17 dead bodies located in Kebitigollewa

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 January 2008, 12:49 GMT]
Sri Lankan Police has located 17 dead bodies in Kiriketuwewa GS area of Kebitigollewa division in Anuradhapura district Thursday evening, initial reports said. The victims, all civilians, with gunshot injuries had their hands tied behind their back, according to the Police. The bodies were located in two graves, 10 in one and 7 in the other, Police said. The bodies are still lying at the crime scene.
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Youth returns back to HRC for protection

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 January 2008, 10:57 GMT]
A youth, who was earlier placed in protective custody in the Jaffna prison by Human Rights Commission (HRC) after seeking protection due to death threats by Sri Lanka Amy (SLA) troops and SLA-backed paramilitaries, and later left the custody, surrendered at the HRC again asking them to provide protection as unidentified armed men had allegedly tried to kill him, HRC sources said.
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18 Tamils arrested in Polonnaruwa

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 January 2008, 10:52 GMT]
Eighteen Tamil civilians were taken into custody by the police at Polonnaruwa and its border villages during a cordon and search operation conducted by the Sri Lanka Army from Wednesday night till the dawn of Thursday.
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LTTE refutes SLAF claims of air strike on Tiger leadership

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 January 2008, 13:11 GMT]
Liberation Tigers Military Spokesman Irasiah Ilanthirayan Wednesday evening refuted the claims by the Sri Lanka Air Force that it had hit a location of the leader of the LTTE Velupillai Pirapaharan Wednesday morning. Stating that Colombo was spreading false propaganda, Mr. Ilanthirayan said the SLAF attack targeted civilian settlements at Vaddakkachchi twice between 11:10 a.m. and 11:35 a.m. and in the evening between 5:15 and 6:00 p.m.
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13 Tamils arrested in Kalpity

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 January 2008, 11:20 GMT]
The Chilaw Police Wednesday arrested 13 Tamil civilians in Kalpity coastal village in a cordon and search operation conducted from Tuesday night. Majority of them now detained and interrogated at Kalpity police station are residents of Mannaar and Jaffna, sources said.
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UK: world must act to protect threatened peoples

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 January 2008, 08:27 GMT]
In a keynote speech Monday during his official visit to India, Britain’s Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, called for the shaping of a “new world order” in which the international community intervenes where populations are being threatened by "genocide, ethnic cleansing, war crimes or crimes against humanity, and the state is unwilling or unable to halt or prevent it." The world has "a responsibility to protect" Mr. Brown said. Last week, in a British Parliamentary debate on Sri Lanka, junior Foreign Minister Kim Howell called for a new ceasefire and for UN monitoring of human rights abuses in Sri Lanka.
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Civilian shot, injured in Ea’raavoor

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 January 2008, 14:32 GMT]
Unidentified gunmen shot and injured a middle aged man Saturday night 8:45 p.m. along Kovil road in 4th division in Kovil Thoaddam area, within Ea’raavoor police division in Batticaloa district, sources in Batticaloa said.
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Kanakapuram bombings

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 January 2008, 10:20 GMT]
Statistics compiled by social service groups in Kilinochchi reveals 67 civilians belonging to 17 families have been affected by the aerial bombardment when four Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) fighter jets dropped bombs 100 meters away from Kanakapuram Maha Viththiyaalayam school in the Ki'linochchi suburb Thursday morning. The group includes 26 infants and young children, a polio victim, and 16 civilians previously displaced from Va'ra'ni in Jaffna District and living in the vicinity of the school.
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Alarming increase in Mannaar abductions

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 January 2008, 16:45 GMT]
In the past three weeks, Mannaar has witnessed the abduction of five Tamil civilians, including a leading businessman and a young mother, in broad daylight. In at least two of the cases, the victims had received mysterious phone calls asking them to come to an appointed place at a particular time. Distraught families have been running from pillar to post to trace their missing relatives, but a hostile police force has ensured that they remain groping in the dark.
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Ki'linochchi schools close fearing SLAF attacks

[TamilNet, Friday, 18 January 2008, 18:29 GMT]
Two schools in Ki'linochchi were closed, while three other schools were without pupils Friday as many students chose to stay home near bunkers fearing another SLAF bombing raid. Four Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombs missed hitting Kanakapuram Maha Viththiyaalayam by 100 meters, and 790 schoolchildren and 22 teachers at the school narrowly escaped death. One civilian was killed and seven wounded in the air-strike.
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SLAF bombing raid injures 3 civilians in Vanni

[TamilNet, Friday, 18 January 2008, 17:07 GMT]
Sri Lanka Air Force (SLA) fighter jets dropped 12 bombs in 3 sorties Friday morning on civilian settlements in Va'l'lipunam in Vanni, injuring three civilians including a woman, besides completely destroying a settlement, sources in Vanni said. An event enrolling new students to Grade I in Udaiyaarkaddu Mahavithtiyaalayam was disrupted when the bombs fell and exploded near by. Chentha'lir Children Home for girls, relocated from Mullaitheevu coast to Va'l'lipunam after Tsunami, narrowly escaped the air-strike.
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10 persons killed in Moneragala jungle

