE fighters, including a Lieutinent Colonel and another senior cadre of the Tigers were killed in the operation that excerted a military pressure to Colombo's military offensive to resolve a civilian dispute, Mr. Ilanthirayan said. Two SLN Dvora Fast Attack Crafts (FACs) were destroyed and sunk, 3 boats were damaged. Mortars, Light Machine Guns and ammunitions were seized.
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Sinhalese settlers demand evacuation from Somapura

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 August 2006, 06:52 GMT]
Thousands of Sinhalese settlers from the southern sectors of Trincomalee district have demanded safe evacuation from the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) controlled areas, civil sources in Somapura said. The local authorities have contacted the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) to facilitate evacuation from the southern sector where the SLA offensive towards Mavil Aaru was launched. Meanwhile, initial reports reaching from Kiliveddy said Muttur civilians, carrying white flags, have started to reach Kiliveddy area. However, the ICRC coordinator, Davide Vignati, in Colombo has told media that a formal cessation of hostilities for a limited time frame is yet to be established.
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Muttur hospital closed down due to artillery fire

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 August 2006, 11:59 GMT]
Muttur district government hospital has been closed down as its maternity ward was hit by artillery fire, Wednesday afternoon. Medical officers, nurses, attendants and health workers fled from the hospital seeking safety, sources in Muttur said. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka Navy stationed in Trincomalee base stepped up its artillery and mortar fire towards Muttur east villages, from 4 p.m, Wednesday. The Tigers also reported to have fired artillery shells towards the SLN base in Trincomalee.
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Tigers overrun four SLA camps in Trincomalee, enter Muttur

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 August 2006, 02:35 GMT]
Fighting formations of the Liberation Tigers have overrun four key locations in Trincomalee district after fierce artillery shelling since 2:00 a.m. Wednesday. Sri Lanka Army (SLA) camps in Kaddaiparichchan, Palathoppu, Pachchanoor and Mahindapura have been overrun, civilian sources said. Heavily armed LTTE fighters were seen entering Muttur town. Military sources in Colombo remained tightlipped and declined to comment on the ground situation. Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) Kfir jets continued to bomb LTTE controlled Sampoor area. Fierce fighting is also reported near Kallaru where attempt by SLA forces to capture the Mavil Aaru sluice gates was averted, according to initial reports.
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