Two SLN Dvora boats destroyed, ship moved to international waters

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 May 2006, 13:26 GMT]
A Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) ship with around 700 sailors on board got trapped in the clashes that erupted between the Sri Lanka Navy boats and the Sea Tigers boats in seas off Vadamaradchi East, Sri Lankan defence sources said. Two Dvora Fast Attack Crafts (FAC) were reportedly destroyed. The ship, Perl Cruise, has safely arrived in the Indian waters, sources in Colombo said. At least fifteen SLN sailors are reported missing in the clash. Four Sea Tigers died defending the Sea Tiger boats, the Tigers said. The ship was a few miles away from the attack site, according to Sea Tiger sources.
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LTTE has no rights at sea - SLMM

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 May 2006, 13:02 GMT]
Following the escalating violence in the sea Thursday, the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) said that the "sea surrounding Sri Lanka is a Government Controlled area. Non-state actors cannot rule open sea waters or airspace. The LTTE has therefore no rights at sea." Meanwhile, the Tigers have repeatedly urged the truce monitors to stay away from the Sri Lankan Navy vessels during the past few weeks, LTTE sources in Kilinochchi said.
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SLN vessel destroyed in Vadamaradchi East

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 May 2006, 11:44 GMT]
A Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) Dvora Fast Attack Craft was destroyed in Vetrilaikerny in a naval fight between the Sea Tigers in LTTE controlled Nagarkovil and SLN vessels. Heavy shelling by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) was reported towards Nagarkovil, sources said.
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Gunfire reported in Muttur east seas, tension high

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 May 2006, 11:13 GMT]
Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) boats entered the Liberation Tigers controlled coastal area in Muttur east Thursday around 1:30 p.m.where ten boats of LTTE's naval wing was engaged in training exercises. Despite the warnings issued by the Tigers, the naval boats with Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) officials on board, had approached the LTTE controlled area in Muttur east and reports indicate sounds of mortar and gun in the seas were heard from the seas. Tension has escalated in the coastal areas, sources from Muttur east said.
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Furuhovde's peace mission, an exemplary service - Pirapaharan

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 May 2006, 10:31 GMT]
Major-General Trond Furuhovde, with passionate commitment to peace, performed his task with stunning efficiency, adhering to the noble principles of objective neutrality and social justice, said Mr. V. Pirapaharan, the leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), in his condolence message sent to the family on Thursday. Furuhovde's exemplary service will always be appreciated with gratitude, Mr. Pirapaharan said. The Norwegian Major General passed away on Wednesday. Maj. Gen (retd) Trond Furuhovde twice undertook the most difficult task of the Head of Mission in Sri Lanka.
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Direct negotiations necessary to contain violence - Akashi

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 May 2006, 15:21 GMT]
"It is important to have direct negotiations to de-escalate violence which have come very far", Japan's peace envoy to Sri Lanka Yasushi Akashi said Wednesday, speaking to journalists in Colombo before leaving to New Delhi. Meanwhile the Liberation Tigers have told the Japanese envoy that Colombo should cease all extra-judicial killings and stop deliberately creating obstacles to conduct a safe travel of their Eastern commanders.
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Talks on conscription meaningless while children die in military attack-LTTE

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 May 2006, 09:13 GMT]
Trincomalee District Political Secretariat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said in a statement released Tuesday from Sampoor that LTTE is not prepared to hold talks on the child recruitment issue with the so-called child welfare organizations that are not showing any interest in providing security for children from the attack by the Sri Lankan government troops, sources said.
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Youth shot, injured in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 May 2006, 13:35 GMT]
Seenithamby Logeswaran, 25, of Panichankerny, riding towards Valaichenai with a friend on his motorbike, was seriously injured when he was fired at by gunmen allegedly belonging to Karuna group in Kayankerny Tuesday around 10.45 a.m., sourcessaid. Logeswaran received serious injuries to his head and was rushed to the Batticaloa Teaching hospital. He was later transferred to Batticaloa hospital for additional treatment, said medical sources.
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Colombo, LTTE friction intensifies after Thenmaradchy killings

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 May 2006, 10:09 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process (SCOPP) in a message forwarded to the Liberation Tigers has informed that the A9 Road will be open "as soon as LTTE refrains the general public of Jaffna from agitating," indicating increasingly confrontational position being taken by the Government of Sri Lanka in the aftermath of the killings in Thenmaradchy, sources in Kilinochchi said. of eight civilians allegedly by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA).
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Homage paid to journalist Jeyaseelan in Kilinochchi

