SLA attempt to advance from Ira'naimadu repulsed: Tigers

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 January 2009, 15:12 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) launched an offensive push from Ira'naimadu targeting to enter Vaddakkachchi in Ki'linochchi district Saturday. The Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) officials told reporters in Vanni that their defensive forces repulsed the move. 18 SLA soldiers were killed, 40 wounded and the Tigers seized arms and ammunitions in the clearing mission that followed the 8 hours long fighting.
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IFT calls for redoubling of effort to support Eelam Tamils

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 January 2009, 12:47 GMT]
Accusing the International Community of attempting to "wean Tamil people, both in the Tamil homeland and the Diaspora, away from the LTTE," by advocating the need for a political solution while Kilinochchi is under occupation, International Federation of Tamils (IFT), a Geneva-based umbrella group of expatriate Tamil organizations, in a press release issued today "called upon over 70 million strong world Tamil community to redouble it support to the Eelam Tamils for their struggle to create the State of Tamil Eelam," and interated "that the future State of Tamil Eelam will negotiate with the Sinhala State of Sri Lanka to create a mutually acceptable relationship whereby both Peoples pool their sovereignties to associate with each other for purposes of mutual benefit."
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Sri Lanka steps up aerial bombardment on Vanni

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 January 2009, 11:51 GMT]
Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombers dropped at least 20 bombs in four sorties on Chu'ndikku'lam and the coastal areas on Thursday. Two SLAF bombers dropped 10 bombs at 7:10 a.m., and the bombers returned again two hours later at 9:00 a.m. targeting the same area. Kallaa'ru in the same region was attacked at 11:00 a.m. The bombers returned for the fourth time around 3:00 p.m. to target the same area.
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7 killed, Sri Lankan artillery attack targets civilian centre of Vanni

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 January 2009, 07:52 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army fired artillery shells targeting Tharmapuram Junction, the remaining centre of displaced civilians in Vanni killing at least four and causing injuries to many around 1:20 p.m. on Thursday, after artillery shelling killed three, including a child in Vaddakkachchi. Two of the slain victims were children. The attack has targeted Tharmapuram Junction, which is located 75 meters from the hospital. Tension and chaos prevailed in the hospital, which was full of the wounded civilians, as they were forced to seek shelter from the artillery barrage.
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3 civilians, including child, killed in SLA shelling in Vanni

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 January 2009, 06:26 GMT]
Three civilians, including a child, were killed Thursday morning when Sri Lanka Army (SLA) artillery guns stepped up shelling on densely populated Vaddakkachchi in Vanni, according to initial reports from Tharmapuram hospital. There were three children among the 9 wounded who have been rushed to the hospital.
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Sunday Leader Editor assassinated

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 January 2009, 05:59 GMT]
Lasantha Wikramatunga, the chief editor of the English Weekly Sunday Leader, who was shot by unknown gunmen Thursday morning, has succumbed to his injuries at the hospital. Mr. Lasantha Wikramatuga was shot while he was on his way to work around 9:30 a.m. The newspaper and its editor as well as the editor of Morning Leader have been harassed and threatened continuously during the last three years. All Leader publications are very critical towards the government and exponents of opposition political views. The killing has shocked the journalists who are critical of Rajapaksa government.
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Sri Lanka bans LTTE

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 January 2009, 17:01 GMT]
The Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) has proscribed the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE), one year after it unilaterally withdrew from the February 2002 Cease Fire Agreement (CFA) with the Tigers. The LTTE was banned in 1998, for the first time before Colombo embarked on the futile military exercise of 'Operation Jayasikurui' (Victory Assured) on Vanni mainland. Colombo had to lift the ban in 2002 before entering into the CFA agreement with the Tigers.
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SLA blocks gateway to Vanni civilians for 5th day

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 January 2009, 16:22 GMT]
A woman, wounded in Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombardment on 01 January succumbed to her wounds Monday night and other patients in need of urgent medical transport from Puthukkudiyiruppu to Vavuniyaa with ICRC escort remain blocked for days despite repeated attempts to access the road, which remained under Sri Lanka Army (SLA) artillery fire, as reported earlier. In the meantime, officials at the Government Agent's office in Vavuniyaa told media that the SLA has turned away humanitarian convoys despite their repeated attempts. Civilians in Vanni are refused essential supplies and refused critical medical transport, in violation to Geneva Conventions.
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U.S. statement: 'we don't advocate talks with LTTE'

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 January 2009, 14:25 GMT]
The United States, a member of the Co-Chairs for the Sri Lankan peace process following the February 2002 Ceasefire Agreement brokered by Norway, in a statement issued after the Sri Lanka Army occupation of Ki'inochchi town in Vanni, said it does not advocate the Government of Sri Lanka to negotiate with the LTTE. "The fall of Kilinochchi represents an important point in the 25-year war that has divided Sri Lanka," the U.S. statement said.
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Britain says Ki'linochchi's fall calls for progress on political solution

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 January 2009, 08:06 GMT]
The capture of the former administrative capital of the LTTE by Sri Lankan armed forces makes it even more urgent that all parties achieve progress on setting out a political solution that addresses the "legitimate concerns of all communities," said a statement issued by the British High Commission on January 06. Tamil political observers note that the statement has come after two noteworthy observations in December: the British Defence Attache in Colombo taking part in a trip to Sri Lankan military command in Vanni on 15 December, and the British Minister of State at the Foreign Commonwealth Office, at an adjournment debate in British Parliament, exposing the fact that his government still had faith in the APRC myth created by the Rajapaksa regime.
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RSF condemns attack on Tamil-owned TV station

