Heavy fighting breaks out in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 August 2006, 18:25 GMT]
Explosions were heard inside Palaly airbase Wednesday night and heavy fighting was reported at many points of Forward Defence Line (FDL) positions in Jaffna from 6:00 p.m. Flares to illuminate the night sky were seen above the Palaly military base area, and Tiger artillery shells began hitting the base Wednesday night after the explosions ceased, according to initial civilian reports.
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Sri Lankan Kfir jets bomb Vanni

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 August 2006, 07:26 GMT]
Sri Lanka Air Force Kfir jets Wednesday bombed LTTE controlled Vadamaradchi East . A civilian was wounded when the bombers hit Thattuvankotti, located on A9 road, between Elephant Pass and Paranthan, 6.5 km north of Kilinochchi. The attack took place around 1:00 p.m.
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Canada expresses concern over Escalation of Hostilities in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 August 2006, 05:01 GMT]
Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, Peter MacKay, in a statement on Tuesday expressed concern regarding the escalation of hostilities in Sri Lanka. Canadian Tamils held a rally in front of his ministry in the capital Ottawa, demanding immediate action by Canada, on Monday, after Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombed the Sencholai children home in Mullaithivu where tens of teenage school girls were killed and more than a hundred wounded.
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SLA relaxes ban for government servants to enter Wanni

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 15 August 2006, 12:23 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has agreed to open Vavuniya-Omanthai check point for limited hours to enable public servants to report for works in government offices located in LTTE held Wanni, according to Vavuniya Government Mr.C.Shanmugam.
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SL Military had 'precise coordinates' of bombed peace zone

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 15 August 2006, 11:32 GMT]
The site bombed by Sri Lankan jets on Monday had been designated a humanitarian zone and the LTTE had passed its coordinates on to the military via the UN children’s agency, UNICEF, and the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC), NGO sources said Tuesday.
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One killed, another injured in Mannar shooting incident

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 15 August 2006, 09:04 GMT]
Gunmen Monday night around 10.30 p.m. attacked the Special Task Force sentry point at Semmankulam located along Mannar-Madawachchi road. In the retaliatory fire by the STF one person was killed and another injured, Mannar Police said.
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SLA closing down small camps in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 14 August 2006, 18:48 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers are closing down several small camp-houses in the Jaffna peninsula and withdrawing into stronger camps Monday, sources in the northern peninsula said.
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Airstrike damaged Palaly communications

[TamilNet, Monday, 14 August 2006, 18:34 GMT]
Communication facilities at the Sri Lankan military base complex at Palaly were damaged when an unidentified aircraft fired rockets at the airbase Friday night, a military source said Monday. LTTE artillery fire has separately damaged the runway at the sprawling base complex and as such "no planes have taken off or landed since Friday," the source added.
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Bombed site ‘not military installation’ - SLMM

[TamilNet, Monday, 14 August 2006, 16:15 GMT]
International ceasefire monitors who visited the site of the Sri Lankan airstrike Monday which killed 61 school girls and wounded 129 said they couldn’t find “any evidence of military installations or weapons.” Head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), Ulf Henricsson, said monitors who visited Chencholai Valaham after the airstrike said they found at least 10 bomb craters and an unexploded bomb. “It was not a military installation, we can see [that],” Mr. Henricsson told Sri Lanka’s MTV television.
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SLA closes all gateways to LTTE controlled Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Monday, 14 August 2006, 10:45 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA), Saturday evening closed all the entry points to and from LTTE controlled areas in Batticaloa District, with the exception of the A-15 highway which links Trincomalee and Batticaloa, sources in Batticaloa said. All civilian traffic has been blocked, said sources.


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61 schoolgirls killed, 129 wounded in airstrike

[TamilNet, Monday, 14 August 2006, 04:15 GMT]
At least 61 schoolgirls were killed and 129 were wounded when Sri Lankan Kfir jets bombed a children's home compound in Mullaithivu district Monday morning where schoolgirls were attending a residential course on first aid, LTTE officials at the Peace Secretariat in Kilinochchi said. Ambulances were rushing the wounded, many of whom are bleeding badly, to hospitals, sources said. Officials of the LTTE, briefing reporters in Kilinochchi, described the attack as “a horrible act of terror” by the Sri Lankan armed forces. UN’s child agency, UNICEF, and international truce monitors have visited the scene of the carnage.
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Paramilitary abductions continue in Batticaloa, Amparai

[TamilNet, Sunday, 13 August 2006, 21:44 GMT]
Paramilitary Karuna Group men working with the Sri Lankan Army (SLA) abducted 15 Tamil civilians in Batticaloa and Amparai Districts within last two days, said Jeya, the Amparai District LTTE Political Head. He further said the incidents have been reported to the Sri Lanka Monitoring mission(SLMM).


