Two auto-rickshaw drivers shot dead in Point Pedro

[TamilNet, Sunday, 16 July 2006, 05:35 GMT]
Two gunmen riding in a motorbike opened fire at auto-rickshaw vehicles, killing two drivers, both brothers, on the spot Sunday at 8:40 a.m. in Point Pedro, 30 km northeast of Jaffna town. The attack, marking a renewed terror campaign against auto-rickshaw drivers and owners in Jaffna district, took place opposite the main entrance of the Sri Lanka Army 52-4 Brigade quarters in Point-Pedro, Vadamaradchi.
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Vavuniya PLOTE leader killed

[TamilNet, Thursday, 13 July 2006, 07:56 GMT]
Leader of the PLOTE's military wing in Vavuniya has been shot and killed. The body of Ratnam Sriskandarajah, alias Bavan,46, was found Thursday morning at Cheddikulam, about 15 km. southwest of Vavuniya, police said.
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UNP to re-evaluate support to UPFA, Rajapakse

[TamilNet, Sunday, 09 July 2006, 16:23 GMT]
Amid speculation that two more parliamentarians of the main opposition United National Party (UNP) are expected to join the United Peoples Front Alliance (UPFA) government led by the SL President Mahinda Rajapakse in the next week, the UNP leadership has summoned the working committee for Tuesday to take a firm decision on the question of extending its unconditional support to Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse anymore to resolve the ethnic issue, according to UNP sources. The party has decided to boycott the All Party Conference.
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9 Jaffna youths, feared disappeared, found held in Southern Jails

[TamilNet, Saturday, 08 July 2006, 01:04 GMT]
Nine of the several young men and women from Jaffna, feared disappeared within the last six months, have been located in jails in the South of Sri Lanka, civil society sources in Colombo said. The youths have been held in detention without being produced in court after being arrested by Sri Lanka security forces, according to sources. The information came to light after officials of the Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission directly conducted investigations into the disappearances of Jaffna youth, rights officials said.
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Vankalaipadu SLN commander gives evidence in Pesalai killings

[TamilNet, Friday, 07 July 2006, 13:32 GMT]
Mannar Additional Magistrate Mr.T.J.Pirapaharan Friday ordered the Officer-in-Charge (OIC) of Talaimannar Police to record the statement of the Commanding Officer of the Sunny Village Naval Detachment and to produce Lieutenant Commander Rohana Dissanayake of Sunny Village SLN camp on the next date of inquiry. The Additional Magistrate made the above directive at the conclusion of the evidence of Lieutenant Dissanayake Santhana Lakshman Dissanayake, commanding officer of Vankalaipadu Navy camp, legal sources said.
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Emergency extended for another month

[TamilNet, Thursday, 06 July 2006, 17:22 GMT]
Sri Lanka's parliament Thursday extended the State of Emergency for another month with a majority of 85 votes. 102 parliamentarians of the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UNP), Sinhala Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP and all monks party Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) voted for the motion seeking the extension of the State of Emergency.
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UNP MP crosses over to UPFA Government, becomes deputy minister

[TamilNet, Thursday, 06 July 2006, 17:07 GMT]
A United National Party (UNP) parliamentarian, Suasntha Punchinilame, representing Ratnapura district in the south joined the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government Thursday and was sworn in as the Deputy Minister for Rural Economic Development by the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse. He is the fourth UNP MP to cross over to the UPFA alliance since the elections in last November.
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Assassinated Journalist knew perpetrators in Avissawella killings - MP

[TamilNet, Thursday, 06 July 2006, 10:28 GMT]
Sinhala journalist Lakmal Sampath was murdered because knew the suspects in the murder of five youths believed to be Tamils whose mutilated headless bodies were found in Avissawella area in the South on 27 April, alleged the Colombo District parliamentarian of the Upcountry Peoples' Front (UPF), V. Radhakrishnan, during the debate on the extension of the State of Emergency in the Sri Lanka's Parliament Thursday, parliamentary sources in Colombo said.
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SLA cordons, searches Ariyalai

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 July 2006, 13:14 GMT]
More thatn 500 troops from Sri Lanka Army (SLA) cordoned off and searched central and southern grama sevaka areas of Ariyalai Jaffna from early morning till 2:00 p.m., residents in Ariyalai said. Soldiers checked the Identity cards of residents and took away photographs which were shown to a masked paramilitary spotter waiting inside an SLA temporary sentry, local residents said.
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Ex-EPRLF cadre shot dead in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 July 2006, 11:49 GMT]
A former member of Eelam Peoples Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF-Varathar faction) was shot dead in Mathews Street Jaffna at 8:30 p.m., Monday by unknown gunmen, sources in Jaffna said. Mr Thirumani Ariyaratnam Lingan, 34, was drinking liquor with his friends when two gunmen riding in a motorbike shot him dead in close range.
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US Tamils urge UN action against Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 July 2006, 02:28 GMT]
Several hundred Tamil Americans, including several catholic priests, assembled in front of the United Nations Head Quarters in 42nd St & 1st Ave, New York city Friday afternoon to protest against the violence committed by Sri Lanka Security forces on Tamil civilians in the NorthEast and to urge the United Nations to pressure the Government of Sri Lanka to negotiate in good faith with Liberation Tigers towards a just and fair solution to the national question.
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US Tamils to protest in front of UN in New York

