Thileepan commemorated in areas under SLA

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 26 September 2001, 16:43 GMT]
The commemoration of Thileepan, a senior member of the Liberation Tigers who fasted unto death on 26 September 1987, was observed Wednesday in many parts of the northeastern province of Sri Lanka which are under the control of the Sri Lankan army.
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Award for senior Tamil journalists stopped

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 25 September 2001, 16:46 GMT]
Special awards for two senior Tamil journalists were cancelled on a directive by the Sri government, media sources said Tuesday. The North-eastern Provincial Council (NEPC) announced on 2 September that Mr.Ponnaiah Manikavasagam, the correspondent for the Tamil daily Thinakkural in Vavuniya and a regular contributor to the BBC and other international media, would receive the NEPC Governor's special journalism award for 2001. It also announced that Mr. Aiyathurai Nadesan, senior correspondent and political columnist for the Tamil daily Virakesari, would get an award for his book 'The history of the ethnic contradiction in Sri Lanka' published last year. The awards for the two senior Tamil journalists were stopped for political reasons, an official of the NEPC said.
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Sinhala nationalists jeer peace supporters

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 19 September 2001, 11:41 GMT]
Sinhala Nationalist protestors disrupted 'SriLankaFirst', a massive peace campaign organised by Sri Lanka's big businesses and major NGOs near downtown Colombo Wednesday. A procession of Sihala Urumauya (SU) activists and supporters that was on its way to the US Embassy to express solidarity with the American government jeered and insulted people who were holding hands in the 'SriLankaFirst' peace campaign near the city hall in Colombo.
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SLA penetratiom group strikes again in east

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 18 September 2001, 15:38 GMT]
A member of the communications wing of the Liberation Tigers was killed in a claymore blast set off by a deep penetration team of the Sri Lanka army in the hinterland west of the Batticaloa town Monday around 4.30 p.m. paramilitary sources in the eastern town said. Since June this year, SLA deep penetration teams have killed two members of the Liberation Tigers inside the western hinterland of the Batticaloa district. The LTTE controls 90 percent of the district’s western sector. The Liberation Tigers in Batticaloa say that they have recovered 37 claymore mines set up by the SLA inside areas under their control since 15 June.
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Dialogue with LTTE vital for humanitarian ops. -ICRC

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 12 September 2001, 16:51 GMT]
"The LTTE is a major party to the conflict. As such the present dialogue with the LTTE is vital for the continuance of the ICRC's humanitarian services to the people in Vanni and the rest of the country," said Mr.Harasha Gunawardene, the ICRC's press officer, addressing a press conference held Wednesday morning at Trincomalee Seven Islands Hotel.
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Kilinochchi rising from rubble

[TamilNet, Saturday, 08 September 2001, 13:53 GMT]
The Kilinochchi St. Theresa’s Girls’ School will start functioning in its former premises in the northern town after a gap of four years when the third term begins next week, education officials in Vavuniya said. St. Theresa’s is one of the two schools in the town that escaped complete destruction during Sri Lankan security forces operations and bombing five years ago. Kilinochchi was abandoned when the Sri Lanka army captured this once bustling town in August 1996. The Tigers overran the base and recaptured Kilinochchi in September 1998. A program to gradually rebuild and resettle the destroyed town began early this year. A project to remove thousands of anti personnel mines and mine fields left behind by the SLA was launched by the White Dove Movement (WDM) after the garrison fell. More than 50000 APLM’s and explosive booby traps have been recovered by the WDM in the Kilinochchi town and its environs so far, western aid agency sources in the Vanni said.
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Two killed in Vavuniya FDL skirmishes

[TamilNet, Friday, 07 September 2001, 10:08 GMT]
Two Sri Lanka army soldiers were killed and three were wounded in attacks by the Liberation Tigers in the Forward Defence Localities north of Vavuniya Thursday and Friday, military sources in Vavuniya said. The SLA shelled a forward defence locality in Pampaimadu Thursday morning, having observed a group of Tigers in the area. Three soldiers were wounded when the Tigers ambushed an SLA unit that was sent to clear the locality subsequently.
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Five SLA soldiers killed

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 August 2001, 06:09 GMT]
Five Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers were killed when the tractor in which they were travelling was hit by a powerful claymore mine blast in the Kalmadhu area, about 25 km. west of Vavuniya, around 8.30 a.m Tuesday morning, army sources in the northern town said.
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Fighting in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 August 2001, 00:46 GMT]
Heavy fighting erupted in the Muhamalai area, in the southern sector of the Jaffna peninsula when Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troops backed by tanks, artillery and air cover launched an operation along A-9 main road. The SLA offensive that began at around 5.30 a.m. Sunday was repulsed, the Voice of Tigers radio said.
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'Mole' kills leader of SLA penetration team

