Batticaloa farmers face bleak prospects

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 February 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Farmers in the Batticaloa District - especially those from areas controlled by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) - are facing financial ruin with middlemen purchasing their harvest at very low prices, reports the TamilNet correspondent in Batticaloa.
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SLA burns KIA bodies

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 04 February 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The SLA, according to sources in Vavuniya, burnt all 41 of the bodies of SLA soldiers which they received from the ICRC today at Madukanda, an area near Vavuniya.
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Tigers capture Kilinochchi town

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 February 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers announced in the Vanni this morning that more than three hundred soldiers have been killed in the ongoing attack on the Kilinochchi SLA base. The Tigers had advanced towards the centre of Kilinochchi and had brought the town and it surrounding areas under their control.
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Civilians visit captured town

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 February 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Sri Lanka Red Cross Society (SLRC) sources said this evening that the Liberation Tigers had allowed civilians to visit some parts of the Kilinochchi town which had come under their control. Some of them (the civilians) had gone there to assist the LTTE remove some military hardware they said.
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Skirmish in Valaichenai

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 February 1998, 23:59 GMT]
A confrontation took place this morning between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the Sri Lanka Army (SLA), which was on a patrol at Navatkadu, 3 km west of Batticaloa, said sources in Batticaloa. The SLA was accompanied by the ex-Tamil militant paramilitary unit, known as the Mohan Group.
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SLA sources differ on Kilinochchi situation

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 February 1998, 23:59 GMT]
SLA sources at the Palaly base in Jaffna said that fighting in the Kilinochchi area was continuing till this afternoon. They said that thus far fifty soldiers have been confirmed killed in the fighting. The SLA sources were unable to confirm whether army casualties will mount further.
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Doubts over SLA claims

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 February 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The Tamil Eelam Radio, the commercial broadcast of the Voice of Tigers, said in its evening broadcast today that the fighting in the Paranthan Kilinochchi area continues to rage for the second day. Hence, no clear details of the battle are available as yet it said. The Radio said that the SLAF is continuing with retaliatory strikes against civilian targets in the Vanni today.
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MoD blocks UNHCR office

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 February 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Moves by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to build a new office, 4 km east of Mallavi, are being stalled by officials in the Ministry of Defence (MoD), said UNHCR sources in Vavuniya. The MoD is delaying approval for building materials to be transported to Mallavi for construction work to begin.
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Heavy casualties at Paranthan - SLA

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 February 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Army claimed today that they had recaptured the Paranthan Base which came under three pronged assault by the Liberation Tigers, from 1.30 a.m. in the early hours of the morning today.
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LTTE says Kilinochchi assault continues

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 February 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The Voice of Tigers (VOT) said in their night broadcast today that the attack on Kilinochchi continues. The Tigers, according to the VOT, had launched a heavy artillery barrage on the Kilinochchi-Paranthan base.
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Tigers attack SLA truck

[TamilNet, Saturday, 31 January 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Four SLA soldiers were killed and four were wounded when the Liberation Tigers attacked a military truck near the 18th mile post on the Vavuniya - Mannar road last night around 9.00 p.m.
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Army bans civilians from leaving Vanni

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 January 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The government decided to completely ban civilians from the LTTE controlled parts of the Vanni unless for very special reasons according to new strict regulations which came into affect from today. No civilians from the LTTE controlled parts of the Vanni will henceforth be permitted to enter Vavuniya.
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SLA claims 4 Tigers killed

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 January 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The SLA claimed today that it killed 4 Liberation Tigers, including two women members, who had infiltrated its defence at Nedunkerni around 2.30 p.m.
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Mud flies in Jaffna campaigns

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 January 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The propaganda for the Jaffna local polls took an acrimonious turn with the main contenders attacking each other of human rights abuses and corruption. The PLOTE put out a pamphlet today accusing the EPDP of massacring 72 Tamil youths who were taken away by the group when it moved into Allaipiddy, in the island of Kayts with the Sri Lankan army in late 1990.
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SLAF says LTTE boats destroyed

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 January 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The Sri Lankan airforce claimed today that its Kfir bombers had blown up five water jets belonging to the Liberation Tigers in the Mullaithivu lagoon around noon yesterday.
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Several arrests in Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 January 1998, 23:59 GMT]
21 people were arrested in 3 separate incidents in Vavuniya on Monday and Tuesday said sources in Vavuniya.
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Teenage refugee assaulted in SLA camp

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 January 1998, 23:59 GMT]
A girl arrested by the SLA from the refugee camp at Poonthottam in Vavuniya on Sunday January 18 and released last morning was admitted to the Vavuniya hospital with complaints of internal pains later.
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Civilian movement into Vavuniya discouraged

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 January 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Civilians of Mannar visiting Vavuniya town were refused the normal one week pass today by the Sri Lankan Police. Instead the Police said that only one day passes to stay in Vavuniya could be granted to them from today.
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Tigers still said holding Kanakarayan Kulam

[TamilNet, Thursday, 15 January 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Troops of Operation Jayasikurui ('Victory Assured' in Sinhalese) contrary to Sri Lanka Government (SLG) claim last week that Kanakarayan Kulam had come under the military's control, are still two kilometers from the strategic town on the A-9 and have to cross Kanakarayan Aaru (river), to reach their goal, said sources in Vavuniya today.
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Crooked cops arrested - with stolen goods

[TamilNet, Thursday, 15 January 1998, 23:59 GMT]
A Sri Lankan Police officer and three Police constables were arrested near Anuradhapura on Tuesday January 13 while transporting furniture and electrical goods removed from the homes of Tamil civilians who fled Omanthai, six kilometers north of Vavuniya, in May last year when the SLA launched Operation Jayasikurui to take control of the Vavuniya - Jaffna highway.
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