Co-chairs say want talks in early October

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 September 2006, 14:59 GMT]
Representatives of Co-Chairs of Sri Lanka’s donors said Tuesday they had received “signals” from the Liberation Tigers and the Colombo government that they were ready for talks “without preconditions,” and urged both parties to meet “urgently” in Oslo in early October, saying the Co-chairs would review the progress of the talks later that month. “The international community insisted that the two parties sit immediately and also stop the violence,” Norwegian International Development Minister Erik Solheim told the BBC’s Sinhala service.
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Stable ceasefire ‘essential pre-requisite’ for peace moves - India

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 September 2006, 13:23 GMT]
India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Monday India's efforts would be to ensure that the current ceasefire holds in Sri Lanka as a pre-requisite for a durable solution to the island's crisis, IANS reported.
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Two policemen shot dead in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 September 2006, 12:46 GMT]
Two policemen attached to the Kaluwanchchikkudy Police Station were shot dead by unidentified gunmen while they were travelling with two other colloquies, in a passenger bus bound to Batticaloa, around 10.30 a.m. at Cheddipalayam, Police sources said.
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LTTE launches counter attack on STF in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 September 2006, 10:06 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) repulsed an attack launched by the Sri Lanka's Special Task Force with artillery fire in an attempt to move towards LTTE held areas from Kaluwanchchikudy-Paddiruppu Bridge from Tuesday morning around 6.30 a.m. Artillery shells fired by the STF fell and exploded in the villages Palugamam, Porativu and Munaitivu in the LTTE held areas.
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Sri Lanka pushing island to "full scale war" - LTTE

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 September 2006, 09:33 GMT]
Continuing offensives by the Sri Lankan military will compel the Liberation Tigers to switch from defensive operations to launching their own offensives, the LTTE said Wednesday. In an exclusive interview with Reuters, the head of the LTTE’s Political Wing, Mr. S. P. Thamilchelvan said the Sri Lankan military’s offensives and continuing forcible occupation of Tamil areas had rendered the 2002 Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) "meaningless" but "since the facilitators and the international community are eager to strengthen peace efforts, the LTTE is also continuing to examine options for strengthening the CFA."
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LTTE writes to ICRC: Humanitarian supplies through demarcated landroutes

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 September 2006, 07:55 GMT]
S. P. Thamilchelvan, the political head of the Liberation Tigers, in a letter addressed to the ICRC Head of Delegation in Sri Lanka, Toon Vandenhove, Tuesday reiterated that the LTTE pledge to stop all retaliatory fire during the land passage of, humanitarian supply convoys, ambulances, and employees of non-governmental organizations. The Ceasefire agreement (CFA), does not have specific articles about demarcation lines in sea, the letter said. "This issue [of demarcation] remains unresolved to this day. Under these circumstances it is not possible for us to provide protection to ICRC sponsored ship using the seas."
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Education of 20,000 displaced students in east affected - TNA

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 September 2006, 02:55 GMT]
"The education of at least 20 thousand displaced Tamil students, temporarily staying in the LTTE controlled area in the districts of Batticaloa and Trincomalee, has been affected very badly. These students had fled from their homes with their parents in the aftermath of indiscriminate aerial bombings and artillery fire by the Sri Lankan Forces”, said P.Ariyaneththiran, the Tamil National Alliance Member of Parliament for Batticaloa District Monday.


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SLA fills fishing jetties with stones in Vadamaradchi

[TamilNet, Monday, 11 September 2006, 23:15 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army Saturday begun forcing fishermen along Vadamaradchi North to fill the mooring points and jetties with stones. "The mooring points, the only means of sea access for the fishermen who have struggled for years for their livelihoods are now being closed, shutting down all hopes of the fishermen in Vadamaradchi North," fishermen's Co-op Society sources said.
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SLA, LTTE engage in artillery fire in Kadjuwatte

[TamilNet, Monday, 11 September 2006, 11:11 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) exchanged artillery fire in Kadjuwatte located along the border of SLA and LTTE controlled areas in Valaichchenai police division in Batticaloa district on Sunday night for about one hour.
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Heavy fighting rages in Muhamalai, Kilali

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 September 2006, 19:01 GMT]
Heavy artillery shelling and fighting between the Sri Lankan forces and the Liberation Tigers erupted in Kilali and Muhamalai Forward Defence Line (FDL) of the Northern Front from 7:30 p.m. Sunday, sources in Kilinochchi said. Artillery shelling and gunfire were continuing Sunday midnight.
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Civilians flee Jaffna's coastal suburbs

