Sri Lankan soldiers block food supply to Tamil IDPs

[TamilNet, Friday, 11 August 2006, 07:14 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers in the Mankerni army camp in Batticaloa district Thursday refused permission for a food convoy of more than ten vehicles taken to Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) held Vaharai area by the South Indian Church to be distributed among hundreds of thousands of internally displaced fled from Muthur east and Eachchilampathu due to indiscriminate artillery fire and aerial bombardment in recent days. The IDPs have been staying in temples. Schools and public buildings at Palsenai, Vammivedduwan, Vaharai in the Koralaipathu North Divisional Secretariat division in the Batticaloa district, sources said.
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Swiss Tamils hold month long awareness program of Black July

[TamilNet, Friday, 11 August 2006, 00:01 GMT]
Tamil Forum Swiss, a confederation of 26 Tamil organizations in Switzerland, has been conducting a month long publicity and awareness program in different regions of Switzerland from 24 July, the remembrance day of the July Massacre in 1983, organizers said.
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‘Allow aid to displaced’ - Minority Rights Group

[TamilNet, Thursday, 10 August 2006, 16:22 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s ethnic minorities have been the worst affected in the recent surge in violence and both the Sri Lankan government and LTTE must make a greater commitment to safeguard minority rights in their controlled areas and provide equal access to humanitarian assistance, the Minority Rights Group (MRG) said Thursday. MRG called on both sides to give international and local aid agencies unimpeded access to the affected areas and said the aim should be “to facilitate the free return, in safety, of minority communities to their homes as quickly as possible.”
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JVP: ‘wipe out LTTE and its supporters’

[TamilNet, Thursday, 10 August 2006, 14:20 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s ultra-nationalist JVP party has called for the government to “wipe out not ony LTTE but its supporters as well” in a heated debate Thursday over the Trincomalee crisis. Jayantha Wijesekara, JVP MP from Trincomalee district made his comments in support of JVP Propaganda Secretary Wimal Weerawansa, who said that the LTTE areas of Sampur and Maavilaru must be captured by the Sri Lankan military. The Trincomalee situation dominated Thursday’s deliberations in Parliament.
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Fighting kills 41 SLA troops, wounds 120

[TamilNet, Thursday, 10 August 2006, 13:54 GMT]
Sri Lankan Army advancing into LTTE-controlled areas have lost 41 soldiers killed in Thursday’s heavy fighting around the Maavil Aru sluice gates, military sources said. 22 soldiers have been seriously wounded and 98 others wounded, military officials in Colombo said speaking on condition of anonymity. Meanwhile the LTTE military spokesman, Rasiah Ilanthirayan said ten Tigers had died and 20 were wounded.
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Humanitarian crisis: 42,000 displaced in LTTE areas

[TamilNet, Thursday, 10 August 2006, 13:10 GMT]
Close to 42,000 civilians are trapped and displaced, without food, water, or medical assistance in LTTE areas of Eachchilampattu, Sampoor, Verugal, Kathiraveli, Vaharai and surrounding villages, the LTTE Peace Secretariat said Thursday. Sri Lanka’s military is blocking ICRC and UN relief supplies from reaching Vaharai, northern Batticaloa. UNICEF estimated that of the 40,000 civilians displaced half are women and children. The Head of the LTTE’s Peace Secretariat, S. Puleedevan, has contacted the British and Norwegian diplomatic missions in Colombo as well as Oslo’s Special Envoy, Jon Hansen-Bauer, over the humanitarian crisis.
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Vavuniya Hospital staff protest over Claymore attack on doctor and staff

[TamilNet, Thursday, 10 August 2006, 10:26 GMT]
Vavuniya General Hospital staff including doctors, nurses, and hospital administration staff Thursday held a token strike on A9 Road for two hours protesting against the claymore attack Tuesday night in Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) controlled Nedunkerni in which a doctor and four staff were killed, sources in Vavuniya said. Protestors who allowed to proceed a Sri Lanka Army (SLA) ambulance, did not allow a water-bowser to proceed. Nedunkerni hospital comes under Deputy Provincial Directors of Health (DPDH) in Vavuniya.
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Fighting rages close to Maavilaru sluice gate, 5 Tigers killed

[TamilNet, Thursday, 10 August 2006, 09:33 GMT]
Heavy fighting continued around 3:00 p.m. in Maavilaru . Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troopers were close to Maavilaru sluice gates. Five Tigers were killed and 12 wounded, according to LTTE sources. Heavy fighting is reported in Mahindapura and Maavilaru.
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50 civilians killed, 200 wounded, renewed SLA offensive

[TamilNet, Thursday, 10 August 2006, 04:59 GMT]
Atleast 50 civilians were killed and more than 200 were injured in Sri Lankan forces aerial bombardment and artillery attacks, Thursday morning, in Kathiraveli and surrounding villages as thousands of civilians were still fleeing the areas. Sri Lanka Army (SLA) launched a fresh offensive, involving thousands of troopers, from Kallaru SLA camp towards Maavilaru sluice-gate while launching indiscriminate aerial and artillery attacks on Eachilampathu and it's suburbs. Liberation Tigers Military Spokesman Irasaiah Ilanthirayan, speaking from Kilinochchi said: "We can only interpret this as Colombo's declaration of war."
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SLA blocks food convoy to Vaharai

