Jaffna passengers' rough ride ends

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 October 1998, 18:07 GMT]
The Lanka Muditha, the merchant cargo ship that set sail this morning with 525 civilian passengers and a large number of soldiers, returned to the Kankesanthurai SL Navy base in Jaffna around 11 a.m. after a Naval convoy was attacked by the Sea Tigers this morning.
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Sporadic clashes in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 October 1998, 11:45 GMT]
Five Sri Lankan Army (SLA) Soldiers were wounded and one civilian was killed in two separate incidents in the eastern Batticaloa district today said sources there.
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Amnesty seeks safety guarantees

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 October 1998, 00:08 GMT]
Amnesty International, the London based human rights organisation said today that the Sri Lankan government "must guarantee" the safety of forensic experts to enable international observers to participate in the exhumations of the alleged mass graves at Chemmani.
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SLA spokesman briefs press

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 October 1998, 11:18 GMT]
Six army personnel were killed and 18 wounded when the Liberation Tigers attacked Forward defense Lines (FDL) in the southern sector of Paranthan said the SLA spokesman Brigadier Sunil Tennekoon, presenting a review of the security situation in the north and east of the island at the weekly cabinet press briefing today at the People's Bank Training Centre at D.R Wijewardene Mawatha in downtown Colombo.
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Continuing search for army deserters

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 October 1998, 15:10 GMT]
A spokesman for the Sri Lankan Ministry of Defence (MoD) said today that the Police have arrested 818 army deserters since last Tuesday, October 20. He said they will be subject to a brief retraining program and be sent off to the front soon.
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Tigers shell Elephant Pass base

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 October 1998, 00:02 GMT]
Four Sri Lankan Army (SLA) personnel, including an officer, were killed when the Liberation Tigers fired artillery on the Elephant Pass base complex last night around 11.00. Army sources said that eight soldiers were wounded in the shelling. They said that the Tigers had used 122 mm howitzers to fire on the base.
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Tigers release soldiers, ferry crew

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 October 1998, 03:50 GMT]
Six Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers and three Sinhalese crewmen from the ferries "Irish Mona" and "M.V. Misen" in the custody of the Liberation Tigers were released today by S.P.Thamilchelvan, the leader of the LTTE's political wing at Puthukkudiyiruppu in the Mullaithivu district, the Voice Of Tigers (VoT) radio said yesterday evening.
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Jaffna ship sails early

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 October 1998, 06:27 GMT]
More than 750 Jaffna civilians were in for a great disappointment this morning when they discovered that the Lanka Muditha, the ship chartered by the Sri Lankan government to ferry thousands of civilians who have been stranded in the peninsula since the beginning of this month, had set sail to Trincomalee in the afternoon yesterday without them.
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Civilians drafted in error

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 October 1998, 19:44 GMT]
Innocent Sinhala civilians may also be among the hundreds of deserters who are being picked up and sent off to the war front in the Sri Lankan government's current drive to replenish the ranks of the Sri Lankan army (SLA) , said human rights workers today.
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Troops search Jaffna school

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 October 1998, 18:59 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) rounded up and searched a school in Jaffna today for the first time since it consolidated its hold on the peninsula in early 1996. Troops entered the premises of the Kokkuvil Hindu college this afternoon around 2 p.m. when the school was about to be closed.
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JVP warns of anti-Tamil violence - paper

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 October 1998, 11:55 GMT]
Sinhala racist organisations are trying to use the deaths of large numbers of Sri Lankan soldiers recently to whip up anti-Tamil violence, said a JVP leader, Mr. Vimal Weerawamsa at a party meeting last week, according to the Sinhala language newspaper, the Lakbima.
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Northern skirmishes continue -SLA

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 October 1998, 08:48 GMT]
Twenty-one Sri Lankan Army (SLA) personnel were wounded during limited operations in Jaffna said the Sri Lankan military spokesman Brigadier Sunil Tennekoon, presenting a round up of the security situation for this week at the cabinet press briefing today.
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Tigers release Kilinochchi footage

[TamilNet, Thursday, 15 October 1998, 20:15 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers sent video footage of their attack on Kilinochchi to selected foreign correspondents and leading Sri Lankan journalists, including the Colombo BBC correspondent and Sunday Times defence columnist Iqbal Athas today.
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Strain shows at press conference

[TamilNet, Thursday, 15 October 1998, 12:59 GMT]
The SLA spokesman Brigadier Sunil Tennekoon told journalists at today's cabinet press briefing that a joint "project" by the army and Police to arrest 15000 deserters which was launched on October 7, has so far netted 2889 soldiers who have been absconding. He said 25000 soldiers had deserted the Sri Lankan security forces. He said that 14 thousand of these were arrested or returned to their units voluntarily.
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Loose APC kills forty

[TamilNet, Monday, 12 October 1998, 19:42 GMT]
At least forty Sri Lankan soldiers and sailors were killed when a Saracen armoured vehicle broke off its moorings on the cargo vessel 'Lanka Muditha' on Saturday said sources in Jaffna today. The report could not be confirmed independently from SLA sources.
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Businessman shot dead

[TamilNet, Sunday, 11 October 1998, 15:15 GMT]
The SLA shot dead a businessman, Anthonypillai Irasamaansingh Suresh ,23, and wounded his mother in Palai in Jaffna last night around 7 p.m. Shops in Palai town were closed in protest against the killing despite a severe warning from the army that they should be opened forthwith or remain shut for a week.
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Four STF commandos killed in Omanthai

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 October 1998, 06:00 GMT]
Four commandos of the elite Special Task Force (STF) were killed and six wounded when the Liberation Tigers attacked the vehicle in which they were travelling last evening around 5.30 p.m. at Omanthai, north of Vavuniya said Police sources in the northern town.
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Urgent appeal for more blood

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 October 1998, 23:11 GMT]
The blood bank in Colombo has appealed for more donors to come forward, following a severe reduction in its stockpiles following last week's heavy fighting in Kilinochchi and Mankulam. The appeal said 2000 pints of blood are urgently needed.
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Military activity intimidates farmers

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 October 1998, 22:22 GMT]
Five employees working in a farm in Thandikkulam, 2 km north of Vavuniya were arrested by the Sri Lankan Police on Monday following a claymore mine explosion near the farm on Saturday.
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Further fighting in the Vanni

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 October 1998, 22:12 GMT]
The Liberation Tiger said today that they had handed over the bodies of 5 Sri Lankan Army soldiers recovered by them during the fighting in Mankulam on Tuesday, to the International Red Cross Committee.
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