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 September 2006, 16:48 GMT]
Civilians in Pasaiyoor, Kolumbuthurai and Ariyalai East Sunday evening fled from their coastal villages towards Jaffna town as artillery shells from Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) postions hit Sri Lanka Army (SLA) deployments along the coastal areas.
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2 LTTE members killed in police ambush

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 September 2006, 16:44 GMT]
Sri Lankan police personnel lying in ambush shot and killed 2 members of the Liberation Tigers at Karuwakkerny Vikneswara Vidyalayam in Valaichenai, about 30 km. north of Batticaloa, around 8 p.m., Saturday.


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Bishop raises concern over education in East

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 September 2006, 20:53 GMT]
Rt.Rev.Dr.Kingsley Swampillai, the Bishop of Trincomalee-Batticaloa diocese, and Thurairatnasingham, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parlimentarian for Trincomalee, brought to the urgent attention of Mr. Mahinda Samarasinghe, the Minister for Diaster Management and Human Rights, the dire state of education of children in several villages in the East, and the difficulties faced by people relocated by war.
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Military chartered vessel with civilian passengers reaches Trinco harbour

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 September 2006, 17:59 GMT]
Sri Lanka military chartered vessel arrived Trincomalee harbour Saturday evening around 6 p.m. with about 795 civilian passengers who had been stranded in Jaffna district since the fresh fight between the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) broke out since August 11.
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SLA sustains heavy losses in fresh offensive

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 September 2006, 12:48 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s military launched a ground offensive Saturday against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) territory in the northern Jaffna peninsula, after bombarding the area for two days. At least 25 Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers were killed and around 125 wounded, informed military sources said. Wounded soldiers in more than five busses were rushed to Palaly and airlifted elsewhere for treatment. The artillery attacks ceased around noon as SLA forces were evacuating the wounded troopers.
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SLA will capture more and more ground, vows SL Premier

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 September 2006, 11:38 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister vowed Friday to capture “more and more” territory from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and said the international community was coming forward to help his government "root out terrorism from the island." Ridiculing the LTTE’s assertion that there can be no moves towards peace as long as the Sri Lankan military occupied the Sampoor region which it captured last week in a ground offensive, SL Premier Ratnasiri Wickramanayake said “not an inch of Sampoor will be relinquished now or in the future.”
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Civilians flee SLA offensive in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 September 2006, 23:42 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) launched artillery shelling towards Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) controlled Forward Defense Line (FDL) in Thenmaradchi Wednesday morning. The artillery attacks have been continuing for 48 hours and have forced hundreds of families to flee from Mirusuvil Educated Women’s Scheme and Usan areas, civil society sources in Jaffna said.
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‘Our people are suffering’: St. Patrick’s Rector

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 September 2006, 11:31 GMT]
Saying food supplies were “urgently” needed in the Jaffna peninsula, the Rector of St. Patrick’s College this week called for the A9 highway to be opened and military restrictions on fishing to be lifted. Fr. Justin B Gnanapragasam also called for the military’s curfew in Jaffna to be lifted or at least confined to night time. “Our people are suffering immensely. Please keep them in your prayers,” he said in a letter to past pupils. Five thousand displaced people who sought shelter in St. Patrick’s are refusing to leave, disrupting classes which should have resumed by now, he said.
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Sri Lanka Navy Commander visits Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 September 2006, 06:01 GMT]
Commander of the Sri Lanka Navy, Vice Admiral Wasantha Karannagoda, visited Thursday Northern Naval Area Command in Karainagar and inspected the SLN installations Elara at Karainagar, Uttara in Kankesanthurai (KKS) and the key officers of the six shore establishements. The SLN commander also visted Mandaithivu's Allaipiddy area where around 40 civilians were reported killed or missing in Sri Lankan artillery fire 3 weeks ago when the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) marines entered Mandaithivu. Food supplies to Jaffna islets would be transported by Sri Lanka Navy, the navy commander told a civilian audience.
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Civilians flee Jaffna islet of Velanai

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 September 2006, 09:09 GMT]
Hundreds of people from the Jaffna Islet of Velanai, began fleeing towards Jaffna town, Wednesday, for safety as anonymous posters requesting the people to move to safer areas appeared Wednesday overnight.
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