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 August 2006, 20:51 GMT]
S.Jeyananthamoorthy, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Member of Parliament for Batticaloa District, accused the Sri Lankan Army (SLA) for stopping food convey of NGOs to the Internally Displaced People (IDP) in the LTTE controlled Vaharai area and worsening the already dire situation prevailing in Vaharai for essential supplies for the IDPs. Eight lorries carrying food and other essentials were barred from entering Vaharai by soldiers of the Kajuwatta Camp on the orders from Sri Lanka's Ministry of Defence (MoD), civil society sources said.
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Fleeing IDPs bombed in Verugal, five killed

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 August 2006, 16:16 GMT]
Fleeing IDPs from Eachchilampathu and Muthur to Vaharai were caught in aerial attack and SLA artillery fire Wednesday evening when they were ferrying through Verugal River to Vaharai division in Batticaloa district. On Wednesday evening around 6.05 p.m. five IDP persons were killed in bombing by Kfir jets and several others injured at Verugal. About thirty five thousand people of around seven thousand families displaced from Muttur east and Eachchilampathu division seeking refuge in Vaharai division in Batticaloa district till Wednesday.
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Tigers checkmate

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 August 2006, 10:05 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers' announcement that they would regard continued ground and air attacks by the Sri Lanka armed forces as declaration of war by Colombo, is an ominous development in Sri Lanka's continuing undeclared war. In addition to forcing the Government of Sri Lanka to choose between war and peace, Tigers have demonstrated their readiness to open multiple battlefronts in other strategic locations of the island to effectively counter the objectives of Sri Lankan military signified by the Trincomalee offensive.


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Paramilitaries kill two Tamil civilians in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 August 2006, 08:58 GMT]
Kandasamy Govindarajah, 25, a resident of Meeravodai and one of the two Tamil civilians who were taken into custody in a cordon and search operation conducted by members of the para military with the security cover by soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and Sri Lanka Police Monday afternoon around 3 p.m., was shot dead the same day night around 10 p.m. at 18th mile post in Kalodavi located about 27 km off north in Batticaloa town along Batticaloa-Valaichchenai main road, civil sources said.
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STF seize farmers' vehicles in Akkaraippattu

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 August 2006, 08:55 GMT]
Special Task Force (STF) forcibly took away 5 tractors and 2 motorbikes belonging to Tamil farmers Monday around 5.30 p.m., the affected farmers lodged a complaint at the Akkaraippattu Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) office, sources said. The farmers allege that the STF carried this out in retaliation to the hijacking of a tractor belonging to a Sinhalese farmer, Monday morning at Manthottam by unknown persons.


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Another SLA move towards Maavilarau thwarted - Elilan

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 August 2006, 08:21 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Wednesday morning successfully repulsed another advance made by troopers of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) towards the area where Maavilaru sluice gate is located. SLA troopers withdrew to their position amid heavy artillery fire and mortar attack by the LTTE, said S.Elilan, LTTE Trincomalee district political head.
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5 killed in DPU Claymore attack on Ambulance

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 August 2006, 03:22 GMT]
A medical doctor, his wife, two nurses and the driver of the ambulance belonging to Nedunkerni hospital, were killed Tuesday night when Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Deep Penetration Unit (DPU) attacked the ambulance, medical sources in Puthukudiyiruppu hospital said. Three Claymore mines in a row were exploded. Meanwhile, a cvilian bus with 75 passengers narrowly escaped another Claymore attack around 12:45, ten kilometers from Nedunkerni ambush site. The SLMM monitors, returning from Nedunkerni, were within one kilometers when the second Claymore explosion took place.
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RSF slams curbs on Trincomalee reporters

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 August 2006, 18:17 GMT]
Sri Lankan security forces prevented journalists, including some from the BBC, from accessing Muttur town Monday amid reports that 17 aid workers had been shot dead, a media watchdog said Tuesday. “One foreign journalist told Reporters Without Borders (RSF) that many Sri lanka army roadblocks also stopped the media getting to places that were far from any fighting,” RSF said. The LTTE has shown “no interest in allowing independent journalists to report from the areas they hold,” RSF also said.
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LTTE cadre shot dead in Santhiveli

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 August 2006, 16:33 GMT]
A Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) cadre was shot dead by Sri Lankan Army (SLA) troopers and paramilitaries hiding near the Santhiveli Kannaki Amman Temple, at 10 p.m. on Monday, said Dayamohan, Batticaloa district LTTE political head. LTTE cadre Kaaththamuththu Jeyananthan, 25, from Thikiliveddai, Santhiveli was going to Santhiveli village for political work when he was shot by SLA soldiers and paramilitary Karuna Group men, Dayamohan added.
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Armed men hijack Red Cross ambulance in Mannar

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 August 2006, 15:08 GMT]
A vehicle of the Sri Lanka Red Cross (SLRC) on its return from Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) controlled territory Arippu in Musali division in Mannar district was hijacked by a group of armed men Tuesday around 2:30 p.m. The occupants of the vehicle, a medical officer, dispenser and the driver were asked to get down from the vehicle. Thereafter armed men drove the vehicle.
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Maavilaru sluice gates opened by LTTE, civil representatives

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 August 2006, 12:11 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) together with civilian representatives in Maavilaru Tuesday evening around 5:00 p.m. opened the sluice gates, said S. Elilan, Trincomalee District Political Head of the Tigers. On Sunday, Head of Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) Major General Ulf Henricsson and Trincomalee Head of SLMM came under artillery fire when they went to Maavilaru with Mr. S. Elilan, to open the sluice gates on humanitarian grounds according to the Norwegian International Development Minister Erik Solheim's request.
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