Bomb blast kills 2 SLA troopers, 4 EPDP members in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 March 2007, 05:04 GMT]
Two Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troopers and four Eelam Peoples' Democratic Party (EPDP) members were killed at Kommanthurai Sri Lanka Army (SLA) camp in Batticaloa district Tuesday around 6:50 a.m, when explosives in a tractor blew up when the troopers opened fire as the driver of the tractor failed to stop on orders, Eravur police in Batticaloa said.
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Sri Lankan MIG bombers attack coastal villages in Mannar, Mullaitheevu

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 March 2007, 13:23 GMT]
Four Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) Russian made MIG bombers Monday noon attacked Vellankulam, located north of Iluppaikkadavai in Mannar district and Pokkanai in Puthukudiyiruppu in Mullaithivu district in the evening around 5:30 p.m. Both the locations bombed were civilian areas.
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Air-Tigers attack Katunayake military airbase

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 March 2007, 20:06 GMT]
Two attack air-crafts belonging to Liberation Tigers carried out bombing raids at the Sri Lanka Air Force airbase at Katunayake at 12:45 a.m. early morning Monday and returned safely to Vanni, military spokesperson of the LTTE, Irasaiah Ilanthiraiyan told TamilNet. The targets for the air attack were the SLAF's Kfir and MiG-27 hangars at the military base located adjoining the Katunayake International Airport (KIA), Ilanthiraiyan said. Meanwhile, military officials in Sri Lanka's capital Colombo said 3 Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) personnel were killed and 15 wounded in the attack.
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Engineered Catastrophe

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 March 2007, 11:52 GMT]
Batticaloa has turned into an area of humanitarian disaster, and a battle ground for refugee figures, as more than 100,000 residents of Paduvankarai districts were forced to flee to GoSL controlled regions by the shelling of Sri Lankan Armed Forces inside LTTE controlled areas during the first two weeks of March. The changing IDP numbers have swelled to 165,485. While UN appealed for "vital funds to boost its operations in eastern Sri Lanka" and leftist parties accused the Government of engineering "demographic change," Sri Lanka Government spokesperson K. Rambukwella dismissed the severity saying only 52,000 are displaced, contradicting his own administration's official figures.
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Mannar police recovers grenade near Telcom building

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 March 2007, 16:10 GMT]
Mannar police recovered a grenade at a site located opposite the telecommunication office along Mannar railway station road Saturday evening around 5 p.m., sources in Mannar said. The grenade was diffused by the bomb disposal squad of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA).
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NGO worker killed, directors wounded in DPU attack in Mannar

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 March 2007, 11:42 GMT]
Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) directors who were returning after monitoring the relief assistance to the displaced civilians, following the Sri Lanka Army operation in Mannar Vavuniya border, were attacked by a Sri Lanka Army Deep Penetration Unit Claymore mine Saturday around 12:30 p.m., initial reports from Vanni said. Humanitarian worker Muthuraja Aruleswaran, was killed and 3 TRO directors, including the Assistant Executive Director of the TRO, Vadivel Ravichandran, 38, were wounded in the attack which took place at Periyamadu in Mannar district, located northwest of Madu.
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Tamil civilian reported missing in Negombo

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 March 2007, 09:26 GMT]
Wife of a Tamil resident of Negomobo, missing since January 11, last week complained to Negombo Police that her husband, Selliah Tharmarajah, 46, who was employed at a foreign employment agency, did not return home after he left home by bus with his national identity card to report for work in Colombo office.
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Bomb attack kills SLA soldier in Jaffna, civilian wounded in retaliation fire

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 March 2007, 07:34 GMT]
Unidentified attackers lobbed a powerful hand bomb into a Sri Lanka Army checkpost located near the SLA 51-2 Brigade Command in Jaffna city Saturday killing a SLA soldier and wounding four around 10:45 a.m. A civilian was wounded when SLA soldiers opened fire after the attack on the checkpost located along Navalar Road near the railway cross.
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SLA offensive thwarted, civilians saved - LTTE

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 March 2007, 18:19 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troopers who had taken more than 120 civilians as "human shields" against Tiger artillery fire and advanced into Liberation Tigers territory in Vavuniya-Mannar border Friday morning were forced to pull back their soldiers from Thampanai and Sinna Pandivirichchan at around 10:30 p.m after 15 hours of heavy fighting Friday. Liberation Tigers officials said they had defeated the two pronged offensive, without harming the civilians who were in the hands of the SLA. Around 60 SLA soldiers were killed, the Tigers claimed. Official figures from Colombo released Saturday said 14 soldiers were killed and 42 wounded.
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Civilians flee artillery barrage east of Madu, 1 killed

