Young woman shot dead, husband injured in Valvettithurai

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 March 2007, 08:26 GMT]
Unidentified gunmen shot and seriously injured a young woman and her husband living at Urani Housing Scheme in Valvettithurai (VVT) in Jaffna peninsula, around 9:30 p.m., Saturday. The woman succumbed to her injuries at Manthikai hospital.
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SLAF, SLA attacks displace 3500 civilians in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 March 2007, 07:32 GMT]
Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) Kfir jets dropped bombs in the villages of Tharavai and Kudumbimalai in the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) controlled Batticaloa district around 10:40 a.m. Friday, sources in Batticaloa said. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka Army (SLA) stationed at 23-3 Brigade Head Quarters in Batticaloa, Valaichchenai Paper Factory, Chenkalady, Vavunathivu and Mylambavely Army Camps fired artillery shells into LTTE areas.
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Eastern University employees released on bail

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 March 2007, 01:20 GMT]
Fourteen security officers employed at Vantharoomoolai Eastern University of Sri Lanka (EUSL), detained by Eravur Police since Jan 31 claymore attack, were released on bail by M.H.M.Amijr, Batticaloa District court Magistrate, when the detainees were produced before the courts Thursday, legal sources in Batticaloa said.


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SLAF bombs civilian area in Vanni

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 March 2007, 07:50 GMT]
Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) Kfir bombers Thursday morning around 8:30 a.m. dropped at least 8 bombs in a civilian settlement including a farmland in Therankandal in Thunukkai DS division in Mullaithivu district.
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Civilian vehicle escapes DPU Claymore in Vanni

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 March 2007, 07:33 GMT]
A van carrying civilians from Nedunkeni to Mankulam Thursday morning escaped a Claymore attack at Olumadu in Nedunkeni in Vanni by the Deep Penetration Unit of the Sri Lanka Army, initial reports from Kilinochchi said.
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Police arrest Tamil teacher in Maskeliya, 4 Tamils in Kandy

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 February 2007, 18:09 GMT]
A Tamil teacher working in Maskeliya in Nuwara Eliya district in the central province was arrested Tuesday in a search operation by the police. Hatton Magistrate remanded him till March 16 when he was produced in courts Wednesday.
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TNA urges India not to provide warship to Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 February 2007, 16:04 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has urged the Government of India to desist from providing lethal military assistance to Sri Lanka. Referring to recent media reports that the Indian Government is to either grant or lease a large warship to the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN), the Parliamentary group of the TNA in a press release issued Wednesday observed that these reports have come against the backdrop of repeated assurances given by the Indian leadership, including the Indian Premier Dr. Manmohan Singh, that the India, as a matter of policy, will not provide any lethal weapons to Sri Lanka.
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SLA shoots dead civilian in Chavakachcheri

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 February 2007, 12:08 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers on a foot patrol along A9 highway, 300 meters from Chavakachcheri town in Thenmaradchy, shot dead a civilian at 6:00 a.m. Wednesday, sources said. The soldiers panicked and opened fire when the man suddenly emerged from a lavatory adjoining his house, relatives said.
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Christian family wounded in DPU attack in Madu

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 February 2007, 09:33 GMT]
A 4-year-old girl, 15-year-old boy and their parents riding in a motorbike to Madu church from Andankulam through parappukandanthan road were wounded in a Sri Lanka Army Deep Penetration Unit Claymore attack Wednesday around 10:00 a.m., 6 km away from the church. This is the second DPU attack on civilians inside Liberation Tigers territory within the last 24 hours.
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Muslim civilian found dead in Akkaraipattu

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 February 2007, 08:30 GMT]
A Muslim civilian was found dead Tuesday around 6:00 a.m at Akkaraipattu in Amparai district with injuries on the body caused by beating.


