Four loggers reported 'missing'

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 August 2000, 19:50 GMT]
Four villagers who went in a tractor to collect fire-wood in the jungles of Maha Oya have been reported missing since 22 August. According to complaints made with the Batticaloa Human Rights Commission (HRC), five others who went along with them had escaped and returned home, leaving behind the tractor, when troops opened fire.
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Killing of student ruled homicide

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 August 2000, 12:26 GMT]
The Batticaloa District Judge Wednesday returned a verdict of homicide in the death of a student who was shot by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers on August 18.
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Amnesty concerned over new "disappearances"

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 August 2000, 12:48 GMT]
Amnesty International said Monday it was concerned for two Tamil men who have been reported "disappeared" after being arrested by Sri Lanka Army soldiers in Vavuniya this month. The London based human rights pressure group said there has been an increase in reports of torture, "disappearances" and deaths in custody since new emergency regulations were introduced by the President in May 2000.
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LTTE ambush kills three

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 August 2000, 15:12 GMT]
A Police officer and two Home Guards were killed in an ambush by the Liberation Tigers at 11th Colony in the boarder between Batticaloa and Ampara Districts Sunday morning. Two Home Guards were also wounded in the incident, sources said.
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Farmer shot, refugee girl missing

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 August 2000, 12:57 GMT]
A farmer was killed in Vanthaarumoolai, 22 kilometers north of Batticaloa, around noon Sunday when he was hit by gun fire from a Sri Lanka army camp nearby. Meanwhile, a young girl has been reported missing since August 17 in Valvettithurai in Jaffna.
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SLA troops kill student, wound another

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 August 2000, 11:25 GMT]
"The army shoots civilians whenever it comes into Kaluwankerny. This is why innocent civilians in the village run for their life when they know the army is entering the area. My son went behind the house when he saw people running on the road, shouting "the army is coming into the village". He was killed there by soldiers who shot him and his friend" said Vairamuthu Manikkavel, 48, at the inquest into the death of his son the M.Vijayatharsan, 20, before Batticaloa district judge J. Viswanathan at the Eravur hospital Saturday.
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Arrested men disappear

[TamilNet, Friday, 18 August 2000, 16:14 GMT]
Two men arrested by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers in Vavuniya last week have been reported 'missing', and their family members have sought help from the Human Rights Commission in the northern town to trace their whereabouts.
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Another two skeletons in Kilinochchi

[TamilNet, Friday, 18 August 2000, 15:30 GMT]
Two more human skeletons were recovered in Kilinochchi this week bringing the total number of skeletons recovered in this area recently to 55, the Voice of Tigers (VoT) radio said Thursday evening.
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Soldiers drank toddy, shot tapper - witnesses

[TamilNet, Sunday, 13 August 2000, 20:30 GMT]
"I heard some gun shots near our house around 10.45 a.m on Wednesday. Some people came and told me that my husband was shot dead near the Sithaandy Murugan temple. When I ran to the spot, I saw some soldiers standing near my husband's body. Those who saw the shooting said that the soldiers had shot my husband" Selvarani, mother of four children, whose husband, Thiyagarajah Gnanathas, 29, was shot dead by Sri Lanka army soldiers on Wednesday at Sithaandy, 24 kilometers north of Batticaloa.
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Santhiramohan pleaded to spare life

[TamilNet, Saturday, 12 August 2000, 11:51 GMT]
"I heard Santhiramohan pleading with the soldiers to spare his life. He was telling them he was poor and was married to a poor girl. Then there was silence. I came out of the thicket where I was hiding after some time when it appeared that the army had left the place.
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Beheaded youth's widow gives evidence