[TamilNet, Sunday, 19 August 2001, 00:35 GMT]
A soldier of a Sri Lanka army deep penetration group was killed in the early hours of the morning Saturday when he was shot by another trooper of the unit that was lying in ambush at Kurinjamunai junction inside the area held by the Liberation Tigers west of Batticaloa town. The trooper got away with the weapons of his dead team leader. Both men are from the SLA's National Guard. Military sources in Batticaloa said that the trooper who got away was an LTTE 'mole'.
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Army, Police search TELO office

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 August 2001, 18:32 GMT]
The offices of the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO) in Vavuniya was searched by the Sri Lanka army and Police Monday, ahead of the public meeting by the Alliance of Eleven Tamil parties Wednesday in the border town. Soldiers and Policemen dug the floor of the office in several places, a local TELO official said.
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Tamil coalition to campaign against referendum

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 August 2001, 17:22 GMT]
A coalition of 11 Tamil and Muslim political parties Monday decided to campaign against the August 21 referendum for a new constitution. The Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF), All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC), Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization (TELO), Democratic Workers Congress Party, Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF), People's Liberation Organisation Tamil Eelam (PLOTE), Muslim United Liberation Front (MULF), Democratic Worker's Congress were among the parties that participated in the meeting held in Colombo Tuesday.
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TELO-EPRLF clashes lead to SLA's search of camps

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 August 2001, 16:15 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers Sunday searched eight camps of the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO) in Vavuniya town and its suburbs, said Suthan, local leader of TELO in Vavuniya. He said that no reason was given for the search. The troops also searched two camps of the Eelam People's Revolutionary Front (Perumal's faction) (EPRLF).
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Four SLA soldiers killed

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 August 2001, 19:18 GMT]
Three Sri Lanka Army soldiers were killed and three others were wounded in a claymore mine attack in the Omanthai area, about 14 km. north of Vavuniya Thursday morning, military sources said. They said the claymore was placed on a tree near a sentry post.
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Vavuniya pilgrim and child detained by Police

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 31 July 2001, 21:01 GMT]
A Hindu pilgrim and his five year old child who were on their way to Kathirgamam were arrested and detained by the Police on 27 July at Nittambuwa, relatives told the Human Rights Commission office in Vavuniya Tuesday. Kathirgamam (Kataragama in Sinhala) is a pilgrimage centre in the in Sri Lankaís southern province. The shrine of the god Murugan here draws thousands of Tamil and Sinhala devotees.
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'Tigers should fight on until liberation'- TULF MP

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 July 2001, 19:10 GMT]
"The Liberation Tigers are fighting for the freedom of the Tamil people. They should continue their armed struggle until the Tamil people are liberated," said Mr. Mavai Senathirajah, Tamil United Liberation Front MP for Jaffna, addressing a meeting by the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO) in Vavuniya Friday to commemorate its leaders who were massacred in the Welikada jail in Colombo in July 1983.
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Vanni schools make do with fewer teachers

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 July 2001, 15:03 GMT]
There are only 2079 teachers to teach 86177 school children in the Vanni, according to officials of the Northeast Provincial Ministry of Education. “The shortage is more than 52 percent. There should be at least 4020 teachers for this number of children as stipulated by the Ministry of Education. The actual shortage is much higher when we take into account the number that is at Teachers’ Training Colleges,” an official said. “This puts tremendous pressure on children and teachers alike as the education system in the Vanni is struggling hard to survive under the economic embargo,” he added.
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Four home guards killed

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 July 2001, 20:33 GMT]
Four women security personnel (home guards) were killed in an ambush by the Liberation Tigers at Sithamaparapuram, about 12 km. south-east of Vavuniya, around 4.45 p.m. Thursday, police sources said.
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Two soldiers wounded in LTTE ambush

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 July 2001, 20:33 GMT]
Two Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers were wounded, one of them seriously in an ambush by the Liberation Tigers at Vaarikuddiyoor, 16 km. northwest of Vavuniya, around 5.15 p.m. Wednesday, army sources in the northern town said.
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"Colombo's embargo targets schoolchildren"- official

[TamilNet, Saturday, 14 July 2001, 19:09 GMT]
More than a thousand students in a Vanni school were found to be suffering from malnutrition, an official in the department of education in the northern region said Saturday. He said many students in the Vallipunam high school were also diagnosed for acute malnutrition.
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