New York Tamils hold sports festival for children

[TamilNet, Monday, 31 July 2006, 00:50 GMT]
The Arts and Cultural branch of the World Tamil Organization in New York held its Ninth annual children's sports festival at the Jamaica High School sports facilities in Jamaica New York Saturday starting from 10:00 a.m. More than 200 children from Staten Island, Queens, Brooklyn, Bronx and New Jersey areas took part in the festival, organizers said.
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Men in white van abduct fisherman in Pt.Pedro

[TamilNet, Saturday, 22 July 2006, 09:20 GMT]
A young fisherman was abducted by armed persons in a white van in Pt.Pedro in the Vadamaradchi sector of the Jaffna peninsula, around 8.30 a.m, Saturday, local residents said.
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Jeyananthamoorthy MP's house attacked

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 July 2006, 16:57 GMT]
Two Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPG) were fired into the house of Batticaloa Member of Parliament (MP) for Tamil National Alliance, S. Jeyananthamoorthy, Friday at 9:15 p.m. The parliamentarian, his wife and two children with their relatives, narrowly escaped the attack that caused damage to the roof of the house located in Batticaloa town. A policeman providing security was wounded in the attack.
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Young woman shot dead in Jaffna town

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 July 2006, 13:53 GMT]
A young woman was shot dead by unidentified gunmen, riding a motorbike, in front of Nathan cinema at Kanthapasegaram road in the Jaffna town centre, around 1:15 p.m., Friday, police said.
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SLA shelling injures civilian in Vakaneri

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 18 July 2006, 06:17 GMT]
A civilian was injured when shells fired Sri Lanka Army soldiers from Punani camp hit Vakaneri, about 37 km. northwest of Batticaloa, Monday morning. More than 50 shells hit the village, Dayamohan, Batticaloa district LTTE political head told TamilNet.
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Lt.Seelan remembered in Muttur east

[TamilNet, Sunday, 16 July 2006, 14:53 GMT]
Twenty third death anniversary of Charles Anthony (nom de guerre Lt Seelan), the LTTE first martyr from Trincomalee district and the first attack commander of the LTTE, was observed Saturday evening at Lt.Seelan Memorial Hall in Muttur east. Mr.S.Elilan, LTTE Trincomalee district political head delivered the keynote address, sources said.
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12 Sri Lankan troops, 4 Tigers killed in Vakaneri, SLA trooper captured

[TamilNet, Friday, 14 July 2006, 06:27 GMT]
At least 12 Sri Lankan troopers were killed when Liberation Tigers confronted a Sri Lanka Army (SLA) unit, comprising at least 100 soldiers, that had moved 5 km inside LTTE controlled territory in Batticaloa district. Four LTTE cadres were killed and six wounded in the fighting in Vakaneri, 37 km northwest of Batticaloa town. The bodies of twelve SLA soldiers were recovered by the Tigers, P. Dayamohan, the Batticaloa district LTTE political head told TamilNet. One Lance Corporal of the SLA has been captured alive by the LTTE. SLA sources in Colombo claimed that a group of SLA soldiers who were on a search and clear operation have gone missing in Vakaneri.
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Two SLA troopers injured in Jaffna attacks

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 July 2006, 14:32 GMT]
Two Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troops were injured in two attacks on SLA troops and an incident of firefight was reported between the SLA and unknown gunmen in Jaffna district Sunday, sources in Jaffna said. No one was injured in a shooting incident in Nelliady, Point-Pedro area Sunday.
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Rajapakse will disarm Karuna if LTTE accepts direct peace deal- paper

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 June 2006, 12:50 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse has intimated to the editor of Jaffna daily Uthayan, N. Vithyatharan, to exchange messages with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to strike a deal for starting direct talks with the LTTE, with the intention of bypassing the facilitation of Royal Government of Norway, a leading broadsheet in Colombo, Sunday Leader said in its latest edition. Mr Rajapakse had said that he will disarm Karuna Group if his proposed two week peace-deal is accepted by the LTTE, the paper said.
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Aerial bombardment tantamounts to undeclared war, says Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 June 2006, 10:17 GMT]
S. P. Thamilchelvan, the political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on Wednesday said the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) was yet to respond to LTTE's warning that the provocative air attacks, if continued, would be retaliated. "Aerial bombardment is interpreted as undeclared war on the Tamil nation," he told media after concluding a meeting with the Norwegian Ambassador Hans Brattskar, clarifying the LTTE's response to Norway's five questions. "Colombo, obsessed with going to war with the Tamil Nation, has already begun to impose economic blockade on the Tamil homeland," LTTE's Political Head told media.
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EU ban decision primitive, says Danish Peace Council

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 June 2006, 17:09 GMT]
"Denmark should follow Norway and not European Union in this question [of working with both parties to the conflict]. We are part of a Nordic peace mission and that gives us much better ways to support peace than EU's labelling policy which I see as very primitive. This situation shows the world need neutral Scandinavian countries to promote peace," said Lave K. Broch, vice president of Danish peace council, commenting on violence following the EU ban of LTTE.