[TamilNet, Friday, 11 August 2000, 18:33 GMT]
"A little boy came running home around 11 a.m. and told me that soldiers had lopped off my husband's head. I ran towards the field where he was working and saw some soldiers taking a human head in a white bag. In the field I found my husband's headless body" said Ambikapathy Santhiramohan, 20, giving evidence at the inquest into her husband's death before Acting Magistrate for Batticaloa, D.C Chinniah, last evening at the Eravur Police station. Ambikapathy was married four months ago to Arunasalam Santhiramoham, 20, who was beheaded in reprisal Wednesday following a firefight at Sithaandy, 24 kilometers north of Batticaloa in which two Sri Lanka army troopers were wounded.
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Soldiers attempt rape, assault

[TamilNet, Friday, 11 August 2000, 18:14 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers who were on duty at a check-post in Vembu, a hamlet in Kalkudha, about 30 km. north of Batticaloa, are reported to have attempted to molester three women and assaulted some men Thursday night. One of the victims has brought the incident to the notice of the officer in charge of Kumburumoolai SLA camp.
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Tigers attack two SLA camps in Mannar

[TamilNet, Thursday, 10 August 2000, 22:41 GMT]
Two Sri Lanka Army (SLA) camps located near the Puthukulam junction in the Mannar district were attacked and destroyed by the Liberation Tigers Wednesday, the Voice of Tigers radio said in its night news broadcast today. At least 9 SLA soldiers were killed and 13 wounded in the attacks, the radio added.
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Arrests in Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Thursday, 10 August 2000, 20:29 GMT]
Four people were arrested by the Sri Lankan Army soldiers during a cordon and search operation at Sasthirikoolankulam in Vavuniya Thursday, according to complaints made with the Human Rights Commission (HRC) in the northern town.
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Three civilians wounded in SLA shelling

[TamilNet, Thursday, 10 August 2000, 15:10 GMT]
Three civilians, including a Grama Sevaka Officer, were wounded when Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers fired artillery shells towards Kaddaiparichchan in the Trincomalee District Thursday morning, residents said.
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Civilian beheaded in SLA reprisal

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 August 2000, 10:31 GMT]
Two civilians were killed in reprisal by Sri Lanka army troops around noon Wednesday following a fire-fight in Sithaandy, 24 kilometers north of Batticaloa. Soldiers of the Morokkoddaanchenai SLA camp beheaded one of the civilians, Arunasalam Santhiramohan, 20 and shot dead the other, identified as Thiyagarajah Gnanarajah, 29, father of four. The SLA has taken Santhiramohan's body to the Morokkoddaanchenai camp.
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Over 40 casualties in clashes

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 August 2000, 05:51 GMT]
Five military trained policemen, including an officer, were killed and 20 Sri Lanka Navy personnel, nine police men and two Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers were wounded in three separate attacks by the Liberation Tigers Wednesday morning, security sources said. 16 civilians were also wounded.
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Two SLA soldiers killed in LTTE attack

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 August 2000, 07:46 GMT]
Two Sri Lanka army soldiers were killed and one was wounded when the Liberation Tigers attacked a foot patrol on Uppodai road in Vanthaarumoolai, about 20 kilometers north of Batticaloa Tuesday morning around 9 a.m. Reinforcements were rushed to the area following the attack from SLA camps on the Batticaloa-Valaichenai road.
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Three soldiers killed in LTTE ambush

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 August 2000, 14:40 GMT]
Three Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers were killed and 2 others were wounded in an ambush by the Liberation Tigers at Sasthikulankulam, 6 km. west of Vavuniya town, around 5.45 p.m. Friday, security sources in the northern town said.
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SLA searches for deserters in Valaichenai

[TamilNet, Monday, 31 July 2000, 16:21 GMT]
Units of the SLA's 23-2 Brigade in Valaichenai searched the villages of Kalmadhu, Kannankiramam, Karuwakerni, Sungaankerni and Kinnaiyadi, 30 kilometers north of Batticaloa Monday for two soldiers who had deserted their positions Sunday evening. Sources in Valaichenai said that the army had come by information that the two deserters had run away from the kalkudah SLA camp through the villages that were searched today. The SLA has grounds to believe that the two soldiers may have escaped across the lagoon to the hinterland controlled by the Liberation Tigers, a source said.
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