Tamil woman shot dead in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 January 2008, 04:02 GMT]
Unidentified armed men shot to death a middle aged woman Thursday night in Vaarikkuddiyoor area in Vavuniya, sources said. The victim’s body was recovered by Vavuniyaa police Thursday night and handed over to the Vavuniyaa teaching hospital Friday morning.
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SLA offensives towards LTTE bases in Mannaar foiled

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 January 2008, 00:17 GMT]
A massive ground operation, started by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) against Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) bases located in Paalaiku’li and Adampan in Mannaar area, was beaten due to fierce resistance by LTTE cadres, LTTE sources said.
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LTTE attacks SLA DPU near Madu Church

[TamilNet, Friday, 18 January 2008, 18:32 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) combatants staged a surprise attack on Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troopers from the Deep Penetration Unit lying in ambush having planted claymore devices near Madu Church along Mannaar-Madu road in Mannaar district Thursday around 2.00 p.m causing SLA troops to flee, carrying the wounded, LTTE command in Mannaar region said.
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Nicholas Burns resigns

[TamilNet, Friday, 18 January 2008, 18:16 GMT]
US Undersecretary of Political Affairs, Nicholas Burns, U.S.’s third-ranking diplomat and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s right-hand man, is stepping down from his position for personal reasons, according to Washington media.
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U.S. Pacific Fleet Commander visits Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Friday, 18 January 2008, 13:05 GMT]
Commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, Admiral Robert F. Willard, visited Sri Lanka on Thursday and Friday to meet Sri Lanka Navy leadership and the Sri Lankan President and Commander-in-Chief of the SL armed forces Mahinda Rajapaksa. He also visited Trincomalee to discuss "U.S. - Sri Lankan cooperation against LTTE terrorism," according to a press release issued by the U.S. Embassy in Colombo. Reaffirming the support of the United States to Sri Lanka in defending against terrorist activity through cooperation on maritime security, he noted that improvements in human rights protection could lead to enhanced cooperation, the press release added.
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India admits helping Sri Lanka Navy

[TamilNet, Thursday, 17 January 2008, 20:47 GMT]
A day after Colombo praised the Indian Navy for its role in "breaking the LTTE's backbone", India on Wednesday acknowledged, for the first time in recent years, its active role in countering the Tamil Tigers. Sri Lanka Navy Vice Admiral Wasantha Karannagoda had told the Colombo Post on Tuesday that Tiger supply vessels and floating warehouses containing 10,000 tons of war-like material had been destroyed thanks to Indian help. His Indian counterpart, Admiral Sureesh Mehta spoke in sync and said, "We support by checking our activities on their coast and their activities on ours. In this way, we help ourselves by helping them."
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SLA fires artillery on Northern Fronts

[TamilNet, Thursday, 17 January 2008, 18:33 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) launched heavy artillery and mortar attack Thursday from 5:30 a.m to 7:00 a.m in Mukamaalay, K’laali and Nakarkoayil areas in the Northern Defence Lines (FDLs), sources in Jaffna said.
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LTTE foils STF penetration in Ampaa'rai

[TamilNet, Thursday, 17 January 2008, 18:21 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) fighters foiled an attempt by the Special Task Force (STF) to penetrate into their territory in the jungle near Kagnchikudichchaa'ru in Ampaa’rai district Thursday around 9:30 a.m, Amparai district political head of the Tigers, P. Kaviyarasan said.
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SLA withdraws from Mu'l'likku'lam - LTTE

[TamilNet, Thursday, 17 January 2008, 04:28 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) officials told media in Ki'linochchi that a Sri Lanka Army (SLA) unit that was lured into a booby-trapped minefield in Mu'l'likku'lam in Mannaar abandoned its ground movement Wednesday around 3:30 p.m. Meanwhile, a group of SLA soldiers engaged in setting up Claymore mines in the area were counter-attacked by the Tigers.
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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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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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2 STF killed, 6 wounded in Ampaa'rai - LTTE

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 January 2008, 11:26 GMT]
Special Task Force (STF) personnel who were on a combat mission inside the jungles of Kagnchikuddichchaa'ru in Ampaa'rai district Tuesday evening entered a booby-trapped area of the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE). At least two STF commandos were killed and 6 wounded, resulting in the withdrawal of the STF personnel, according to P. Kaviyarasan, the political head of the Tigers in Ampaa'rai district.
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Arbour: SL rights abuses risk war crimes charges

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 15 January 2008, 15:59 GMT]
A day before the 2002 Ceasefire Agreement in Sri Lanka is due to formally end, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, on Tuesday, reminded the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) of their obligations under international law to respect human rights. She warned that rights abuses “by any party could entail individual criminal responsibility under international criminal law, including by those in positions of command.”
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SLA, Tigers clash in Northern Front, 1 SLA killed - LTTE

[TamilNet, Monday, 14 January 2008, 15:38 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamleelam said three attacks mounted by Sri Lanka Army on LTTE positions in the Northern Front in Jaffna were thwarted by them on Monday. One SLA soldier was killed and many wounded when Tigers counter-attacked a group of SLA soldiers who launched an attack on a LTTE Forward Defence Line post at Naakarkoayil. The SLA, with wounded soldiers, pulled back the troops to its FDL, the Tigers said. Meanwhile, two attempts were made by the SLA at Mukamaalai.
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30 SLA killed, ground offensive thwarted in Mannaar - LTTE

[TamilNet, Monday, 14 January 2008, 13:56 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam Operations Command in Mannaar has claimed to have thwarted a major push by the Sri Lanka Army launched in Parappaangka'ndal area on Monday. The SLA movement was thwarted after almost 8-hours of stiff resistance. At least 30 SLA soldiers were killed and more than 100 soldiers were wounded, the Tigers said. One SLA dead body was recovered by the Tigers who seized three AK-LMG guns, one RPG, two disposable Light Anti-tank Weapons and five T-56 type-2 assault rifles. Three LTTE fighters were killed in action.
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Monopoly on Violence

[TamilNet, Monday, 14 January 2008, 02:05 GMT]
German social scientist Maxwell Weber said one hundred years ago that the monopoly on violence, and the provision of security and public order, are the cornerstones of modern, Westphalian, state legitimacy. A current school of conflict resolution theory has advanced a more progressive definition of "Public monopoly of force," that accommodates legitimate international intervention in "fragile or failing" states. In many cases, such as in Sri Lanka, the challenge by an armed non-state actor to the Weberian State's monopoly of violence can pose a serious threat to the State's stability, creating further need for an international response commensurate with "Public monopoly of force" doctrine.
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Indian Foreign Minister refuses to criticise Colombo for abrogating CFA

[TamilNet, Sunday, 13 January 2008, 17:29 GMT]
Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, in an interview to CNN-IBN news channel, Sunday admitted that India had "scrupulously avoided" being a party to peace negotiations in Sri Lanka. The Indian FM who last week had ruled out any military solution to the ethnic strife in the war-torn island, on Sunday, failed to criticize Sri Lanka for abrogating the ceasefire. Questioned whether Colombo's decision to abrogate the ceasefire agreement was a "mistake," the minister replied that "any country that takes action against terrorists is free to do so within their legal system."
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Military action against LTTE not a solution: Indian Defence Minister

[TamilNet, Sunday, 13 January 2008, 07:37 GMT]
Indian Defence Minister A K Antony favoured a political solution to the 25-year-old ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka and said that military action against the Tamil Tigers would not bring lasting peace to the island nation. He was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a defence meet in New Delhi Friday.
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