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 March 2007, 07:28 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army launched heavy artillery and Multi Barrel Rocket Launcher fire on Periya Pandivirichchan 2 km east of Madu church. An MPCS worker attached to the Madu Multi Purpose Co-Operative Society (MPCS) secretariat was killed in the artillery fire, initial reports said. Civilians are caught in tension as they couldn't determine where to flee. Artillery shells exploded near the Central Dispensary in Periya Pandivirichchan village.
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SLA takes human shields in Vavuniya Mannar border - LTTE

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 March 2007, 05:00 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam officials in Kilinochchi Friday charged that more than 300 Sri Lankan Army (SLA) troopers had breached 2 km into LTTE territory and taken more than 120 villagers of Periyathampanai, around 10 km southeast of Madu, in Vavuniya Mannar border, as human shields Friday morning around 7:30 a.m.
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SLA forces civilians to rebuild burnt mini-camp

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 March 2007, 04:10 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troopers cordoned off and searched areas in Chullipuram in Valigamam where an SLA mini-camp was set on fire Wednesday morning by unknown persons, and directd residents to gather at public place for interrogation, sources in Chullipuram said. All traffic and other activities in the area came to a standstill during the interrogation which lasted for several hours, the sources added. The SLA troopers forced the passers by to rebuild the burnt camp.
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Puttalam observes hartal against killings, abductions

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 March 2007, 00:42 GMT]
Residents and traders in Puttalam observed a general shut down Wednesday condemning killing and abducting civilians demanding ransom, sources in Sri Lanka's west coastal town said. Shops were closed, public transport came to a standstill and normal life in the town was disrupted.
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6 Jaffna residents, abducted within last seven days, still missing

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 March 2007, 00:08 GMT]
Six civilians, arrested by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) or abducted by SLA and SLA-backed paramilitaries between Wednesday 14th March to 21st, have disappeared without any trace, sources in Jaffna said. The disappearnces occured in Alvai, Kudathanai in Vadamaradchy, and Velanai, Punkankulam and Chulipuram in Valagamam.


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72 civilians arrested in Chilaw

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 March 2007, 22:58 GMT]
Sri Lanka armed forces Wednesday morning took into custody 72 civilians, most of them Tamils, in a cordon and search operation conducted in Uddapu, a Tamil village in Chilaw district, northwestern province.
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SLA mini-camp set on fire in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 March 2007, 12:04 GMT]
Unknown persons set fire to the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) mini camp located at Chullipuram area in Valigamam Wednesday morning when the troopers were out on patrol, sources in Chullipuram said. Additional troops have been deployed at the site while the camp continues to burn, eyewitnesses who had fled from the site said.
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Tigers raid SLA camp, checkposts on A-15 road in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 March 2007, 07:49 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam launched heavy artillery shelling on Sri Lanka Army camps located in Morakkoddanchenai and Mavadivembu, and on the checkposts along Trincomalee Batticaloa A-15 road in a pre-dawn attack inflicting damage to the SLA positions in the area north of Batticaloa. LTTE fighters raided at least one SLA camp, located at Mavadivembu, according to initial reports. SLA sources claimed to have located 8 bodies of LTTE fighters after the raid which lasted for more than 2 hours. At least 4 SLA troopers were killed and 8 SLA troopers were seriously wounded in LTTE shelling that started around 12:45 a.m. The LTTE is yet to release details about the attack.
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SLA introduces pass system to travel out of Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 March 2007, 01:29 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) high command in Jaffna said it requires all persons wishing to leave Jaffna district to provide a surety to stand guarantee for the return of the applicant as an additional requirement to obtain a pass to travel out of the distriict. The travellers are asked to submit applications to the area SLA official through the Village Officer and the Divisional Secretary. Civil society sources expressed concern over the new regulations restricting the freedom of movement, and urged Rights groups to bring pressure on Colombo to stop the deteriorating human rights situation in Northeast.
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JUSU condemns GoSL attacks on East, raises funds to help refugees

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 March 2007, 11:21 GMT]
Jaffna University Student Union (JUSU) condemned the pre-planned attack by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) on the people of Eastern province and demanded that the Sri Lanka government to immediately stop the attacks on civilians creating a humanitarian crisis, during a meeting held at the Kailasapathy Hall in Jaffna university around 10:30 a.m. Monday. The JUSU also urged the student community to unite to help the people displaced by the SLA offensives.
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Grenade attack on home guard sentry in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 March 2007, 11:00 GMT]
Unidentified persons Monday night around 10.30 p.m. lobbed a grenade on a sentry manned by home guards at Mudcove, a suburb in Trincomalee town. No one was injured in the attack. However home guards and army troops rushed to the scene opened fire in retaliation, security sources said.
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