SLAF bombs Kilinochchi

[TamilNet, Thursday, 31 August 2006, 07:53 GMT]
Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) Kfir bombers dropped at least 3 bombs on the suburbs of Kilinochchi Thursday around 9:45 a.m. Sri Lanka Army fired artillery shells hit 5 villages in Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) controlled territory in Vanni for 6 hours from 3:00 a.m.
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Fisherman shot and hacked to death in Valaichchenai

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 August 2006, 22:10 GMT]
A Tamil civilian Periyathamby Veluppillai, 27, a fisherman by profession and a father of two children of Kalmadu in Valaichchenai police area, was shot and hacked to death by soldiers of the Sri Lankan Army (SLA) and paramilitaries on Tuesday night around 8.00 p.m at Koraweli Road, Kannahipuram in Batticaloa district. He had been residing in 50 Housing Scheme in Kalmadu.
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SLMM blames Sri Lanka military for aid workers’ massacre

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 August 2006, 11:15 GMT]
International ceasefire monitors Wednesday blamed the Sri Lankan military for the massacre of 17 local aid workers from international group Action Contre La Faim earlier this month, Reuters reported, quoting Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM). Outgoing SLMM head Ulf Henricsson, called the killings a "committed act of assassination" and "one of the most serious recent crimes against humanitarian aid workers worldwide," AP reported.
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Abducted youth being trained in Polannaruwa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 August 2006, 11:05 GMT]
A number of youths from Amparai district abducted by Army-backed anti-LTTE paramilitaries are undergoing weapons training at military bases in Polannaruwa District, LTTE officials who met with the United Nations’ child agency, UNICEF, said this week. Many youth had been brazenly picked up by unmarked ‘white vans’ in Army-controlled parts of the eastern districts, they said, urging UNICEF to visit the training sites.
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Rajapakse seeking UK's help to secure India's support - Norwegian radio

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 August 2006, 09:07 GMT]
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse's meeting Wednesday with British Prime Minister Tony Blair is "presumably an attempt to secure India's support in favour of Sri Lanka's policy" on the ethnic question Norwegian state radio reported, citing Oslo's Special Envoy, Jon Hanssen-Bauer.
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Priests, public demand release of Allaippiddy Parish Priest

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 29 August 2006, 09:46 GMT]
A token hunger strike and a special Mass were held Monday from 9.00 a.m. to 3.00 p.m. at the St. Theresa's Church, Kilinochchi, demanding the release of Allaippiddy Parish Priest Rev. Fr. Jim Brown and his aide Venseslos Vincent Vimalathas who were abducted by the Sri Lanka Forces in Allaippiddy in Jaffna District on 20 August and condemning the killings of Tamil civilians by the Sri Lanka Forces.


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Sampoor battle: toll mounts

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 29 August 2006, 08:18 GMT]
Sri Lankan military Tuesday continued its new offensive for the second day against the Tamil Tiger controlled region of Sampoor in the Trincomalee district. Around 50 Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers had been killed and 108 wounded so far, LTTE officials claimed Tuesday afternoon. They said 12 LTTE fighters have been killed and 15 injured. But the military says it has killed 66 Tigers and lost 13 troops. A civilian, wounded on Monday, succumbed to injuries Tuesday. 21 fleeing IDP's have been killed during the past 30 hours in artillery and aerial bombardment, according to LTTE officials.
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‘War not way to peace’ - India

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 29 August 2006, 04:58 GMT]
As Sri Lanka’s military launched a new offensive against the Liberation Tigers this week, India re-iterated that war was not the way to resolve the island’s conflict. “We do not believe that war is the way out...We do not think violence, whether from LTTE's side or an armed conflict, can resolve any issue,” press reports quoted India’s Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran as saying in Delhi Monday. Meanwhile, The Hindu newspaper reported that, worried over the violence in Sri Lanka, peace-facilitator Norway and India “are engaged in quiet consultations to defuse the situation.”
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Clash reported at Vadamaradchi gateway to Palaly

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 August 2006, 18:49 GMT]
A clash was reported Monday night from 11:30 p.m. till midnight in the gateway area between Valalai, 4 km east of Palaly Sri Lanka garrison and Thondaimanaru, 6 km northeast of Palaly. Sri Lanka Army sources in Palaly claimed situation was under control.
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Former president of Supparmadam Fisheries Society killed

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 August 2006, 15:42 GMT]
Former President of the Supparmadam Fisheries Society was shot dead by unidentfied men, around 3:30 p.m, Monday. Sellathurai Gopalasingham,53, was abducted from his house situated close High Security Zone (HSZ) demarcated by the Sri Lanka Army.
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Dozens killed in new Sri Lankan offensive on Sampoor

