SLAF bomber shot over Ira'naimadu

[TamilNet, Monday, 30 April 2007, 11:22 GMT]
Sri Lanka Air Force's (SLAF's) aircraft on a bombing raid south of Ira'naimadu in Vannai around 2:45 p.m. spewed large cloud of smoke after a explosion and the jet suspended the bombing raid struggling to maintain height, traders in Kilinochchi who saw the troubled aircraft said. Meanwhile, unconfirmed reports from Colombo said a Israeli-built fast attack Kfir which took off from Katunayake Air Force base Monday has failed to return to the base.


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Air Tigers attack 2 targets in Colombo - LTTE

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 April 2007, 22:33 GMT]
Two oil storages that supply fuel to Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombers were attacked by the Tamileelam Air Force, Tiger Military Spokesman Irasiah Ilanthirayan told TamilNet. Oil and fuel storages in Kolonnawa and Muththuraajawala were attacked by the TAF at 1:50 a.m. Sunday and at 2:05 a.m. after Sri Lanka Air Force bombers attacked a suburb of Kilinochchi town in Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam administered territory, Mr. Ilanthirayan said adding that the Tiger bombers had safely returned to their airbase in Vanni.
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Labourer abducted, shot dead in Eravur

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 April 2007, 02:17 GMT]
Unidentified gunmen abducted a young Tamil family man from his residence in Vipulanthapuram, Mylampaveli in Eravur police division in Batticaloa District Wednesday night around 7:00 p.m., and shot him dead, sources in Batticaloa said.
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Civilian killed, 2 injured in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 April 2007, 01:20 GMT]
A Tamil family man was killed and two, including a Sri Lanka Army (SLA) trooper, were injured in an attack Wednesday around 7:10 p.m on a SLA sentry unit posted near a lake at Sithandy, Morokodanchenai in Eravur police division in Batticaloa district, Eravur police said. The attack was launched from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) held area across the lake and the civilians were caught in the attack, the police claimed.
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WTCC representative arrested in New York - U.S. Justice Department

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 April 2007, 20:53 GMT]
A senior U.S. representative of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Karunakaran Kandasamy, was arrested in Queens, New York, according to a news release issued by the U.S. Department of Justice, Wednesday. The arrest was made on a complaint alleging Mr. Karunakaran, as director of the American branch of the Tigers, for having operated within the United States drawing on America’s financial resources and technological advances. The complaint further said that the LTTE relied on sympathetic Tamil expatriates residing in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, France, and several other countries.
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Buffel APC destroyed in LTTE ambush in Amparai

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 April 2007, 20:52 GMT]
A Buffel Armoured Personnel Carrier used by the Sri Lankan Special Task Force in Amparai was destroyed in a combined ambush Wednesday around 9:00 a.m., LTTE military spokesman Irasiah Ilanthirayan told media. The Buffel APC, on its way from Pannalagama to Bakmitiyawa, was rushing to the site of a Claymore attack on a STF Road Patrol, where at least two personnell were killed and 3 wounded, according to the casualty figures provided by the Sri Lankan Police.
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LTTE: Sri Lankan offensive repulsed in Madu

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 April 2007, 15:37 GMT]
Liberation Tigers Wednesday said they repulsed a ground offensive by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) at Parisankulam inside LTTE controlled Madu division in Mannar. More than 10 Sri Lankan soldiers were killed and around 50 sustained injuries, said LTTE's Military Spokesman Irasiah Ilanthirayan. The SLA troopers who moved from Iranai Iluppaikkulam camp were locked in a five-hour jungle clash where Tigers engaged sniper units inflicting casualties on the SLA troopers, Mr. Ilanthirayan said.
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SLA suffers casualties in fresh offensive in Madu

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 April 2007, 12:38 GMT]
Twelve Sri Lanka Army soldiers were killed and 33 wounded when a special unit of the SLA launched a fresh offensive amid artillery barrage towards Mullikkulam, 12 km northesat of Madu Church in Iranai Illuppaikulam GS division, Mannar, Wednesday evening according to initial reports from the area. 26 wounded soldiers were admitted to Anurdhapura public hospital and 7 more were rushed to military hospital, according to medical sources.


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Sooriyarachchi refused bail for third time

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 April 2007, 11:43 GMT]
The Kaduwela Magistrate Tuesday refused the bail application submitted on behalf of Mr.Sripathi Sooriyarachchi for the third time and ordered further two weeks' remand, legal sources in Colombo said. Mr.Sooriayarachchi was sacked from the non-cabinet minister post. He is a parliamentarian from the Sri Lanka Freedom party (SLFP), main constituent of the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government.


