Mannar villagers face acute food shortage

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 September 2006, 07:07 GMT]
Tamil people in villages controlled by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Mannar district have been facing severe shortage of food, fuel and other essential materials urgently needed for their day to day life due to the prohibition on transporting these by private traders from the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) controlled area by Uyilankulam army check point since August 11 with the outbreak of fight between the SLA troops and the Tigers.
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Emergency extended for another month in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 September 2006, 21:46 GMT]
Sri Lanka's parliament Tuesday adopted a motion of extending the State of Emergency for another month by a majority of 99 votes. 108 members including the ruling United peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA), main opposition United National Party (UNP), Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), all monks' party Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) and other constituent parties of the government voted for the motion. Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians voted against.
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Food situation critical, NGO consortium in Jaffna warns

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 September 2006, 16:57 GMT]
The consortium of Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) in Jaffna Tuesday urged the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to re-open the A9 road without delay and allow the transportation of the essential items to Jaffna as officials of the Jaffna Secretariat had announced last week that the food brought in by the cargo ship Ruhunu was adequate only for one week and the bakery owners association has complained that the stock of flour is enough to meet their needs only for the next three days.
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STF offensive in Amparai thwarted - LTTE

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 September 2006, 15:32 GMT]
An offensive launched by the Sri Lanka Special Task Force (STF) troopers Wednesday morning from Kanjirankudah STF camp in Amparai district towards the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) controlled Kanchikudicharu area, was repulsed by the Tigers, said LTTE's Military Spokesman I. Ilanthirayan. According to medical sources in Amparai, at least 18 STF and paramilitary men were killed, and more than 25 wounded in the STF offensive.
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No peace moves until Colombo respects CFA borders - LTTE

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 September 2006, 11:52 GMT]
The Sri Lankan government’s aggression on LTTE-controlled territory has blocked progress towards peace, the Liberation Tigers told Norwegian facilitators Wednesday. The LTTE’s Political Head, S. P. Thamilchelvan, told Norwegian Ambassador Hans Brattskar that Colombo’s invasion and occupation of LTTE-held territory has put an end to peaceful ways of stabilising the 2002 Ceasefire Agreement (CFA). Sri Lankan jets overflew Kilinochchi as Mr. Brattskar met Mr. Thamilchelvan.
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Uyilankulam check point in Mannar temporarily reopened

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 September 2006, 08:54 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Tuesday morning around 11.15 a.m. temporarily re-opened its entry check point located at Uyilankulam for the first time and allowed civilians to travel to and from government controlled and LTTE held villages in the Mannar district. Those civilians stranded more than 20 days on both sides were allowed to go to their destinations, civil sources said.


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Humanitarian crisis precipitated by twin-track strategy

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 September 2006, 22:03 GMT]
An estimated 60,000 Tamils displaced by Sri Lankan military attacks in the eastern province are caught in a humanitarian crisis which aid workers say is being deliberately deepened by the Colombo government. The most recent displacements in the east join tens of thousands of people forced to flee their homes by military attacks in Wanni and the northern Jaffna.
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STF bans vehicles over Paddiruppu entry point in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 September 2006, 19:59 GMT]
The Sri Lankan counter insurgency Special Task Force (STF) personnel, manning the Kaluwanchikudy-Paddiruppu Bridge, a gateway to Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) controlled territory in Batticaloa district, on Tuesday, did not allow transport of vehicles through the entry point that was partly re-opened Saturday after 3 weeks.
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3 killed, 9 injured, multi-barrel rockets hit Kathiraveli

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 September 2006, 15:21 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army fired Multi-Barrel Rocket Launcher shells hit Kathiraveli, 10 km north of Vaharai, where Internally Displaced People from Muthur East and Eacchilampatru have sought refuge. 3 civilians were killed, 9 wounded, according to LTTE officials in Kathiraveli. Medical sources in Batticaloa reported that ICRC personnel transported at least 2 wounded civlians to Valaichenai hospital. The MBRL attack on Tuesday on Kathiramalai in Batticaloa district's north, comes amid speculation by analysts in Colombo that Sri Lankan military was planning another offensive towards southern Trincomalee and northern Batticaloa areas where thousands of IDP's have taken refuge.
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SLA soldier killed, 4 wounded in Muthur - SLBC report

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 September 2006, 10:43 GMT]
A Sri Lanka Army (SLA) trooper was killed and four wounded when Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) fired artillery shell hit the Selvanagar SLA camp in Muthur division Tuesday around 7:15 a.m., according to Sri Lanka government controlled Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) report that quoted military officials as saying.
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Food cargo to INGO workers in Jaffna arrives by air