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 June 2006, 09:57 GMT]
US-based Tamil organizations are to jointly conduct a peace march in front of the United Nations Head Quarters in New York Friday, between 2.00 p.m. and 6.00 p.m. to protest against the violence on Tamil civilians by the Government of Sri Lanka and the paramilitaries, a leaflet sent to Tamil Americans said.
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3 Tamil youths shot dead in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 June 2006, 09:28 GMT]
Unknown gunmen who arrived in motorbikes, shot and killed 3 youths, using military-type 9mm pistols, on their way home in Mylambaveli, 7 km, north of Batticaloa town, Tuesday at 8:30 p.m., said Eravur police. The killings took place 250 meters from the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) camp at Mylambaveli on the Batticaloa-Trincomalee road.


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Four Tamil civilians reported missing in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 June 2006, 09:10 GMT]
Three Tamil farmers of Bharathipuram in Killiveddy village located in the government controlled Serunuwara police division in Trincomalee district have been reported missing since Monday morning around ten a.m. after they went to Aathiamankerni area in search of their cattle. Another Tamil civilian was reported missing in Periyakulam in the government controlled Kuchchaveli Police division since June 25 after he went to the nearby jungle to bring firewood.
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Senior EPDP activist shot, injured in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 June 2006, 03:03 GMT]
A senior member of Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP) who served as Jaffna Municipal Council member of several years was shot and seriously injured by unknown gunmen at 7:05 p.m. Monday in Jaffna, EPDP sources in Jaffna said. Manickam Kanagaratnam, 70, was shot outside his house near Aariyakulam junction along the Jaffna-Point Pedro road, sources added.
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Two civilians shot dead in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 June 2006, 17:44 GMT]
Two separately abducted Batticaloa residents, Kanthasamy Thavarajah, 20, and Shanmugam Jeyaratnam, 39, were shot and killed by their abductors, in two different locations at Santhiveli, 19 km north of Batticaloa Town, and Vinayagapuram, 32 km north of Batticaloa town, on Thursday police sources said.
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SL parliament observes one-minute silence to Tamil civilians

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 June 2006, 10:08 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Parliament Wednesday observed a one minute silence for those Tamil civilians killed by State armed forces and paramilitary groups working with them. Parliamentarians of all political parties including the Sinhala Nationalist Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and the all monks party Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) stood for one minute and observed silence, parliamentary sources said.
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TNA appeals to international community to ensure security to Tamils

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 June 2006, 09:59 GMT]
"We wish to impress upon the International Community that the Sri Lankan State is failing in it duty to give adequate protection to the Tamil civilian population. We wish to impress upon the International Community that it should intercede and compel the Sri Lankan State to fulfil its obligations to the Tamil civilian population. The atmosphere of unbridled impunity now prevalent should be brought to an end," said Mr.R.Sampanthan, leader of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) in statement made in the Sri Lanka's parliament Wednesday on the rapidly deteriorating plight of Tamil civilian population in the North East region of the country, parliamentary sources said.
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Pandemonium in SL parliament, JVP wants LTTE banned in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 June 2006, 06:31 GMT]
Speaker Mr.W.J.M.Lokkubandara Tuesday morning adjourned the sitting of the parliament when pandemonium reigned following heated arguments and fisticuffs between a group of parliamentarians of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and Tamil National Alliance (TNA) over the matter of observing two minute-silence for the Sinhalese civilians killed in Kebbitigollawa claymore mine explosion, and not for Tamil civilians killed by the Sri Lankan troops elsewhere in the NorthEast, parliamentary sources said.
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Pesalai victims traumatized

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 June 2006, 05:02 GMT]
Bishop Rayappu Joseph, one of the first persons to enter the church, Our Lady of Victory, after the attack targeting civilians who had taken refuge in the church, told media that the attack was carried out by men in blue uniform, alluding that the attackers were Sri Lanka Navy men. "There was no fight on land; no LTTE cadre was present at the attack site in Pesalai," the Bishop of Mannar Diocese told BBC Tamil Service Saturday. Fear has gripped civilians of Pesalai, who have no other place to seek safety, says Parish Priest Vincent Patrick. Nearly 3000 civilians, most of them women and children, were forced to remain inside the Church, for hours, among the flesh and blood of the victims.
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