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40,000 child prostitutes in Sri Lanka, says Child Rights Group

[TamilNet, Monday, 12 June 2006, 04:14 GMT]
Sri Lanka has nearly 40,000 child prostitutes and more than 100,000 children working as domestic aides, the National Child Protection Agency (NCPA) in Colombo said quoting statistics revealed by UNICEF and ILO, Colombo daily "Daily Mirror" reported in its Monday edition. The International Labor Organization (ILO) marked 12 June as "World Day Against Child Labor" to focus world attention on the urgent need to eradicate child labor.
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Dispute over delegation makeup derails LTTE, GoSL meeting

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 June 2006, 18:22 GMT]
Head of the LTTE’s Political Wing, Mr. S. P. Thamilchelvan, met top Norwegian officials and the head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) for over an hour Thursday evening. Mr. Thamilchelvan told TamilNet that the LTTE had come to Oslo to discuss the future of the SLMM with Norway. However, although Head of the LTTE’s Peace Secretariat, S. Puleedevan, was prepared to meet his counterpart, Palitha Kohona, heading the Sri Lankan delegation, but as Colombo continued to insist senior members of the LTTE be included in LTTE delegation, the LTTE-GoSL meeting did not take place, Thamilchelvan said.
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EU ban will impact the Peace Process - Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 May 2006, 05:21 GMT]
Pointing out that the Liberation Tigers never pulled out from the Geneva-II talks and that it was the obstacles that the Government of Sri Lanka introduced after willfully changing the procedures for the inter-theater transfer of LTTE's military commanders that derailed Geneva-II, S.P. Thamilchelvan, Head of LTTE's Political Wing, said in an interview with TamilNet on Saturday that EU's ban will impact the functioning of the monitors from EU countries, and the "decommissioning or abdication of arms is non-negotiable."
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LTTE to reconsider CFA if EU bans the movement

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 May 2006, 10:18 GMT]
Liberation Tigers will be forced to reconsider the relevance of the Cease Fire Agreement (CFA) to the peace process, and LTTE's committment and adherence to the CFA, if the European Union carries out its threat of proscribing the LTTE, S.P. Thamilchelvan, Head of LTTE's Political Wing, told TamilNet after meeting Norwegian Special Peace Envoy Jon Hanssen-Bauer in Kilinochchi on Saturday.
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NEIAP Deputy Project Director assassinated in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 May 2006, 10:19 GMT]
Duputy Project Director (DPD) of the World Bank assisted North East Irrigated Agriculture Project (NEIAP), Ratnam Ratnarajah, 48, was shot and killed by paramilitary cadres near his residence in Sri Lanka Army controlled Kalviyankadu, north of Batticaloa town at 14:15 p.m. Informed officers close to the slain NEIAP official, said, Mr. Ratnarajah, a disciplined and committed Director, was receiving a series of threatening phone calls allegedly from paramilitary operatives, asking the Director to employ Karuna group paramilitary Markan's relatives in NEIAP clerical positions.
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Sri Lanka gambles on EU ban taming Tigers

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 May 2006, 16:02 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapakse this week hailed the expected proscription of the Liberation Tigers by the European Union next week, saying it would compel the LTTE to the negotiating table and Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera called on Middle Eastern countries to also proscribe the LTTE. But the LTTE warns that further proscriptions will precipitate the objective conditions for renewed war.
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SLA detains two youths in Karaveddy

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 May 2006, 13:33 GMT]
Two youths who were waiting at a bus stop at Puraporukki along Jaffna Point-Pedro road in Karaveddy were arrested by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers during a search operation Thursday, local residents said. The youths were immediatley flown to Palaly military base. The SLA authorities in Jaffna said the troops launched a search in the area after they recovered a claymore mine on Jaffna- Pt.Pedro main road, around 10 a.m., Thursday.
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Mannar Dialog telecom users under SL Military surveillance

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 May 2006, 11:39 GMT]
A Special Telecommunication technical team from Sri Lanka Security forces Thursday morning was seen upgrading Base Transceiver Station (BTS) equipment belonging to Dialog Telecom located under the telecom-tower in Mannar, sources from Mannar said. The work was carried under heavy security and was believed to facilitate closer monitoring of a section of cellular users.
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LTTE FDL commander dies in accidental explosion

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 May 2006, 11:17 GMT]
Lt. Col. Veeramani, a former Commander of the Charles Antony Regiment of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), and later a field commanding official, responsible for the Nagarkovil Forward Defence Line (FDL) points, Wednesday night succumbed to his wounds from an accidental explosion, LTTE officials in Kilinochchi said. Lt. Col. Veeramani, who recovered from earlier wounds in the battlefield, has been in charge of FDL points in Nagarkovil.
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