Col. Kittu remembered in Kilinochchi

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 January 2007, 05:02 GMT]
The 14th anniversary remembrance of Colonel Kittu and other fighters were remembered at the statue of late Lt. Colonel Kuttisri in Paranthan junction, Kilinochchi around 8:45 a.m. Tuesday. Colonel Kittu and nine other LTTE members who died exploding an LTTE vessel, when the Indian Navy cordoned off the vessel in which they were sailing to Sri Lanka on 16 January 1993. Kittu was the head of the LTTE's International Secretariat at the time of his death.
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Senior journalist passes away in Vanni

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 January 2007, 02:05 GMT]
A senior journalist in Vanni, Vallipuram Aruljothinathan, 56, of Kanagapuram, Kilinochchi, passed away at Kilinochchi General Hospital around 3:00 a.m. Tuesday. Mr Aruljothinathan started his career in 1993 at ‘Eelanatham,’ a Tamil newspaper published in Vanni, from the day of the inception of its weekly edition.
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Reopening of Jaffna University delayed

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 January 2007, 17:35 GMT]
Acting Vice Chancellor (VC) of University of Jaffna Prof K.Kumaravadivel, in a communiqué issued to the media on Tuesday announced that due to administrative difficulties the reopening of the university originally scheduled for January 22 is being postponed by few more weeks.
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Decapitated body found in Kathankudy

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 January 2007, 15:14 GMT]
The decapitated body of a youth with cut wounds was recovered by Kathankudy police on Tuesday morning at 10:00 am in Manchanthoduvai area along old Kalmunai road in Kathankudy police division in Batticaloa district.
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GS shot dead in Thonadamanaru

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 January 2007, 09:02 GMT]
A 'Grama Sevaka' (village level administration officer) was shot dead by unidentified gunmen at his office located in front of the historic Sellasannithi Murugan Temple in Thonadamanaru, around 4:30 p.m., Friday, police said. Four village level officers have been shot dead in Jaffna during the past 6 months.
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NorthEast demerger, breach of International Treaty- Sampanthan

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 January 2007, 06:53 GMT]
“Not only the Tamil speaking people but also the International Community are unhappy with the de-merger of NorthEastern province. Though the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka told that former President J. R. Jayewardene’s step was defective and invalid, the Sri Lanka's President Mr. Rajapakse who wants to share no powers with Tamils, seized the opportunity quickly and declared the de-merger amidst the opposition from many of his own cabinet ministers and Members of parliament. Mr Rajapakse has not only betrayed the Tamil people, but also breached an international treaty, R. Sampanthan told in the Sri Lankan Parliament Wednesday.
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Four grenade attacks on SLA troopers in Vadamaradchi

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 January 2007, 01:04 GMT]
Four hand grenade attacks were targetted towards Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troopers at four different places in Vadamaradchi Monday, sources in Point Pedro said. No SLA soldiers were injured in the attacks. However, SLA sources said that in one of the attacks at Alayady are in Polikandy, a member of the Liberation Tigers was killed.
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Remains of Padahuthurai victims laid to rest

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 January 2007, 01:02 GMT]
Hundreds of civilians, religious leaders and civil representatives bade farewell to 13 of the 16 civilian victims killed Tuesday in Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombardment at the Mother Velankanni Church at Nochchikuda, Wednesday, sources in Mannar said.
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Sri Lanka military vows to ‘annihilate’ LTTE in east then north

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 January 2007, 14:02 GMT]
After taking control of the eastern province in the next two months, Sri Lanka’s military will recapture the areas held by the Liberation Tigers in the north of the island, the Army (SLA) Chief said this week.
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Outstation undergrads demand safe travel to Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 03 January 2007, 23:16 GMT]
The special meeting, presided by the Jaffna University Acting Vice Chancellor Prof. K. Kumaravadivelu and attended by faculty heads and lecturers held Wednesday at Jaffna campus to explore ways to provide safe travel arrangements to the outstation students back to Jaffna, when the Jaffna University reopens January 22, ended without inconclusively, according to University sources. The Jaffna campus was closed indefinitely when clashes erupted between the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on August 11.
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14 civilians killed, 35 wounded in aerial bombardment

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 January 2007, 05:29 GMT]
Sri Lanka Air Force bombers Tuesday morning bombed more than 25 houses, killing at least 14 civilians, including 6 children, and seriously wounding 35 civilians at the coastal hamlet of Padahuthurai in Iluppaikadavai, 24 km northwest of Mannar town. Medical staff at two local hospitals in the area, Mulankavil and Pallamadu, were struggling to transport the seriously wounded, as an ambulance rushed from Mannar hospital, was blocked by Sri Lanka Army soldiers manning the Uyilankulam entry point.
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Battle for Vaharai

