Mannar SLN Commander ordered to appear in Court

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 June 2006, 06:10 GMT]
"Within few minutes after the fire fight between the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was over in Mannar Sea on June 17th morning, four navy soldiers who returned from the shore in motorbikes lobbed grenades through the windows into the Church of Our Lady of Victory in Pesalai and fired at random on the church doors," said five witnesses giving evidence before the Mannar Additional Magistrate Mr.T.J.Pirapaharan Thursday. The Talaimannar Police led the evidence of the witnesses, legal sources said.
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Arsonists target Kopay Heroes Cemetary

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 June 2006, 03:28 GMT]
Arsonalists alleged to be soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and collaborating paramilitaries set fire to the office building inside the Liberation Tigers' Kopay Heroes Cemetary on Rasa Veethy (road) Tuesday midnight, local residents said. The attackers forced open the main entrance, ransacked the office building, heaped the furniture and other photographs in the building, and set them on fire. The roof of the building sustained serious fire damage. Memorial stones were left undamaged, residents added.
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Mannar SLN rampage causes $5m damage to property

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 June 2006, 10:35 GMT]
Outboard engines, fibre glass boats, fishing nets and other related accessories belonging to fishermen of Pesalai, and Vankalaipadu in Mannar districts costing nearly US$5m were burnt and destroyed in the arson following the fire fight between the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Mannar Sea last week, according to preliminary reports submitted by the Mannar Divisional Secretary to the District Secretariat Wednesday, civil sources said.
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Aerial bombardment tantamounts to undeclared war, says Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 June 2006, 10:17 GMT]
S. P. Thamilchelvan, the political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on Wednesday said the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) was yet to respond to LTTE's warning that the provocative air attacks, if continued, would be retaliated. "Aerial bombardment is interpreted as undeclared war on the Tamil nation," he told media after concluding a meeting with the Norwegian Ambassador Hans Brattskar, clarifying the LTTE's response to Norway's five questions. "Colombo, obsessed with going to war with the Tamil Nation, has already begun to impose economic blockade on the Tamil homeland," LTTE's Political Head told media.
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Norway, Nordic countries to respond on 29 June - Brattskar in Kilinochchi

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 June 2006, 07:00 GMT]
The Norwegian Ambassador Hans Brattskar, on Wednesday, discussed with Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Political Head S. P. Thamilchelvan on LTTE's response to Norway's request of clarifications, issued on 08 June, from the parties to the Ceasefire Agreement. Confirming that the parties to the CFA, the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and the LTTE, have submitted their responses to the five questions posed by Norway, Mr. Hans Brattskar told media that Norway, as facilitator, has to take note of LTTE's point of view, although Norway regretted the LTTE's stand to the continued engagement of EU Member States from Nordic countries in the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM).
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SL Navy desecrated island's biggest church - Bishop

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 June 2006, 18:03 GMT]
The biggest church in Sri Lanka “has been desecrated by innocent blood being shed [in it] by unjust aggressors, the Sri Lanka Navy,” Bishop of Mannar, Rt. Rev. Dr. Rayappu Joseph, protested this week in a letter to the Vatican, through the Apostolic Nuncio to the island. “Today I buried the six civilians murdered by the Navy at Pesalai yesterday,” the outraged Bishop wrote Sunday. The local people are “mortally afraid of the Navy” and when they met the local Navy commander, 7,000 people of Pesalai begged to be allowed to flee to India or LTTE-controlled Vanni, he said.
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Gunmen attack sentry at Polannaruwa Buddhist temple

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 June 2006, 09:51 GMT]
Two unidentified gunmen fired at the joint Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and Sri Lanka Police sentry located near the Somawathiya, a historic Buddhist temple in Polonnnaruwa Monday evening at 6:00 p.m., police said. The troops returned fire but gunmen escaped. No one was injured in the incident.
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Pandemonium in SL parliament, JVP wants LTTE banned in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 June 2006, 06:31 GMT]
Speaker Mr.W.J.M.Lokkubandara Tuesday morning adjourned the sitting of the parliament when pandemonium reigned following heated arguments and fisticuffs between a group of parliamentarians of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and Tamil National Alliance (TNA) over the matter of observing two minute-silence for the Sinhalese civilians killed in Kebbitigollawa claymore mine explosion, and not for Tamil civilians killed by the Sri Lankan troops elsewhere in the NorthEast, parliamentary sources said.
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Mannar fishermen feared lost, return to Vankalaipadu

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 June 2006, 16:11 GMT]
Thirteen fishermen reported missing while fishing in Mannar Sea with their boats on Saturday during a fire-fight between the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) returned to Vankalaipadu shore Monday evening, sources in Mannar said. Mr.V.Visuvalingam, Mannar Government Agent, Ms Stanley de Mel, Mannar Divisional Secretary, representatives of the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC), Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) and naval officers of the Vankalaipadu camp were present at the Vankalaipadu shore when these fishermen arrived from Vidathaltivu located in LTTE controlled Manthai West division.
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Clash erupts at Nagarkovil FDL

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 June 2006, 14:43 GMT]
Two Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers were wounded in Nagarkovil in a fresh clash between the SLA and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on Monday, according to SLA sources in Jaffna. The Liberation Tigers said they counter-attacked the SLA after LTTE Forward Defence Line (FDL) positions were targeted by SLA artillery fire around 5:45 p.m. Monday. Civilian sources in Thenmaradchi, Jaffna, said artillery fire was initiated from SLA 52 Brigade Head Quarters camp located in Varani.
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Independent Tamil homeland, a reality, not a myth -Elilan