[TamilNet, Monday, 04 September 2006, 12:46 GMT]
A private aircraft with a consignment of food cargo assigned for workers of international non governmental organizations arrived in Palaly military airbase in Jaffna district from Ratmalana in Colombo Monday morning. Basic supplies to the INGO offices and tents for IDP camps were transported to Jaffna. A group of INGO officials were scheduled to leave Jaffna in the aircraft, NGO sources said.
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Rajapakse hails Sampoor ‘capture’

[TamilNet, Monday, 04 September 2006, 08:20 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troops have advanced into Sampur village in the LTTE-controlled part of the eastern Trincomalee district and are consolidating their positions, the government said Monday in Colombo. LTTE political officials in Trincomalee said fighting was ongoing in the Sampoor region. “This is a severe breach of the ceasefire agreement with the Sri Lankan military taking LTTE-controlled areas,” S. Puleedevan, head of the LTTE peace secretariat, told Reuters. “They are not honoring the ceasefire agreement. They are forcing it to the brink of collapse,” he added. “On our side we are fully committed to it.”
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Tiger artillery targeted SLA Intelligence Camp in Vadamaradchi

[TamilNet, Sunday, 03 September 2006, 13:32 GMT]
Artillery shells, fired from LTTE controlled Nagarkovil, during the recent clashes off the Point-Pedro sea Friday night and Saturday morning, had targeted a Sri Lanka Army Intelligence Camp, located in Puloli, Point Pedro, sources in Jaffna said.
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Fighting reported in Thenmaradchi

[TamilNet, Sunday, 03 September 2006, 13:05 GMT]
Fighting ensued for more than an hour between the Sri Lanka Army and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam along the Northern Foward Defence Lines in Thenmaradchi, Jaffna. Heavy shelling was reported from Varani SLA camp towards the LTTE FDL positions.
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SLA shelling triggers artillery duel in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Sunday, 03 September 2006, 12:46 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) launched artillery shelling towards Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) controlled territory in Vavunatheevu in Batticaloa district. LTTE responded by counter-artillery fire toward the SLA postions, civilian sources said. The artillery duel lasted from Sunday midnight till 3:00 a.m. Sunday. Tension prevailed in the area.
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Exodus of Tamil IDPs to Vaharai continues

[TamilNet, Sunday, 03 September 2006, 12:35 GMT]
Exodus of Tamil families from the Trincomalee district to Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam controlled Vaharai has been continuing due to ongoing military operations by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in the Muthur East LTTE territory. "Till now about 62,643 members of around 16,540 Tamil families have sought refuge. Of this about 10,657 families have been sheltered in five camps in Vaharai division in the Batticaloa district", Mr.K.Mahesan, Batticaloa District Additional Government Agent said Sunday.
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Private air line employees abducted in Colombo

[TamilNet, Saturday, 02 September 2006, 07:24 GMT]
Three employees, including a woman Finance Director of the Aero Lanka Air Line have been abducted in Colombo by unidentified persons who came in a white coloured van on 22 August, according to a complaint lodged with the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL).
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Sri Lanka rationale for offensive ‘spurious, deceptive’ - LTTE

[TamilNet, Saturday, 02 September 2006, 03:59 GMT]
Dismissing the Sri Lankan military’s justification for its latest major offensive against the LTTE in Sampoor as “spurious” and “deceptive,” the Tigers’ political representative in the area said the LTTE first fired on the naval base in Trincomalee when resisting the SLA’s initial offensive in late July.
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Sri Lanka military using "scorched earth policy" - LTTE

[TamilNet, Friday, 01 September 2006, 15:13 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army is deliberately razing Tamil villages to the ground as part of its military offensive against the LTTE in Muthur East region of Trincomalee. Through Norwegian facilitators, the LTTE has condemned in the "strongest possible terms Sri Lanka's 'scorched earth' policy of occupying Tamil civilian centers and rendering them uninhabitable," the LTTE's military spokesman, I. Ilanthirayan, said Friday.
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‘Coordinated, deliberate’ SLA campaign in LTTE areas - SLMM

[TamilNet, Friday, 01 September 2006, 14:05 GMT]
Amid the furore triggered by international truce monitors’ findings that Sri Lankan security forces carried out the massacre of 17 aid workers, other conclusions by the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) lost focus, including the charge the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) carried out “deliberate, planned and coordinated offensive military operations” against LTTE cadres and civilians in LTTE-controlled areas from April 1, weeks after Norwegian facilitated talks in Geneva to de-escalate rising violence.
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