[TamilNet, Friday, 18 January 2008, 01:02 GMT]
Ten persons who accompanied home guards on a cordon and search operation into the jungle area of Moneragala district were gunned down by armed men Thursday night in two separate incidents. Three persons, including a home guard, were wounded in the incident that took place in the Thanamalwila DS division in the Uva Province. Government of Sri Lanka has taken steps to arm civilians and form a Civil Armed Force in Uva.
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790 schoolchildren escape SLAF attack

[TamilNet, Thursday, 17 January 2008, 13:09 GMT]
790 schoolchildren and 22 teachers at the Kanakapuram Maha Viththiyaalayam school escaped the jaws of death when four Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) fighter jets dropped bombs barely 100 meters away from their school in the Ki'linochchi suburb Thursday morning. A repeat of the gruesome Chegnchoalai massacre was avoided as civilians sought shelter inside bunkers, managed to flee the area and anti-aircraft fire disturbed the SLAF mission. One civilian was killed and seven wounded in the air strike.
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SLAF bombs Ki'linochchi suburb, 1 killed, 7 wounded

[TamilNet, Thursday, 17 January 2008, 04:09 GMT]
Liberation Tigers anti-aircraft guns fired at Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) warplanes that bombed a civilian area with a mechanic workshop near Kanakapuram Maha Viththiyaalayam school at Kanakapuram, a suburb of Ki'linochchi town, Thursday morning. A 32-years-old man who sought safety inside a bunker was wounded and succumbed to his injuries. Seven civilians were wounded in the SLAF attack. Nine houses were damaged in the bombardment that was launched at 9:30 a.m. and carried out four times.
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Norwegian Tamils march against abrogation of CFA

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 January 2008, 21:56 GMT]
Abrogation of the CFA by the Government of Sri Lanka has removed the only reporting body of human rights and humanitarian law violations that take place in Sri Lanka, said K. Sivapalan, a senior attorney-at-law from Trincomalee, addressing four hundred participants, mainly members of the Tamil diaspora, who participated in a march carrying torches towards the Norwegian Parliament in Oslo, expressing solidarity with the Tamils in the homeland Wednesday evening.
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SLAF bombers attack civilian settlements in Vanni

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 January 2008, 16:48 GMT]
Four Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) Kfir jet fighters bombed Thursday 2:25 p.m. civilian settlements in Udaiyaarkaddu in Vanni for nearly 45 minutes, dropping more than 16 bombs in eight sorties and injuring an old man besides damaging four houses and crops in the area, sources in Vanni said.
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Amnesty International calls for urgent protection of civilians

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 January 2008, 14:12 GMT]
Amnesty International, in a press release issued on Wednesday said it was gravely concerned that the end to the Ceasefire Agreement between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam today will lead to an increase in hostilities that will result in a dramatic rise in indiscriminate attacks against the civilian population. The Human Rights watchdog called on all parties in the conflict to comply with their obligations under international law to protect civilians and urged the international community to support the call to establish an independent, international monitoring presence on the ground without delay.
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SLMM bids farewell

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 January 2008, 12:41 GMT]
In a press statement issued by the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), the Nordic Monitors whose functions were terminated by the unilateral termination of the CeaseFire Agreement (CFA) by Sri Lanka Government, Maj.Gen Solvberg, the Head of Mission, thanked the GOSL and the LTTE for inviting SLMM to serve them, and said "Future heroes in Sri Lanka will be those who recognize the complexity of the situation, and prove able to manage this complexity in a way that reduces rather than increases human pain, fear and hopelessness – those capable of respecting people with different perceptions, and bringing them together."
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British Group urges Tamils to boycott Sri Lankan Airlines

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 January 2008, 12:21 GMT]
British Tamil Forum (BTF), an umbrella community organization, in a press conference held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Central London to coincide with the Thai Pongal day Tuesday at 2:00 p.m. urged Tamils to boycott Sri Lankan Airlines, Sri Lanka's national carrier, claiming that its profits fund Colombo's war against Tamils. Ivan Pedropillai, chairing the meeting said, the abrogation of the CFA by the government of Sri Lanka is a precursor to an "unfettered and all out war on the Tamils living in the North of Sri Lanka. The Tamils from Sri Lanka cannot and will not continue to pay in Foreign Exchange for this deplorable war upon their own kith and kin."
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U.S condemns attack on bus in Uva Province

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 January 2008, 11:05 GMT]
The Embassy of the United States of America, in a press release said it strongly condemned the attack on a civilian bus. Expressing condolences to the victims and their families, the U.S. statement said the targeting of civilians serves to foster fear and cause further suffering among the Sri Lankan people. Only a political solution to the country’s conflict offers a way out of the current cycle of escalating violence.
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