19 Tamils arrested in Gampaha, Kandy

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 August 2008, 11:41 GMT]
Nineteen Tamil civilians were arrested in two separate cordon and search operations conducted by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and police since Sunday evening till morning on Monday at Gampaha and Kandy towns, police sources said.
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SLA fires artillery on LTTE positions in Poonakari

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 August 2008, 18:50 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) from its bases located on the coast of Jaffna lagoon began Sunday from around 6:00 p.m artillery fire directed towards Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) held Poonakari.
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2 female corpses recovered in Thenmaraadchi

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 August 2008, 17:08 GMT]
Kodikaamam police, directed by Chaavakachcheari magistrate, handed over two female bodies to Jaffna Teaching Hospital Sunday evening for identification. Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troops in Ki’laali Front Defence Line (FDL) positions in Thenmaraadchi had handed over the two bodies to the police claiming that they belonged to two female combatants of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the police said.
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NPM opposes granting police, land powers to PCs

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 August 2008, 01:41 GMT]
The National Patriotic Movement (NPM), an extreme Sinhala nationalist organization, said Friday that it would launch a struggle if the government accedes to the demand to devolve land and police powers to provincial councils. "Granting of such powers to provincial councils is tantamount to granting Tamil Eelam to Velupillai Pirapaharan,"said Dr.Gunadasa Amarasekara, President of NPM at a press briefing held in Colombo.
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HRW: Tissanayagam's detention violates international law

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 August 2008, 11:03 GMT]
Expressing deep concern at Sri Lanka Government's "disregard for Sri Lankan and international law," the Human Rights Watch (HRW), a New York based rights watchdog, in a press release issued Friday said, Tissainayagam and two others arrested by Sri Lanka's Terrrorism Investigation Division (TID) "have spent more than 150 days in custody, yet no charges have been filed and no evidence of any crime has been produced...If the authorities have no credible basis to charge Tissainayagam and the two others, they should be immediately released.”
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Sri Lanka steps up offensive in Ma'nalaa'ru, LTTE recovers SLA dead bodies

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 August 2008, 06:50 GMT]
LTTE officials told TamilNet Thursday that their defensive formations seized arms and ammunition after pushing back the SLA troops that attempted to advance further into LTTE territory in Ma'nalaa'ru (Weli Oya) region. Four dead bodies of the SLA were also recovered by the Tigers. Arrangements were underway to hand over the dead bodies through the ICRC, according to the LTTE officials.
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Child killed, Mullaiththeevu GA wounded in SLA shelling

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 August 2008, 05:54 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) launched an indiscriminate artillery barrage in the early hours of Friday. Official residences of Mullaiththeevu District Secretary (Government Agent) and the doctors of Mullaiththeevu hospital, located inside the hospital premises were hit by the shelling. The artillery barrage killed an 18-month-old baby and caused injuries to 16 civilians, including the GA, Ms. Imelda Sukumar, who was at her official residence and Medical Superintendent Dr. V. Shanmugarajah's wife, hospital officials told TamilNet. Meanwhile, the Director of LTTE's Peace Secretariat S. Puleedevan, blamed the Sri Lankan government for repeatedly violating the Geneva Conventions during its offensive.
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Sinhalese woman detained under PTA, in Colombo

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 August 2008, 11:37 GMT]
Sri Lanka Defense Ministry has served a detention order with effect from Tuesday till August 14 under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) on a Sinhalese woman, Kamali Krishanthi Perera, of Pamankade in Colombo, for allegedly providing accommodation to a suspected suicide bomber of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Colombo, media sources said.
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2 civilians killed in SLA shelling in Vadmaraadchi East

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 August 2008, 08:00 GMT]
A 45-year-old father of three and a 30-year-old father of one were killed Wednesday morning when Sri Lanka Army (SLA) fired artillery shells targeted civilian settlements, fishing huts and the stretch along the coast in Vettilaikkea'ni in Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) controlled Vadamaraadchi East of Jaffna district. One civilian was wounded in the shelling and rushed to hospital, according to initial reports from Vadamaraadchi East.
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Tigers seize weapons, recover 2 SLA dead bodies in Ve'l'laangku'lam

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 August 2008, 06:49 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) have recovered two dead bodies of Sri Lanka Army soldiers, including one of of an 18-year-old soldier, following intense fighting on Sunday in Ve'l'laangku'lam and seized a Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG) Launcher, a T-56 assault rifle, ammunitions and accessories. The SLA has suffered heavy losses in three clashes at Ve'l'laangku'lam. Meanwhile, a heavy fighting was continuing at Paalamoaaddai front in Vavuniyaa, where at least 10 SLA soldiers were killed Monday, according to LTTE officials in Vanni.
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SLA blocks resettlement in Valikaamam HSZ

[TamilNet, Sunday, 03 August 2008, 01:45 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Jaffna has refused to allow resettlement in areas inside the High Security Zone (HSZ), but has given permission to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) to settle in the no-man's area adjoining the Front Defence Line (FDL) area in Valikaamam north, sources in Jaffna said.
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Hostility will turn towards Sri Lanka's soldiers, says Janaka Perera