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 January 2007, 11:35 GMT]
Vaharai, a large backwater on Sri Lanka’s east coast, is an area with large fertile fields, lagoons and virgin forests in the northern part of the Batticaloa district. More than 15,000 residents and IDPs are now trapped in Vaharai as the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) conducts its brutal campaign to evict Tamils from the region, closing A-15 the main access road to the town, and imposing economic embargo, while Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) kfirs fly bombing raids terrorizing the civilians to flee. "They [LTTE] won't be able to keep the civilians for long. Food and medicine is in short supply," Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe, the top military spokesman, told Reuters in a interview Friday.
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Jaffna Campus to reopen 22 January

[TamilNet, Sunday, 31 December 2006, 13:14 GMT]
Jaffna University board of governors, at a meeting presided by the Acting Vice Chancellor, Prof. Kumaravadivel, decided to reopen the Campus on 22 January, administrators at Jaffna campus said. Sri Lanka Military Command has agreed to arrange sea transportation to the more than 800 out of district students to come back to the campus, officials added.


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MP slams aerial bombardment on water refinery

[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 December 2006, 10:37 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF), in its latest bombing raids in Vaharai on Thursday, completely destroyed a water refinery constructed by the UN agencies to remedy the drinking water shortage in the area near Verugal Murugan temple, charged S. Jeyanandamoorthy, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Parliamentarian from Batticaloa. In a press communiqué issued on Friday, the MP said: "the bombardment on the water refinery is not only a Ceasefire violation but is a human rights violation and a war crime too."
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Low-key tsunami anniversary memorials held in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 December 2006, 23:20 GMT]
With Sri Lanka Army (SLA) imposed restriction of free movement of people in force, the second anniversary memorial events on the coastal villages of Jaffna peninsula were held Tuesday in several places of worship quietly, sources from Jaffna said. A tsunami sculpture carved by a famous sculptor from Tellipalai was unveiled today by the Government Agent Jaffna, with several civil society leaders and public participating in the event.
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SLAF Jets bomb Vaharai, disrupt tsunami memorial event

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 December 2006, 12:46 GMT]
Sri Lanka Airforce (SLAF) kfir fighter jets bombed Tuesday morning Kathiraveli and Palchenai residential areas in Vaharai in the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) territory, and Sri Lanka Army (SLA) launched artillery and rocket fire from SLA camps in Mankerny, Kadjuwathe, during the second anniversary memorial prayers were being held for the tsunami victims at Vaharai Vigneswara temple around 9:25 a.m Tuesday. Five houses were badly damaged but no one was hurt when shells fell and exploded on residential areas, Vaharai sources said.
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Drifted ship's Captain talks to Jordanian Ambassador in India

[TamilNet, Sunday, 24 December 2006, 10:49 GMT]
Iraqi Captain of the Jordanian owned cargo ship M.V. FARAH III that drifted and struck the ground in LTTE territorial waters off Mullaithivu Saturday, Ramaz S. Abdul Jabbar, has contacted the Jordanian Ambassador in India Sunday evening, from the Peace Secretariat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Kilinochchi, conveying the message of safety of his crew members. Asked to comment whether there has been any military standoff between the Sri Lanka Navy and the Sea Tigers, the Captain of the ship told TamilNet: "this, I guess is all political. We are all safe and we have good cooperation here."
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Germany wants peace conditions on Sri Lanka aid

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 December 2006, 18:04 GMT]
The international community should make further assistance to Sri Lanka dependent on the resumption of the peace process in the country, German Development Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul was quoted as saying in an interview to be published Sunday.
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SLAF bombs Mullaithivu suburb

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 December 2006, 07:30 GMT]
Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) Kfir jets Friday bombed a Mullaithivu suburb between 8:50 and 9:15 Friday morning. Also on Wednesday, when Vanni observed the funeral of LTTE theoretician and Chief Negotiator Mr. Anton Balasingham, SLAF bombers targeted a suburb in Puthudiyiruppu in Mullaithivu district.
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Vanni pays homage to 'Voice of the Nation' Balasingham

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 December 2006, 11:05 GMT]
"Anton Balasingham bore the cross for the liberation of Eelam Tamils," said Puthuvai Iratnathurai, the Poet and the head of the Cultural Organisation of Tamileelam, addressing the mourners at Kilinochchi where LTTE Commander Col. Theepan hoisted the Tamileelam flag at half mast. "Bala Annai, when he visited Vanni last, told me that he wished to breathe his last in an Independent homeland," Puthuvai told the gathering. "We will support our Nation's leader, paving the way for the freedom of our nation, fulfilling Bala Annai's wish."
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