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 June 2006, 11:02 GMT]
"Tamils as a people entitled to right to self-determination and the freedom of Tamil homeland is not a myth but a reality. The hardline Sinhala leadership in the South would come to know this soon," said Mr.S.Elilan, Trincomalee district political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) addressing a gathering of Tamil civilians who participated the civil defence training programme in several villages in the Muttur east Monday, sources in Trincomalee said.
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Two SLA soldiers killed in Manalaru - LTTE

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 June 2006, 06:14 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam said two Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers were killed and their bodies captured by the Tigers when a group of SLA troopers launched an attack on the Forward Defence Line (FDL) of the Tigers in the remote jungles of Manalaru, south of Mullaithivu, on Sunday.
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STF, paramilitary attack on LTTE office repulsed - LTTE

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 June 2006, 14:49 GMT]
Special Task Force (STF), the elite counter insurgency arm of the Sri Lankan forces and paramilitary cadres launched an attack on the Political office of the Liberation Tigers, located in Pavatta, in the interior west of Thirukkovil in Amparai district, Sunday around 2:15 a.m. during the night. The Tigers repulsed the STF and paramilitary cadres, according to Amparai District LTTE Political Head, Jeya. Truce monitors are yet to visit the attack site. Paramilitary cadres brought in 2 lorries are still moving around in the STF controlled area, according to the residents.
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Pesalai victims traumatized

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 June 2006, 05:02 GMT]
Bishop Rayappu Joseph, one of the first persons to enter the church, Our Lady of Victory, after the attack targeting civilians who had taken refuge in the church, told media that the attack was carried out by men in blue uniform, alluding that the attackers were Sri Lanka Navy men. "There was no fight on land; no LTTE cadre was present at the attack site in Pesalai," the Bishop of Mannar Diocese told BBC Tamil Service Saturday. Fear has gripped civilians of Pesalai, who have no other place to seek safety, says Parish Priest Vincent Patrick. Nearly 3000 civilians, most of them women and children, were forced to remain inside the Church, for hours, among the flesh and blood of the victims.
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EU ban decision primitive, says Danish Peace Council

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 June 2006, 17:09 GMT]
"Denmark should follow Norway and not European Union in this question [of working with both parties to the conflict]. We are part of a Nordic peace mission and that gives us much better ways to support peace than EU's labelling policy which I see as very primitive. This situation shows the world need neutral Scandinavian countries to promote peace," said Lave K. Broch, vice president of Danish peace council, commenting on violence following the EU ban of LTTE.


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Kalmunai Council ITAK members take oath

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 June 2006, 16:04 GMT]
All six councillors elected on Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kadchchi (ITAK) ticket for the newly created Kalmunai Municipal Council took oaths before Mr.Kanagasabai Pathmanathan, Amparai district Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian at an event specially held at Brothers' House Hall in Paandiruppu, Tamil sources in Trincomalee said. Mr. Y.L.Saleem, Kalmunai MC Commissioner, Mr.P.S.Peermohamed Thamby, Assistant Commissioner of Local Government, and Rev Fr.Dr.S.A.Mathew, leading educationist also participated in the event. Mr.K.Ehambaram, central committee of the TNA presided.
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LTTE hands over DPU soldier's body to SL Government

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 June 2006, 13:54 GMT]
The body of Deep Penetration Unit (DPU) soldier of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA), who was shot dead by members of the Tamil Auxilliary Force inside Mathiyamadu forest in the Nedunkerni area of Vavuniya district Thursday, was handed over to the representatives of the Red Cross (ICRC) Friday morning to be given to the Government of Sri Lanka, sources from Vavuniya said.
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LTTE will be forced to retaliate, Thamilchelvan warns Colombo

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 June 2006, 09:54 GMT]
The LTTE has requested the Head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) and the peace facilitor Norway's Ambassador to Sri Lanka to convey a strong warning to Colombo of possible retaliation following the provocative aerial bombing by the Sri Lankan Air Force (SLAF) in Mullaithivu, Kilinochchi, Batticaloa, and artillery fire towards LTTE territory from Sri Lanka Army (SLA) camps carried out during the last 2 days in violation of the Ceasefire Agreement (CFA), LTTE Head of Political Wing, S.P. Thamilchelvan said in Kilinochchi Saturday.
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3 SLN boats sunk, 12 troopers killed - LTTE

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 June 2006, 09:21 GMT]
Twelve Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) personnel were killed and three "Blue Star" boats of the SLN were sunk in the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) controlled seas in Mannar districts when SLN boats interrupted a Sea Tiger movement, LTTE media unit said in a press note. Two Sea Tiger cadres sustained minor injuries in the defensive act, the Tigers said.
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Boat explodes, Colombo commercial hub, coastline security tightened

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 June 2006, 04:26 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army officials in Colombo said a suspected LTTE boat exploded near the shore between Pamunugama and Epamulla, 17 km north of Colombo town, around 6:25 a.m. Saturday. State armed forces and the police have tightened security measures along the coastline and the commercial hub of the Colombo city following the arrest of the three persons by the Wattala Police in Panagamuwa area Saturday morning, security sources said.
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