Four more bodies identified

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 31 October 2000, 13:32 GMT]
The bodies of four detainees killed in the Bandarawela massacre were identified Tuesday morning at Colombo National Hospital. They were named as Kokulamani Sajeewan of Kallady, Batticaloa, Perinpanayagam Nimlaraj of Batticaloa, Somasuntharam Sellarasa and Sivan Kubendran of Arayampathi. All bodies were found to be in a highly decomposed state, hospital sources said.
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Trouble flares at Batticaloa protest

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 31 October 2000, 13:30 GMT]
There were clashes with Sri Lankan security forces Tuesday as undergraduates, lecturers and non-academic staff of the East University went on a picketing campaign blocking all traffic between Batticaloa and Valaichchenai main road condemning the massacre of Tamil detainees at Bandarawela-Bindunuwewa rehabilitation center on October 25 and demanding the immediate release of Mr.P.Chandrasekaram Parliamentarian and the Leader of the Upcountry People's Front who is now in police custody in Colombo.
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Mobs attack protesters, burn down shops

[TamilNet, Sunday, 29 October 2000, 12:42 GMT]
Riots broke out in the hill town of Talawakele, about 25 km. south-west of Nuwara Eliya as Sinhalese mobs attacked people protesting over the massacre of Tamil detainees at the Bindunuwewa detention centre last Wednesday. Two Tamils were killed and several others were wounded when police opened fire, said Mr. P.Chandrasekaran MP. The leader of the Upcountry People's Front also told TamilNet that the mobs later went on a rampage in the town, setting fire to several Tamil-owned shops.
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Massacre victims' bodies taken to North-East

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 October 2000, 20:09 GMT]
Thirteen bodies of victims of Bindunuwewa detention centre massacre were transported to their native places in North-East provinces by helicopters Friday evening. Police sources said identification of the remaining bodies are delayed as they were either mutilated or charred beyond recognition by the fire at the Centre.
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Hartal to protest journalist's slaying

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 October 2000, 19:56 GMT]
A hartal was observed on Friday in Batticaloa, Trincomalee and Vavuniya to protest against the killing of Jaffna based journalist Mylvaganam Nimalanathan allegedly by pro-government militiamen. Shops and schools were closed and few reported for work in government offices, sources said.
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Trinco hartal over massacre

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 October 2000, 08:29 GMT]
A hartal is being observed in the eastern town of Trincomalee Friday, condemning the massacre Wednesday of Tamil detainees at Bindunuwewa detention centre and the slaying last week of Jaffna based reporter Mylvaganam Nimalarajan, allegedly by pro-government militiamen.
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Mi24 shot down, fighting on Marble Beach

[TamilNet, Monday, 23 October 2000, 05:45 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers shot down a Mi-24 helicopter gunship that flew into support Sri Lanka army troops and the Navy which attempted to encircle and engage them Monday morning near the Marble beach 16 kilometers southwest of Trincomalee, security sources said.
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Jaffna journalist killed for his reporting

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 October 2000, 06:43 GMT]
The killing of senior Jaffna journalist, Mylvaganam Nimalrajan, 38 Thursday night by gunmen suspected to be members of a pro-government Tamil group, was widely condemned by Tamil media organisations and political parties. Mr.Nimalrajan, fearlessly reported the intimidation, thuggery and election malpractice during the October 10 elections in Jaffna to the Sri Lankan Parliament.
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SLAF helicopter shot down

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 October 2000, 13:54 GMT]
Fighting broke out in Nakar Kovil on the south-eastern coast of Jaffna Thursday evening. Sri Lanka Army sources in the northern town said a MI-24 helicopter gunship was shot down around 5.30 p.m.
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SLA disarms TELO "in revenge"

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 October 2000, 13:29 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army troops Thursday raided the camps of the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO) in Mannar town and Vavuniya around 4 p.m. and seized more than 90 assault rifles from them. Prasanna, a TELO leader in Colombo, told TamilNet that the government is taking revenge on his organisation "for refusing to compromise the national interests of the Tamil people".
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SLMC split over backing PA

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 October 2000, 12:56 GMT]
Differences between the co-leaders of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress, Mrs.Ferial Ashraff and Mr.Rauf Hakeem, that had been brewing this week over the nature of the party's support to the People's Alliance spilled, into the open Tuesday as the majority of the party's MPs said they backed the former's decision to join the government.
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Police shoot inside eastcoast Mosque

