60 SLA wounded in Akkaraayan fighting on Sunday - LTTE

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 October 2008, 03:09 GMT]
More than sixty Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers were wounded Sunday when Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) defensive units put up heavy resistance to the SLA offensive forces along the Akkaraayan - Mu'rika'ndi Road, LTTE officials told media in Vanni on Monday.
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Sri Lankan forces blast bridge on humanitarian access route in Vanni

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 October 2008, 02:44 GMT]
Pearaa'ru bridge, located on Maangku'lam - Oddisuddaan Road, which branches off from the A9, the access route which was used by the World Food Programme (WFP) humanitarian convoy to Vanni during the first week of October has been destroyed by the Sri Lankan forces in joint attacks carried out since Sunday. In the meantime, rain has started to fall in densely populated areas in Vanni on Tuesday. Many of the refugees living under the trees were forced to seek shelter in buildings, temples, churches and with the neighbouring houses.
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Tamil nationalism undefeatable - Prof. Kumar David

[TamilNet, Monday, 13 October 2008, 10:59 GMT]
Looking at the characteristics of Tamil nationalism within the four demographic groups, North, East, Colombo and the diaspora Tamils, Professor Kumar David, in an opinion column in the weekend edition of Lakbima, says that the anger of the Tamils with the Sinhala state, though very real, will always remain muted and the "rise of the LTTE in the shape of a militarist alternative is precisely the dialectical response, the antithesis, the rejection, that this [Sri Lankan] state of affairs gave rise to." The Tamil diaspora can drive the nationalist movement forward for decades, irrespective of the outcome of today's military campaigns, he says.
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Fighting resumes in Ma'nalaa'ru, 19 SLA soldiers killed - LTTE

[TamilNet, Sunday, 12 October 2008, 20:17 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) officials in Vanni have claimed that at least nineteen Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers were killed Friday and more than thirty-five injured when Tiger fighters put up heavy resistance against the SLA attempt to enter into LTTE territory in southern Mu'l'laiththeevu district from several points in Tha'n'nimu'rippu and Ma'nalaa'ru with artillery and Multi-barrel Rocket Launcher fire support.
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68 civilians killed, 38 disappeared, 454 arrested in September, says NESoHR

[TamilNet, Sunday, 12 October 2008, 08:45 GMT]
The human toll for Tamils across the island for September, dominated by the Government of Sri Lanka's offensives to wrest control of Ki'linochchi, is 68 killed, 38 disappeared, 87 injured, 454 arrested and 36,000 newly displaced, a monthly report released by the North East Secretariat on Human Rights (NESoHR) Friday said. The total number of displaced since the military offensives by Rajapakse Government started in August 2006 is 190541 the report added.
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Diaspora Tamils in Germany exhibit humanitarian aid

[TamilNet, Saturday, 11 October 2008, 08:54 GMT]
More than 3,000 Eelam Diaspora Tamils in Germany, organised by 16 Tamil organisations, demonstrated on Friday through a central part of Berlin, exhibiting humanitarian supplies that they have collected to be sent to their kith and kin in Vanni, urging the International Community to facilitate transport from Colombo to Vanni.
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Ki'linochchi hospital urges civilians to donate fuel to continue critical services

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 October 2008, 22:13 GMT]
Unable to relocate three critical services, the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), Surgery Unit and the Maternity Ward, the Ki'linochchi hospital is forced to continue these services from the town, even after most of the civilians have fled the urban centre of Vanni, hospital spokesperson said. As fuel required to run the three critical units has reached dangerously low levels, Medical authorities at the hospital have urged civilians in Vanni to donate fuel to operate the basic services to save lives. Fuel supplies for September and October months are yet to reach the hospital.
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Vanni IDPs struggle with inadequate humanitarian supplies

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 October 2008, 17:45 GMT]
Humanitarian supplies that reached Vanni in the first week of October were only adequate to cover rice for 7 days, dhal for 5 days, flour for 4 days and per registered IDP families, according to the Government Agent of Ki'linochchi, N. Vethanayakam, who collected reports from the workers engaged in coordinating the supplies at Ka'ndaava'lai Divisional Secretariat in Ki'linochchi district on Thursday. In the meantime, the supplies expected this week didn't reach Vanni on Friday amid reports of heavy shelling blocking the A9 road.
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SLA shelling blocks A9 again

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 October 2008, 14:27 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has stepped up artillery shelling targeting the A9 road from Vavuniyaa to Maangku'lam where traffic is diverted east of the A9 road into Mullaiththeevu district. The entire strip of the A9 highway between Vavuniyaa and Maangku'lam has been blocked after a bus narrowly escaped from the shelling on Wednesday. The reports of SLA blocking the route comes a day before humanitarian supplies are expected to arrive in Vanni.
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Tamils in UK rally, demand direct British aid to IDPs in Vanni

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 October 2008, 16:46 GMT]
Several thousands, largely British Tamils, assembled outside the British Parliament Monday between 4:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. to demand action against indiscriminate aerial bombardment of Tamils by Government of Sri Lanka (G0SL), and to urge the British Government to urgently take direct action to help save lives in Vanni. More than six thousand attended the rally, according to an estimate by the organizers, the British Tamil Forum (BTF).
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62 SLA soldiers killed in 3 fronts in Vanni - LTTE