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 May 2006, 09:31 GMT]
"Kanagaratnam Jeyaseelan was a young and dedicated journalist who strove untiringly for the cause of liberation even in the face of threats to his life. His death comes as another blow to us in a time when Tamil journalists are being targeted and killed by paramilitary groups guided and assisted by the Sri Lanka government," said Vellinatham Editor Sri Indrakumar paying homage to Jeyaseelan, Sub-Editor Vellinatham, the weekly edition of Eelanatham daily published in Vanni, at an event held Saturday around 11.30 a.m in the Eelanatham office in Kilinochchi presided by Sudarmany of Eelanatham, said sources from Vanni.
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Elilan warns of retaliatory attack

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 May 2006, 08:46 GMT]
"We would be forced to attack the Kaddaiparichchan camp of the Sri Lanka Army if the paramilitaries and government troops continue their attack on LTTE forward defense line in Kaddaiparichchan," Mr.S.Elilan, Trincomalee district political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Monday informed the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) in the east port town, LTTE sources in Sampoor said.
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Military curfew renders Jaffna streets bare

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 May 2006, 06:06 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army imposed curfew has rendered Jaffna a dead city with the hospital staff remaining inside the hospital and a few civilians caught unaware of the curfew going out into the Jaffna streets Monday early morning are detained at SLA check points. Fishermen, who went to sea before the curfew, returning Monday dawn from their night's fishing in the waters around the Jaffna peninsula, were being subjected to harassment by the SLA troopers for "disobeying" the curfew imposed.
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Colombo shuts down entry points in Mannar

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 May 2006, 04:57 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army Monday morning closed down Uyilankulam and Madhu entry points to the Liberation Tigers controlled territory in the Mannar district.
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Displaced Muttur east families languish in shelters

[TamilNet, Sunday, 07 May 2006, 15:36 GMT]
Tamil families displaced from their houses in the Liberation Tigers held Muttur east in the Trincomalee district following Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF), Army (SLA) and Navy (SLN) attacks on April 24 have not returned to their villages through fear, civil society sources said. The displaced families are still staying in temporary shelters and Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) and other local social organizations in the area are providing their day-to-day livelihood assistance, sources said.
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Colombo adopting Machiavellian approach to Karuna, inevitable- SLMM Head

[TamilNet, Sunday, 07 May 2006, 12:33 GMT]
On Colombo disarming Karuna Group as agreed in the Geneva-I talks, the Head of Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), Ulf Henricsson asked, "Well, I think they (Security Forces) will have a lot of problems, if they do it [disarm Karuna]. Further I don't see any reason for the government to do it. To be honest. If you have a warring faction against you and if your enemy is split why should you try to stop that. Have you read Machiavelli?," in an interview appeared in the latest edition of Sunday Observer.
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SLA shells Vavunathivu

[TamilNet, Sunday, 07 May 2006, 11:40 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) mounted artillery and mortar attacks on Liberation Tigers' controlled Vavunathivu, Batticaloa and surrounding areas from 6 a.m. Sunday morning for 30 minutes, sources from the east said. Although reports from the area indicated that no one was injured, LTTE officials have not confirmed that there were no injuries or damages to property.
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SLA ransacks LTTE's Jaffna political offices

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 May 2006, 09:46 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers damaged the building which functioned as the political office of the Liberation Tigers at Kokkuvil in Jaffna, in the early hours of Saturday, according to civilians in the area. The troops entered the building at Potpathy road around 12.30 a.m. and smashed doors and windows, they said.
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Sri Lanka seeks cluster bombs, MBRLs, sea mines - report

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 May 2006, 00:48 GMT]
Sri Lanka has placed orders with Pakistan for cluster bombs, deep penetration bombs and rockets and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), the Indian Express newspaper reported Saturday. Sri Lanka has turned to Pakistan for “a comprehensive list of weapons and other military hardware it wants to procure after India kept it waiting,” the paper said.
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Colombo version of Nelliady killings false, says TNA

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 May 2006, 14:19 GMT]
The Parliamentary group of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) in a letter sent to all foreign missions in Sri Lanka said that the Sri Lanka Government's version of the killings of seven youths in Nelliady, that the youths were "cadres belonging to the LTTE, and were killed in retaliatory fire immediately after the attack on the Military Camp," was false as there is evidence that youths were in bar during the time of the grenade attack on the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) camp.
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Kilinochchi relief organizaton urges immediate release of TRO workers

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 May 2006, 12:46 GMT]
Killinochchi East Rehabilitation Organization (KERO), in a memorandum issued Friday, appealed to the Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse to take immediate steps to release the abducted Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) workers from the custody of the para-militaries of the Sri Lankan Army (SLA). During a military operation on April 30 at Welikanda by LTTE against the paramilitary camp two TRO vehicles used by TRO workers at the time of abduction were recovered. SLA, paramilitaries and government media that they were not involved in the abduction, the memorandum pointed out.
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