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Sri Lankan military officials meet in Palaali

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 24 April 2007, 13:42 GMT]
A defence team comprising high level officials of the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF), Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and Sri Lanka Navy (SLN), were flown to Palaali airbase amid tight security Tuesday morning for an assessment of the air attack carried out by the Tigers on the High Security Zone Palaali garrison in Jaffna. A number of bombs dropped by the LTTE aircrafts had hit the military installations including the ammunition stores and camps along Kadduvan - Kankesanthurai (KKS) Road and in areas surrounding Mayiliddi harbour, according to a military official who did not wished to be named.
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Villagers plead for opening of Puliyadyirakkam Road in Mannar

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 24 April 2007, 12:24 GMT]
Villagers in the LTTE held Madhu areas in Mannar district have requested the civil and military authorities to re-open the Puliyadyirakkam Road, the gateway to 13 Grama Niladhari (GN) divisions in the LTTE held territory. Madhu Divisional Secretariat area comprises 17 GN divisions of which four are in the government held territory.
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Tiger aircrafts bomb Palaali military base

[TamilNet, Monday, 23 April 2007, 22:09 GMT]
Two attack aircraft of the Liberation Tigers bombed the Sri Lankan military’s main base complex in the Jaffna peninsula in the early hours of Tuesday morning, inflicting heavy damage and casualties, LTTE military spokesman Irasiah Ilanthirayan told TamilNet. Tamileelam Air Force bombers had hit an Engineering Unit of the complex and a military storage, the Tigers spokesman claimed. Meanwhile sources said continuous explosions were heard from inside the High Security Zone for five hours after the air raid. Military sources in Colombo confirmed that at least 6 of their personnel were killed. Informed military sources said more than 30 troopers were wounded the attack inside the HSZ.
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Colombo declines security assurance to Norwegian delegation

[TamilNet, Monday, 23 April 2007, 10:23 GMT]
A Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry official who contacted the Norwegian Ambassador Hans Brattskar in Colombo Sunday declined to recommend necessary security assurance for the Norwegian delegation to undertake a scheduled diplomatic visit to Kilinochchi Monday to meet with the political leadership of the Liberation Tigers of Tamileealm, Norwegian press reported Monday citing the Ambassador.
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SLA deploys elite forces in Northern Front

[TamilNet, Sunday, 22 April 2007, 18:08 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army has moved more than two thousand heavily armed Special Forces (SF) towards the Forward Defence Line in Thenmaradchi along the Northern Front, military observers in Thenmaradchi said Sunday, speculating a Sri Lankan offensive at any time from Jaffna's FDLs. Sri Lankan troopers were also engaged in intensive night training missions for the last three days in Jaffna's High Security Zone surrounding the SLA's Palaali garrison, in Thondamanaaru and Valalaai areas.


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2 fishermen feared drowned in SLA mortar fire

[TamilNet, Sunday, 22 April 2007, 14:14 GMT]
Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) launched mortar fire on fishermen fishing in Uduthurai seas in Vadamaradchy east Sunday around 4:00 a.m. in which two fishermen are missing and their fishing boat burnt, sources in Vadamaradchy said. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka Army (SLA) launched heavy artillery barrage from the Varani artillery base on civilian settlements in Uduthurai, Vettilaikerny, Vatharayan and Maruthankulam in Vadamaradchy east, from Saturday 10:00 p.m to Sunday 4:00 a.m, damaging six houses, the sources added.
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LTTE: Sri Lanka’s accusations of credit card fraud is ‘attempt to distract from rights abuses’

[TamilNet, Sunday, 22 April 2007, 09:08 GMT]
Liberation Tigers Political Head, S. P. Thamilchelvan, responding to allegations by the Sri Lankan Embassy in London that the Liberation Tigers were involved in organised crime in Britain involving the cloning of credit cards, dismissed the accusations and slammed them as an attempt by the Colombo government to distract international attention from widespread human rights abuses by its armed forces. Mr. Thamilchelvan said Sri Lanka's accusations which sought to implicate the hardworking and law-abiding Tamil Diaspora, stemmed from the "same chauvinism that caused the island’s protracted ethnic war."
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Tamil youth abducted, shot dead in Valaichenai

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 April 2007, 23:31 GMT]
Unidentified armed men abducted Friday a Tamil youth from his residence in School road, Peththalai, took him to Valaichenai, the nearby town 2 km away, and shot him dead around 11.00 p.m. along Vipulanantha Road in Valaichenai police division in Batticaloa district, police said.
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Sri Lanka steps up air strikes on Vanni

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 April 2007, 13:33 GMT]
Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) has stepped up bombardment on Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) territory in Mullaitheevu and Kilinochchi districts during the past week. A civilian was wounded Friday, when Sri Lanka Air Force bombers hit Puthukudiyiruppu 9th Division twice Friday. SLAF MiG and Kfir bombers were observed over Kilinochchi Saturday.
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NPC deplores threats to media freedom

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 April 2007, 11:55 GMT]
The National Peace Council (NPC) of Sri Lanka expressed concerns over reports that high ranking members of the government have pressured editors of national media institutions to avoid criticisms of government policies and actions, in a media release issued Thursday. Undemocratic state pressure on media is unacceptable, the release said.
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Norway dismisses lone activist’s agitation

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 April 2007, 15:23 GMT]
A Norwegian speaker at a symposium organised by Sinhala nationalists as a “public awareness programme on how terrorism is being promoted in Sri Lanka” was dismissed by his government as a lone agitator making wild accusations. The Norwegian, Falk Rune Rovik, who alleges that Norway is financing the LTTE, was a murder convict and has been engaged by Sinhala ultra nationalists and promoted by Sri Lankan government ministries in anti-Norwegian and anti-LTTE propaganda. The activities of Mr. Rovik, who is scheduled to address a conference in Colombo Friday, has antogonized the Norwegian Foreign Ministry, according to Norwegian press reports.
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