[TamilNet, Monday, 16 October 2000, 16:08 GMT]
Schools, shops and government offices were partly shut down Monday in the eastern Muslim town of Akkaraipattu, 64 kilometers south of Batticaloa on the southeastern coast of the island, in protest over Sri Lankan Police shooting and wounding five people in the town's main Mosque Saturday midnight. Police in Akkaraipattu claimed that a large crowd that gathered at the town Mosque in response to a special late night muezzin call had attacked a Police patrol, wounding some constables. Police arrested twenty eight persons, including the editor of a news paper, accused of taking part in the attack.
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Sinhala nationalists squabble and split

[TamilNet, Monday, 16 October 2000, 13:15 GMT]
Sihala Urumaya, the hardline Sinhala Buddhist nationalist party, split Monday over who should represent it in the Sri Lankan Parliament. The President of the party Mr.S.L.Gunasekera told a press conference in Colombo Monday that he and seven members of the Sihala Urumaya's central committee had walked out in protest Sunday from a meeting that had been convened to select one of its senior members as the national list MP of the party. The Sihala Urumaya got only one seat in the Parliament on account of the total number of votes it polled island wide at the general elections on October 10.
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Ignoring Mosque writ costly in eastern towns

[TamilNet, Sunday, 15 October 2000, 19:58 GMT]
The main mosque for Oddamavadi and Valaichenai, 32 kilometers north of Batticaloa, Sunday permanently banned seven shops owned by residents of Kattankudy from doing business in the two towns.
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SLMC gets bargain, internecine clash in east

[TamilNet, Saturday, 14 October 2000, 12:50 GMT]
The Police announced and unofficial curfew in the Muslim town of Oddamavadi,35 kilometres north of Batticaloa, from 8 p.m. Saturday and called in the army to keep the peace following a rampage by supporters of National Unity Alliance (NUA) MP, Mohideen Abdul Carder, against persons who had worked for Mr.M.L.A.M Hisbullah, former Deputy Minister for Posts and a senior leader of the SLMC. (NUA is the multi-ethnic front of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress) Meanwhile, in Colombo, the 'co-leader' of the SLMC, Rauf Hakeem, said that his party will have two cabinet portfolios and four deputy ministries in the new government.
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Crowds stone soldiers in temple fracas

[TamilNet, Saturday, 14 October 2000, 09:22 GMT]
The annual festival of the Vallipuram Aalvaar temple in Jaffna was disrupted Friday evening when crowds of devotees who were angered by the Sri Lanka Army's refusal to allow them to the beach for the water cutting ceremony ('Theertham') stoned soldiers and a state radio van. The TamilNet's Vadamaradchi correspondent said that three SLA soldiers were wounded by stones hurled at them by the crowd.
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SLMC to reap numbers game advantage

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 October 2000, 13:09 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Muslim Congress that won nine seats (five on PA list) to emerge Thursday as the key player in the numbers game to form a coalition government in Sri Lanka said it will not join the PA unconditionally. A party spokesman in the Ampara district told TamilNet that the PA should honour the conditions on which the SLMC supported the government in the elections to the Parliament. Meanwhile, Mr. A.L.M Yaseen, the SLMC's Ampara district secretary said his party would iterate the position of its late leader regarding PA strong man A.H.M Fowzie.
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SLMC crucial for PA forming government

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 11 October 2000, 17:00 GMT]
The People's Alliance and its minority allies, the Eelam People's Democratic Front and the National Unity Alliance, together have obtained enough seats to form the government in Sri Lanka. However, the decision of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress will be crucial for the PA in forming the government this week. Six SLMC candidates, four who contested on the PA list and two on the NUA list, have been elected.
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TULF, PLOTE claim massive election fraud

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 October 2000, 18:23 GMT]
"More than ninety thousand votes of the total of about two hundred thousand votes said to have been polled today in Jaffna were rigged" said the leader of the People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE) Mr.Dharmalingam Sidarthan, the chief candidate of the ex-Tamil militant group contesting the elections to the Sri Lankan Parliament. Mr.Sidarthan told TamilNet Tuesday evening that he has requested the Commissioner of Elections not to declare the results of the Kayts and Kankesanthurai polling divisions in Jaffna because of the massive rigging.
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NUA rigs, clashes with UNP in east

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 October 2000, 12:39 GMT]
At least fourteen people were wounded and three vehicles smashed up in clashes between the National Unity Alliance (NUA), the multi-ethnic front of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress, and the United National Party (UNP) Tuesday in the Muslim towns of Kattankudy and Eravur in Batticaloa.
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