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 January 2009, 20:37 GMT]
Reporters sans frontiers (RSF), a Paris-based media watchdog, in a press release issued today, condemned the attack on Maharajah Televsions Network (MTV) near Colombo by heavily armed men early morning Tuesday. "Violence and threats against such privately-owned media outlets and journalists trying to impartially report on the conflict must stop," the RSF release said, adding , "[t]he network is one of the country's few, and very popular, independent news sources." Several Sri Lanka Government Ministers and Government owned media have previously charged the network for being not "patriotic" enough in reporting the war between Sri Lanka military and the Liberation Tigers.
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Civilian wounded in shelling, air strike victim succumbs to injuries

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 January 2009, 13:10 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) fired artillery shell caused injuries to a 34-year-old female at Ramanathapuram in Vaddakkachchi Tuesday at 12:45 p.m., while she was fleeing from the area, initial reports from Vanni said. Meanwhle, a female wounded in the air strike on January 01 at Murasumoaddai succumbed to her injuries at Tharmapuram hospital Monday night.
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Peoples support will help surmount challenges: LTTE Political Head

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 January 2009, 08:23 GMT]
Pointing out that Ki'linochchi was where Sri Lanka military has suffered previous historic debacles, LTTE Political Head B. Nadesan, in an interview with TamilNet on Monday dismissed the occupation of the town as an insignificant setback in the context of a liberation struggle, and said, Tamil people’s support has always been LTTE’s strength, and with the moral backing of the global Tamil community the movement will surmount current and future challenges. "We have taken forward our struggle for more than 30 years, solely relying on the support of our people," and reiterated that the Tigers were spearheading the Tamil struggle, which was based on legitimate political aspirations as defined by the democratic mandate in the elections of 1977.
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Indian Naval Personnel to Mullaiththeevu: Thirumavalavan lambasts New Delhi

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 January 2009, 18:08 GMT]
Thirumavalavan, a Tamil nationalist leader and the president of Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) in Tamil Nadu, on Monday condemned the Indian Government for "betraying the entire Tamil people" by sending civil clothed Indian naval personnel to Mullaiththeevu through the Chennai international airport. Addressing the media in Chennai, he said that New Delhi was "totally responsible" for the "ruthless genocide" of Tamils in Sri Lanka. "Even the future generations of Tamils will never forgive the Indian Government for disrespecting the sentiments of 100 million Tamil people," he warned.
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TNA accuses Colombo of war crimes

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 January 2009, 21:06 GMT]
Describing several recent escalation in incidents where Sri Lanka Armed Forces have targetted Tamil civilian during festive days between Christmas and Thaipongal, Tamil National Alliance (TNA), in a press release issued today, said that the "stringent economic, food and medical embargos on the war affected areas," ..."are not only War Crimes in contravention of the Geneva Conventions but are also a part of a policy of Genocide that the Sri Lankan State has been carrying out against the Tamil people." The release also noted with disappointment of the silence of the international community "whilst the Genocide of the Tamil people is taking place," and continuing military assistance of the international states to the Sri Lankan State "using various pretexts."
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Lift ban on the LTTE: Tamil Nadu BJP

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 January 2009, 19:11 GMT]
The Tamil Nadu unit of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the principal opposition party in India, has given clear indications of the necessity for lifting the ban on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam according to news reports in the Indian media. Vaithiyalingam, a senior BJP leader and member of the party's national general council, proposed this idea. In an exclusive interview to a Tamil biweekly, he said that although his party did not believe in violent measures, it was unfair to impose the ideas of a Gandhian struggle on the people of Tamil Eelam.
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Artillery shelling continues in Vanni, civilian wounded, hospital full of wounded

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 January 2009, 17:35 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) shelling continued to target densely populated civilian area in Pu'liaympokka'nai in Vanni on Saturday. A 61-year-old civilian was wounded at Karaveddiththidal in Pu'liyampokka'nai around 5:30 p.m. when at least 6 shells hit the settlement. Meanwhile hospital in Tharmapuram was full of injured civilians. Transport of seriously wounded patients for further treatment at Vavuniyaa hospital was blocked for the third day due to artillery shelling by the SLA, according to medical authorities.
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Tamil Nadu signals protests against New Delhi's inaction

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 January 2009, 15:58 GMT]
Condemning the inaction by the Indian Central Government, even after the unanimous declaration by the State Assembly of Tamil Nadu to demand immediate ceasefire in Sri Lanka, the Communist Party of India Tamil Nadu branch on Saturday announced it would launch a protest on January 06 in Tamil Nadu's capital city Chennai. Meanwhile, Pazha. Nedumaran, the leader of the Tamil National Movement has called for black flag protest against the Indian Prime Minister who is scheduled to visit the annual congregation of Non Resident Indians (NRI) on January 08. Meanwhile, the leader of VCK, Tholmavazhavan has said New Delhi's ignorance stands exposed as it failed to satisfy even the simplest demand to send its foreign minister to Colombo to stop the war.
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SLA shelling kills civilian, 10 wounded in Vanni

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 January 2009, 12:34 GMT]
Artillery shelling by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) killed a civilian and at least 10 wounded at 3rd Mile Post in Murasumoaddai Friday around 12:45 p.m., initial reports from Vanni said. Another civilian was wounded at Pannangka'ndi in SLA shelling.
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SLA occupies Ki'linochchi town

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 January 2009, 11:20 GMT]
The Sri Lankan military authorities Friday said their forces have occupied the strategic town of Ki'linochchi in Vanni, situated 320 km north of Colombo. The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has entered a virtual ghost town as the whole civilian infrastructure as well as the centre of the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) had shifted further northeast. It is the first time after a decade the Sri Lankan forces have been able to take control of the town after several months of fierce fighting that has claimed hundreds of combatants on both sides of the war.
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