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 October 2008, 10:45 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) officials in Vanni told media that their defensive formations put up stiff resistance against the SLA offensive units that attempted to advance on three fronts in southern Ki'linochchi district from 5:30 a.m. on Tuesday. 26 SLA soldiers were killed in Akkaraayan - Mu'rika'ndi sector, 16 in Vanni Vizhaangku'lam and 20 in Vannearikku'lam. The SLA offensive units were pushed back in all three fronts the Tigers said claiming that 49 SLA soldiers were wounded in Akkaraayan and 23 in Vanni Vizhaangku'lam. The Tigers also claimed to have seized arms and ammunition in the clearing mission in the evening.
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Bomb attack on Bus in Vanni, 3 killed, 6 wounded

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 October 2008, 18:27 GMT]
Three civilians were killed and six wounded Monday morning around 10:00 when Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Deep Penetration Unit (DPU) launched a Claymore attack targeting a civilian bus on Pu'liyangku'lam - Puthukkudiyiruppu road in Vanni, Tamileelam Police said.
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Children, Mentally-handicapped displaced due to artillery, air-attacks

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 October 2008, 08:42 GMT]
Facing imminent danger from Sri Lanka Army's (SLA's) artillery attack, and aerial bombardment, more than ten homes sheltering orphaned children, mentally-handicapped, and elderly persons, located within a few miles radius from Ki'linochchi town, have been hurriedly relocated to interior villages of Vanni, hospital sources from Ki'linochchi said.
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Multiple air strikes target civilian infrastructure in Ki'linochchi

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 October 2008, 13:22 GMT]
A key sluice transporting water to thousands of acres of agricultural lands in Vanni sustained damage in Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) indiscriminate bombardment Friday morning around 9:30 a.m., at Paravippaagnchaan, near Ki'linochchi town where LTTE's Peace Secretariat is located. Meanwhile, SLAF bombers dropped bombs in the vicinity of the UNICEF office located at Kaneasapuram in Ki'linochchi three times between 3:35 and 4:00 p.m. Centre for Women's Development and Rehabilitation (CWDR) was heavily damaged in the air strike.
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SLAF attacks Tamileelam Police HQ, artillery barrage on Ki'linochchi

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 October 2008, 04:58 GMT]
Sri Lanka Air Force Kfir bombers attacked the Headquarters complex of the Tamileelam Police, located along the A9 Road at the heart of Ki'linochchi town Friday around 9:30 a.m. Three bunker-busting bombs hit the premises of the Tamileelam Police, destroying a hall behind the Police HQ.The main building escaped destruction as Ratha Anti-Aircraft Unit of the Liberation Tigers of Tamileealm (LTTE) fired at the bombers. Two of the bombs hit the nearby store of the Tamils Rehabilitation Orgsniation (TRO) causing damage to it. The attack comes after continuous barrage of artillery and Multi-Barrel Rocket Launcher (MBRL) fire from 7:00 p.m. on Thursday to 4:30 a.m. on Friday, targeting the destruction of the township.
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51 lorries with humanitarian supplies reach Puthukkudiyiruppu

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 October 2008, 18:51 GMT]
51 lorries, including 42 vehicles carrying supplies from the World Food Programme (WFP) and 12 belonging to Ki'linochchi Government Agent reached Puthukkudiyirupp in Mullaiththeevu district around 12:30 p.m. Thursday, sources in Puthukudiyiruppu said. Nine UN humanitarian officials and Ki'linochchi Government Agent Vethanayagan accompanied the convoy in eight vehicles.
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WFP food convoy enters Vanni

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 October 2008, 08:48 GMT]
51 lorries carrying food supplies containing 650 MT to civilians in Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam controlled territory in Vanni entered the region Thursday morning around 10:30, according to the officials of World Food Programme (WFP) in Colombo. 30 lorries were carrying WFP supplies and the remaining were supplies under Ki'linochchi and Mullaiththeevu Government Agents. Six UN officials and Ki'lnochci GA N. Vethanayagam were escorting the supplies under UN flag.
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Sri Lankan airstrike targets civil administration in Vanni

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 October 2008, 18:41 GMT]
Sri Lanka Air Force fighter jets Wednesday evening attacked the Secretariat of Tamileelam Civil Administration, located in Paarathipuram south of Ki'linochchi. The officials atttached to the Tamileelam civil administration, which coordinates the administration in Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam controlled areas in almost all civil activities, ranging from ensuring the availability of drinking water to the maintanance civilian infrastructure, told TamilNet that noone was wounded in the attack as they had taken necessary precautions. The attack, which destroyed the building complex took place at 2:40 p.m.
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Norwegian politicians express concern on humanitarian access, media coverage

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 October 2008, 15:08 GMT]
Norwegian politicians and activists who addressed the participants of a Eelam Tamil diaspora organised rally and a fasting awareness campaign on Monday and Tuesday in front of the Norwegian Parliament in Oslo, criticized the expulsion of International NGOs from Vanni and urged the International Community, including the Norwegian Government, to do their maximum to enable the International humanitarian agencies to be present with civilians in need of humanitarian assistance, and to enable access to media to visit the affected areas.
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Britain to aid displaced through functioning NGOs in Vanni

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 September 2008, 16:29 GMT]
Representatives of British Tamils Forum who met the British Minister for the Department for International Development (DFID) Shahid Malik, on Tuesday in London, quoted the Minister as saying that the British Government did not agree with the general assessment of the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) that all local Tamil NGOs, which are currently working within the Vanni area were all controlled by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The British aid would be channelled through local and international NGOs to the displaced civilians in Vanni.
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