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U.S., Italian Ambassadors wounded in shell fire in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 February 2007, 05:13 GMT]
U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Richard O'Blake, and the Italian Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Pio Mariani, were slightley injuried by shrapnel of shells fired at Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) airfield in eastern Batticaloa, around 8:40 a.m, Tuesday. Reports said the diplomats were getting off a helicopter in which around 15 diplomats and senior officials flew to the eastern town when the shells hit the air field. Meanwhile, 2 SLAF helicopters that landed in Weber Stadium in Batticatoa city carrying Sri Lankan Disaster Management Minister narrowly escaped from 122 mm shell fire, according to military sources in Colombo.
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American Tamils call for Recognition of Tamil Sovereignty for NorthEast Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 February 2007, 11:46 GMT]
Pleading to the international community that "the just aspirations of the Tamils should not be held hostage by fictitious claims of protecting the territorial integrity and sovereignty of a failed state," a consortium of Tamil organizations in the US, in a press release issued Monday, urged the International Community to "recognize the current de-facto Tamil state should their authentic representatives exercise the right to external self-determination," and called upon fellow Americans "to stand with the Tamil Americans in support of the inalienable right of self-determination."
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Offensive aftermath

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 February 2007, 01:01 GMT]
More than 200 civilians were killed and hundreds of others injured in the five-month long Sri Lanka military offensive carried out in sea, air and land on Vaharai and adjoining coastal hamlets. Nearly 40,000 IDPs stay in 49 temporary shelters and with friends and relatives elsewhere in the military controlled part of Batticaloa district. The Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from Vaharai and neighboring Trincomalee district express resentment over the inequity in reimbursing relief and compensation by Sri Lanka Government authorities.
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SLA imposes day time travel restrictions in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 February 2007, 18:26 GMT]
The high command of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) from Palaly announced Friday that in addition to the 11 hour night time curfew already in place, there will be further restrictions of civilian movement during day time. SLA directed general public to avoid certain roads during a three and a half hour period, morning between 10:00 a.m. and 12.00 noon and again between 3:00 pm- and 4:30 pm in the afternoon, sources in Jaffna said.
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Civilians from Valaichchenai arrested in Hatton

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 February 2007, 16:00 GMT]
Nine Tamil civilians from Valaichchenai in Batticaloa district in the eastern province were arrested by the Sri Lanka security forces in a cordon and search operation conducted in Hatton in Nuwara Eliya district in the central province Saturday morning, sources said.
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SLA strips bare houses in Vaharai, Sampoor - MP

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 February 2007, 15:45 GMT]
Batticaloa District Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian S. Jeyanandamoorthy charged Saturday that Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers are dismantling civilians homes and stripping them of furniture and equipments in the recently captured Vaharai area. The internally displaced people (IDPs) who fled Vaharai before the SLA entered the area, have been prevented from entering the area by the soldiers guarding the entry points, the parliamentarian said. Meanwhile, the refugees from Sampoor had complained that the roofs of their houses have also been removed by the SLA.
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TNA appeals to international community to back Tamil self-determination

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 February 2007, 11:09 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s ongoing military campaign leaves Tamils with no option but to seek self-determination and self-rule, the country’s largest Tamil party said Friday. In a statement to mark the fifth anniversary of the Ceasefire Agreement between the LTTE and the Sri Lankan government, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) called on the international community to recognise the Tamil struggle pointing out that in the past five years, “the Sri Lankan government has utterly failed to alleviate the sufferings of the Tamil people. Neither has it contributed meaningfully to a lasting solution to the national conflict.”
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Tamil civilian stabbed to death in Mihinthupura

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 February 2007, 22:57 GMT]
Unidentified persons stabbed a Tamil civilian to death on Wednesday evening at Kandiah Road in Mihinthupura along Trincomalee-Anuradhapura Road. The victim was identified as Kathiravelu Paramananthan aged 56 and a retired watcher of a state bank branch in Trincomalee town. Mihinthupura is located about four km off north along Trincomalee-Anuradhapura Road from the east port city.
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5 Jaffna civilians missing, feared abducted by SLA

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 February 2007, 02:41 GMT]
Five civilians were reported missing on Tuesday from Jaffna Municipal area and Atchuvely area in Jaffna peninsula according to complaints made at the Jaffna office of the Human Rights Commission (HRC). Two of the persons were missing on their way to Jaffna town while three were arrested by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troopers driving a white van, family members of the missing persons said.
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Body with gunshot wounds recovered in Puthur

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 February 2007, 20:40 GMT]
Atchuvely police recovered an unidentified dead body of a male around 30 years bearing gun shot wounds, from a shrub land close to a civilian settlement at Vatharavathai, Puthur East in Valigamam East Thursday morning, sources in Jaffna said. Police handed over the body to Jaffna Teaching Hospital Thursday afternoon for postmortem examinations.
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