SLA readies for Manalaru offensive, Tigers warn of bloodbath

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 March 2007, 12:07 GMT]
"We are aware that the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has amassed military hardware close to Manalaru in preparation for a major offensive towards Mullaitivu area. Consequence of this offensive will be a catastrophic bloodbath across Sri Lanka," said Mr. Thamilchelvan, Head of LTTE Political Wing, speaking to TamilNet after meeting the Norwegian Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Hans Brattskar and Norwegian Embassy official Erik Nuremberg, in Kilinochchi Monday.


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VoT begins satellite transmission using Eurostar

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 March 2007, 16:47 GMT]
Voice of Tigers, the official radio broadcast of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), began satellite broadcast to South Asian countries from Vanni starting from today, LTTE sources from Kilinochchi said. "We are holding the inauguration ceremony on the 69th birthday of late Anton Balasingham as a mark of respect for his contribution to the progress of Tamil media. I also wish to thank all the staff at VoT for making the station a voice of Tamils," said Head of LTTE's Political Wing, S.P. Thamilchelvan speaking at the event.
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SLFP ponders expelling dissidents, as intra-party turmoil worsens

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 March 2007, 12:55 GMT]
Speculation is rife in political circles in Colombo that two dissident Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) parliamentarians, Mangala Samaraweera and Sripathi Sooriyarachchi, the sacked ministers, are to be expelled from the party, after Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse returns from his seven-day official visit to China on Sunday evening. The SLFP is the main constituent of the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government, sources said.
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Youth tied to lamp post, blown up with grenade in Kopay

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 March 2007, 12:16 GMT]
Kopay police recovered the remnants of the body of a youth tied to an electricity post and then blown up by exploding a hand grenade, near at LTTE's Heroes Cemetary along Rasaveethy (road) in Kopay in Valligamam Sunday morning. Earlier the body of a missing youth from Nallur was found with gunshot wounds in this same area, Kopay residents said.
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Acrimony flares, US says diplomats not LTTE’s target

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 March 2007, 00:13 GMT]
Amid growing acrimony within the Sri Lankan government over the LTTE mortar attack Tuesday on military helicopters carrying foreign ambassadors and UN officials to Batticaloa district, the American ambassador to Sri Lanka, Robert O. Blake, contradicted Colombo’s assertion that the Tigers had tried to assassinate the diplomats. Meanwhile Sri Lanka’s Defence Secretary says the diplomats should share the blame for the near-disaster for asking to visit Batticaloa. He slammed as “interference” attempts by foreign dignitaries and NGOs to visit the war torn Northeast.


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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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Jaffna fishermen protest fishing limits

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 March 2007, 05:18 GMT]
The fishermen of Pashaiyoor, Gurunagar, Kolumbuththurai and Navanthurai in the Jaffna municipal area protested the limited access to fishing authorized by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) hierarchy and refused to fish Friday, fisheries sources in Jaffna said. The SLA allowed fishermen to fish in shallow waters only up to 500 meters from the shore,
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Police constable, home guard injured in Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 March 2007, 09:06 GMT]
A police constable and a home guard posted at Railway Staion area at Eratperiyakulam in Vavuniya were injured when a shell fell and exploded Friday around 11:35 a.m, Vavuniya police said. The shell was launched by Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the police claimed.


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Accounting review clears university Tamil students’ club

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 March 2007, 03:03 GMT]
Canada’s University of Waterloo has cleared its Tamil Students’ Association of any wrong doing, citing an intensive review by the international auditing firm, Deloitte and Touche. Separately, the university also accepted a separate internal review which recommendation there be greater oversight of self-generated work placements overseas for members. Sri Lankan media had denounced the Association as a fundraising front for the LTTE.
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Mannar Education Officer succumbs to injuries

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 March 2007, 12:39 GMT]
Divisional Education Officer in Mannar, Christian Rajakone, 47, succumbed to injuries early morning Thursday at the Kilinochchi hospital, hospital sources said. Rajakone sustained in the claymore mine attack by the Deep Penetration Unit (DPU) of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) on Tuesday in the LTTE held area in Mannar district.
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Dehiwela Police arrests 3 Tamil women under PTA

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 March 2007, 12:22 GMT]
Dehiwela police arrested three Tamil women Wednesday midnight at their house in Vijayarama Mawatte in Kalubowila, Dehiwela, and has detained them at Dehiwela police station without stating the reason for the arrest, legal sources in Colombo said. Mano Ganeshan, Colombo District parliamentarian, contacted Dehiwela police regarding the arrests and was told that the three women have been arrested and held under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA).
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HRC conducts inquiries into death in Police detention

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 March 2007, 00:44 GMT]
Sri Lankan Human Rights Commission (HRC) conducted inquiries Wednesday into the death of the Sinhala suspect held at the Police Head Quarters in Colombo. The officials from the HRC visited the scene and recorded statements from the Director of the Investigation section and the personnel involved in the interrogation of the deceased detainee, O. G. Chandrasena, HRC officials said.
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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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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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SLN destroys suspicious boat in the seas off Matara

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 February 2007, 04:49 GMT]
Sri Lankan military officials in Colombo have claimed that the Sri Lanka Navy destroyed a suspicious boat 230 nautical miles off Matara on Sri Lanka's southern coast around 8:30 a.m. Wednesday. Sri Lankan officials later said that the incident occurred 180 nautical miles from Dondra Point.
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Sinhalese suspect found dead at Police headquarters

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 February 2007, 17:09 GMT]
A Sinhalese man, arrested at Valaichenai in Batticaloa district on suspicion for working closely with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in November 2006 and held in custody at Police Headquarters in Colombo, was found dead in the toilet Tuesday morning, Colombo police said.


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DPU ambush kills School Principal in LTTE territory

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 February 2007, 12:43 GMT]
A newly appointed principal who was on his way to Vilathikulam from the Zonal Education Office in Madhu was killed, and an Divisional Education Officer was wounded and rushed to Kilinochchi hospital for treatment Tuesday morning following a Claymore ambush by the Deep Penetration Unit (DPU) of the Sri Lanka Army, said N. Selvy, Liberation Tigers Human Rights Spokesperson.
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LTTE condemns GoSL for endangering the lives of foreign diplomats

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 February 2007, 05:31 GMT]
Military Spokesman of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Irasiah Ilanthirayan, expressing deep regret for the injuries caused to the foreign diplomats who landed in the military airfield of the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) in Batticaloa and the Weber Stadium where 23-3 Brigade Commander's military headquarters is located, condemned the Government of Sri Lanka for having endangered the lives of foreign diplomats bringing them into the artillery launchpads inside the military zone without following diplomatic procedures.
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SL anti-terror officials detain Sinhala paper director

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 February 2007, 22:10 GMT]
The Financial Director of the Sinhala language weekly "Mawbima", Dushantha Basnayake, has been detained by the Sri Lankan Terrorism Investigation Division (TID) Monday evening at his workplace in Colombo. Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse, in a televised address, Saturday had charged that the weekly was "pro LTTE." The paper is owned by Tiran Alles, a close confidante of Mangala Samaraweera, the former SL Foreign Minister who was recently sacked by Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse. Mr. Tiran Alles was also removed from Sri Lanka's Civil Aviation Authority this month.
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STF camp attacked in Amparai

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 February 2007, 17:56 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) launched an attack using small arms on Thangavelauthapuram Special Task Force (STF) camp located on the top of Sangermalai, Thirukovil in Amparai district Sunday around 10:30 p.m, sources in Thirukovil said.


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