[TamilNet, Saturday, 02 August 2008, 14:22 GMT]
"Those who congratulated me when I successfully led the military operation against the LTTE in the war front have been now carrying out a slandering campaign against me. Soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army now moving forward in the war front against LTTE are also to face same fate in future," said Major General (retd) Janaka Perera, chief candidate of the main opposition United National Party (UNP) addressing a press briefing held in Anuradhapura Friday.
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Tamil Nadu opinion poll calls for independent Eezham

[TamilNet, Saturday, 02 August 2008, 07:18 GMT]
A majority of voters decided that an independent Thamizh Eezham is the solution to the Sri Lankan crisis and solicited support to the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) in a significant opinion poll conducted by Ananda Vikatan, a popular weekly of Tamil Nadu state in India. The outcome of the poll and its appearance in an influential media, foretell shifting paradigms in Tamil Nadu scenario, according to observers.
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30 SLA killed, offensive thwarted, Tigers locate SLA dead bodies

[TamilNet, Saturday, 02 August 2008, 01:59 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam officials in Vanni told TamilNet that their defensive formations at Mallaavi thwarted Friday a three-pronged Sri Lanka Army (SLA) offensive, which was launched from Vavunikku'lam and Paalaiyadi targeting Mallaavi. At least 30 SLA soldiers were killed and more than 60 troopers sustained injuries in an intense fighting, according to the Tigers. 3 dead bodies of SLA soldiers were also recovered by the Tigers. An SLA vehicle, one AK-LMG with rounds, one RPG launcher with shells, a mortar, eleven T-56 assault rifles were seized by the Tigers.
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Member of European Parliament envisages converting Tamils to Buddhism

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 July 2008, 20:45 GMT]
"Frequently now I wonder whether Sri Lanka would have been a much more peaceful and much more homogeneous place if say 40% or so of the Tamil speaking population had been Buddhists and not exclusively Hindu or Christian. Is taking the Buddhist religion to Tamil people such a difficult task?" wonders Niranjan de Silva Deva-Aditya, Member of European Parliament (MEP) from U.K. and Honorary Ambassador-at-Large for Sri Lanka, in a statement after his recent visit to Sri Lanka as Vice-Chairman of the EU delegation. The Sinhala speaking MEP is tagged with a title, 'Vishwa Keerthi Sri Lanka Abhimani' (universally famous pride of Sri Lanka), bestowed onto him by the Buddhist clergy of Sri Lanka.
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NPC urges GoSL to relax embargo on peace envoys visit to Vanni

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 July 2008, 01:28 GMT]
National Peace Council, a Colombo-based peace group, on Tuesday said that the absence of positive responses by the International Community to the offers of talks and ceasefires was indicative of a credibility problem. Urging both the parties reassess their past behaviour and to find ways to rebuild their credibility, the NPC said the ceasefire offer by the LTTE, regardless of its motivations, is not to be lightly rejected and urged the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) to relax its embargo on peace emissaries going into the Vanni.
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SLAF fighter jets bomb Ki'linochchi

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 July 2008, 01:07 GMT]
Two Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombers dropped at least four bombs Wednesday morning between 6:20 and 6:35 a.m. targeting Thiruvaiyaa'ru, 4 km east of Ki'linochchi. The aerial strike comes as the Sri Lankan government has rejected to respect the unilateral ceasefire announced by the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) in connection with the SAARC summit taking place in Colombo from 26 July to 04 August.
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LTTE to hand over dead body of SLA DPU soldier

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 July 2008, 15:44 GMT]
LTTE officials in Ki'inochchi on Monday said a unit of the Peoples Force of Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (PF-LTTE) had recovered the dead body of a Sri Lanka Army Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol (LRRP) soldier who was killed following the recent attack in Kokkaavil where Deputy Planning Director of Poonakari Divisional Secretariat, Santhalingam Vimalakumar, was slain in a Claymore attack on Friday. Meanwhile, four of the thirty dead bodies were handed over to the LTTE through the ICRC by the SLA, were not identified as belonging to LTTE fighters, the Tigers said.
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SLA offensive repulsed in Paalamoaddai - LTTE

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 July 2008, 15:19 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) officials in Vanni told media Monday that a Sri Lanka Army (SLA) ground movement in Paalamoaddai in Vavuniyaa into LTTE controlled territory was repulsed by the Tigers after confrontations that lasted from 3:35 p.m. till 4:45 p.m. Five SLA soldiers were killed and seven wounded in the confrontations, according to LTTE officials.
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SLA fires artillery, MBRL from Northern Front

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 July 2008, 14:48 GMT]
A barrage of heavy artillery and Multi Barrel Rocket Launcher (MBRL) fire from the Northern Front was launched by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Sunday and Monday into Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) controlled territory in Iyakkachchi, Pazhai and Vadamaraadchi East villages despite no provocation from the LTTE side, sources in Ki'linochchi said.
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