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 August 2006, 11:38 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s military launched a major offensive Monday to capture Tamil Tiger controlled Sampoor in the Trincomalee district. Bombs and shells have killed at least 20 civilians and wounded 26 more, LTTE sources in Sampoor told TamilNet. At least 11 SLA soldiers were killed and 79 wounded, AFP reported. The objective of the offensive was to capture Sampoor and Thoppur area, Sri Lanka Army (SLA) commander Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka told The Associated Press. The LTTE's Military Spokesman Irasaiah Ilanthirayan told Reuters the Sri Lankan government was trying to resume a full-scale war.
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Sister and brother shot dead in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Sunday, 27 August 2006, 23:45 GMT]
Armed men shot and killed two members of the same family Saturday 08:15 p.m. on Udhayan Street, Sithandy, in Batticaloa district. The killings have taken place in the wake of two separate shootout incidents, on Friday and Saturday, in the area where 2 Sri Lanka Army troopers were injured when a group of attackers fired at road clearing patrol units of the SLA.
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7 SLA soldiers wounded in Claymore explosion in Muthur

[TamilNet, Sunday, 27 August 2006, 08:03 GMT]
At least seven Sri Lanka Army soldiers, wounded in a Claymore attack at Selvanagar, a Sri Lanka Army (SLA) controlled gateway towards Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) controlled Muthur East, Sunday around 9:30 a.m., were rushed to Polonnaruwa hospital, Police sources said.
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SLA shelling injures 5 civilians, damage 10 houses

[TamilNet, Saturday, 26 August 2006, 20:44 GMT]
Five civilians, including a 10-year old and a 11-year-old children were injured and at least 10 houses were damaged when Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers fired shells from Valaichenai and Komanthurai camps towards LTTE held western hinterlands of Batticaloa, Saturday evening.
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Thamilchelvan thanks Nordic EU Members

[TamilNet, Friday, 25 August 2006, 13:37 GMT]
The outgoing Head of Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission Major General Ulf Henricsson and the newly appointed Acting Head of Mission, Major General Lars Johan Sølvberg, met Liberation Tigers Political Head Mr. S. P. Thamilchelvan in Kilinochchi Friday evening. Mr. Thamilchelvan, on behalf of the LTTE leadership, thanked Maj. Gen. Ulf Henricsson for his courageous and determined efforts, at the risk of his own safety, to resolve the Maavilaru dispute and thanked the truce monitors of Nordic EU Member States for their "four and a half year profound service."
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Fish trader shot dead in Manipay, Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 25 August 2006, 12:53 GMT]
Motorbike riding gunmen shot and killed a fish salesman near Kaddudai Junction, in Manipay on Friday, at around 8 a.m., after following the trader as he rode to work in a motorcycle, after the lifting of the curfew.


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STF kills 5 Tamil youths in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Friday, 25 August 2006, 05:42 GMT]
Sri Lanka Special Task Force (STF) personnel who came from Navatkerny, a suburb of Batticaloa town, where an STF patrol was targeted in a grenade attack, shot and killed five Tamil youths in the nearby New Muhathuvaram Road Cemetery Junction, 3 km northeast of the town, Thursday night around 7:45 p.m. The killings were carried out by STF men as "revenge killings" for the grenade attack, civilian sources said. The STF has claimed that the killed persons were Tigers carrying weapons. Meanwhile, the STF trooper, wounded in the grenade attack at Navatkerny, later succumbed to his wounds when he was airlifted to Colombo hospital, medical sources said.
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Pakistan ‘guiding’ Sri Lanka’s war

[TamilNet, Friday, 25 August 2006, 05:16 GMT]
A group of Pakistan Air Force officers stationed in Colombo have been guiding the Sri Lankan military in carrying out air-mounted operations against the LTTE, a former counter-terrorism chief of India’s External intelligence says. The Pakistani officers have also been involved in drawing up plans for a decapitation airstrike with bunker-buster bombs to kill LTTE leader Vellupillai Pirapaharan, B. Raman says. The appointment of recently retired Deputy Chief of the Pakistani Air Force (PAF) as Islamabad’s representative to Sri Lanka is a deepening of Pakistan’s support, he says, adding the move is a concern for India’s national security.
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Sri Lanka on EU FMs' agenda

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 August 2006, 23:39 GMT]
The situation in Sri Lanka is amongst matters European Union Foreign Ministers will discuss Friday afternoon at a meeting in Brussels, officials said. The 'extraordinary' meeting of EU Foreign ministers is primarily to deal with contributions to the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Lebanon by the EU member states, but will also consider other international matters, according to Finnish news agency STT.
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Clashes erupt in Vavuniya, A9 Omanthai entry point closed after brief opening

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 August 2006, 17:30 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) closed the Omanthai entry point from the SLA controlled Vavuniya to Liberation Tigers controlled Vanni, after opening the gates for a while Thursday. SLA soldiers fired mortar shells towards LTTE Forward Defence Line (FDL) claiming that the Tigers had fired 10 mortar shells towards SLA FDL. Meanwhile, two Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) cadres were killed at Semamadu FDL, the SLA sources in Vavuniya claimed to have recovered one body. An SLA trooper was killed at Mamadu FDL, 8 km northeast of Vavuniya, in a clash between the SLA and LTTE cadres, Vavuniya Police said.
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