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Tigers repulse SLA counter-thrust

[TamilNet, Sunday, 13 August 2006, 16:41 GMT]
A counter-thrust by the Sri Lanka Army’s (SLA) elite 53 division to recapture areas in Jaffna lost to the Liberation Tigers in the past two days was destroyed by LTTE forces using artillery and close quarter fighting, sources in Kilinochchi said. In Colombo, ambulances have been shuttling between Ratmalana and hospitals in the capital since early hours Sunday carrying military wounded, sources said.


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Tiger marines conclude pre-emptive strike on Mandaithivu - LTTE

[TamilNet, Sunday, 13 August 2006, 13:56 GMT]
Marine Corps of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Saturday midnight destroyed the artillery launch pad in Mandaithivu, and Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) and Sri Lanka Army's (SLA) preparations to launch a seaborne offensive towards Elephant Pass, LTTE's Military Spokesman Irasaiah Iltanthiryan told media Sunday. Two Sri Lanka Army tanks were destroyed within the last 48 hours, along A9 between Mirusuvil and Muhamalai, where severe clashes took place. Small clashes were still continuing, he said. Tiger marines returned to their positions from Mandaithivu Sunday early morning, according to LTTE military spokesman.
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Colombo's claim of talks offer false - Puleedevan

[TamilNet, Sunday, 13 August 2006, 11:42 GMT]
Director of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Peace Secretariat, S. Puleedevan, denied the press reports which said that Tigers have made a fresh offer for talks. "There is absolutely no truth in these reports. Colombo is adamant in finding a military solution, and we are defending to safeguard our people and territory," said Puleedevan.
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STF, LTTE clash in Batticaloa, Tiger cadre killed

[TamilNet, Sunday, 13 August 2006, 08:34 GMT]
Sri Lanka Special Task Force (STF) troopers and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) cadres manning the Forward Defence Line (FDL) positions in Vellaveli, clashed Sunday morning around 5:15 a.m. Mortar shells were fired towards LTTE FDL and the surrounding villages as a group of STF troopers attempted to move inside the LTTE territory, said LTTE Batticaloa District Poliitcal Head Daya Mohan. A Liberation Tigers cadre was kiled and two STF troopers were wouned in the clash that lasted for more than 45 minutes. Vellaveli is located 25 km southeast of Batticaloa.
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Sri Lanka says "talks offer" as fighting continues

[TamilNet, Sunday, 13 August 2006, 08:11 GMT]
As heavy fighting continued between the Liberation Tigers and Sri Lanka’s military in the northern Jaffna peninsula, the government in Colombo claimed Sunday to have received on Friday an offer of talks from the LTTE and that it was accepting it. The government announcement came as press reports said the military’s air bridge to the Jaffna peninsula had been cut as the Palaly airbase continued to remain under LTTE artillery fire. The sea lines to Jaffna were also being disrupted by LTTE shelling of Trincomalee port.
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SLN arrests 95 Pesalai civilians fleeing to Tamilnadu

[TamilNet, Sunday, 13 August 2006, 07:06 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Navy seized an Indian trawler with 95 Tamil civilians from Pesalai village in Mannar district while on its way to South Indian coast, Sunday. These villagers following the volatile situation in Mannar decided to seek refuge in Tamilnadu in South India, sources said.
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ICRC convoy reaches Vaharai with relief to Tamil IDPs

[TamilNet, Sunday, 13 August 2006, 06:59 GMT]
An International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) convoy of 17 trucks and four cars reached the town of Vaharai in the Batticaloa district of eastern Sri Lanka in the early afternoon on Saturday. The convoy brought food, water and other items such as tarpaulins, mats, bed sheets, cooking pots and buckets for distribution to thousands of displaced people fleeing the fighting in the Eachchilampathu area, said press release issued by the ICRC Saturday evening.
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Allow free movement to civilians seeking safety, TNA appeals to Rajapakse

[TamilNet, Saturday, 12 August 2006, 20:04 GMT]
Pointing out that the imposition of curfew in Jaffna Peninsula resulting in denial of legitimate right of civilians to move to safer areas is a severe violation of fundamental human rights, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) members appealed to Sri Lanka's President Rajapakse to "issue directions that no restriction whatever be imposed on civilians moving to safer and more secure places in order to ensure their personal safety and security," in a letter issued in Colombo Saturday, TNA sources said.
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