'IC should act before it is too late'

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 February 2009, 21:26 GMT]
Colombo is now blackmailing the IC that any effort to stop the war at this juncture would boomerang in the south, destabilizing the system and disappointing the greed of those who want to eat the cake in full and have invested for that purpose in the island. It now doesn’t hide its intention of committing genocide of civilians along with its attempt to crush the LTTE in the next few days, leaving the consequences to be tackled later. Sonia Establishment’s haste is everyone's knowledge. Some powers think that by immediately dumping money for 'development' in the ‘conquered land’, Tamils can be appeased and the investors can find an outlet for the economic recession. But no one is prepared for a political solution, reflects a reader on an article appeared in TamilNet Monday.
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Nurse killed in Udaiyaarkaddu hospital, ICRC staff wounded in PTK

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 February 2009, 17:32 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) fired artillery shells on both the hospitals in Vanni again on Monday. A nurse who was attending a wounded patient at Udaiyaarkaddu makeshift hospital (Ki'linochchi hospital) was killed when 3 shells hit the hospital. 10 civilians, including ICRC/SLRC staff stationed in the vicinity of Puthukkudiyiruppu (PTK), were wounded, according to a civilian source. Hospital authorities were unreachable to verify the details.
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More than 5,000 shells fired on 'safety zone', casualties uncountable

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 February 2009, 16:47 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) fired artillery shells throughout the whole day on Monday from all directions into civilian refuges. At least one hundred civilians could have been killed or maimed in the indiscriminate barrage. The casualties are uncountable as the whole population is forced to reside inside the bunkers throughout the whole day, reports TamilNet correspondent. "Monday was the worst day of SLA shelling so far within the safety zone."
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SLA fires MBRL rockets on IDP camp, several feared dead

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 February 2009, 16:40 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) fired Multi-Barrel Rocket Launcher (MBRL) rockets exploded inside a refugee camp of the Internally Displaced People Monday night around 10:00 p.m. killing several IDPs, initial reports said. The camp, located in Chuthanthirapuram is on fire. No one is able to access the camp to gather more details as shelling continues to target the roads. TamilNet correspondent has witnessed several artillery-fired flying fireballs coming from SLA positions into the safety zone. The shells cause immediate fire.
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Sri Lanka HRC key officials visit Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 February 2009, 15:12 GMT]
A high profile team of Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission (HRC) Colombo arrived Friday in Jaffna where they met Sri Lanka Army (SLA) officers and the magistrates in Jaffna and discussed matters related to the interests of persons placed in the protective custody of Jaffna Prison and the civilians brought to Jaffna peninsula by the SLA and placed in detention camps, sources in Jaffna said. The team flew back to Colombo Sunday.
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Explosive laden lorry discovered in Trincomalee town

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 February 2009, 14:33 GMT]
Sri Lanaka armed forces in Trincomalee town have been put on red alert Monday following the discovery of a lorry alleged to have been loaded with explosives near the residence of a police official of Trincomalee Harbour Police. Sri Lanaka armed forces suspect that LTTE cadres had brought the explosive laden vehicle to commit a crime in the east port town, according to media sources in Colombo quoting Police Headquarters.
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Focusing on demand for positive change in IC outlook urged

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 February 2009, 11:30 GMT]
It is a war concurrently waged by Colombo government and Sonia Congress of India on the national aspirations of Eezham Tamils and in the process committing genocide on them. The perverted international vantage of the war and the milieu facilitated the war are a result of the Bush Syndrome. Obama has come but there is no US effort to arrest the hangover, and the British duplicity on the issue also continues. It is time the world has to look at the crisis in its true perspective as a national liberation struggle and stop discussing it as a ‘terrorist’ threat or minority issue, seeking solutions within the rotten state and polity of Sri Lanka, writes a senior Tamil scholar.
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SLA shells PTK hospital, 9 killed, 15 wounded

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 February 2009, 02:14 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) shelled Puthukkudiyiruppu (PTK) hospital Sunday night killing nine civilians, including patients and their family members in the ward. More than 15 civilians were injured. The indiscriminate attack on the hospital has caused panic and tension among the hundreds of wounded civilians at the hospital. The shelling has come despite repeated calls from the medical authorities not to fire shells on the civilian medical facility and within a few hours of a public statement from the ICRC, which said it was shocked by the shelling on hospital twice in recent days. Meanwhile, a source at Vavuniyaa District Secretariat told TamilNet Monday that it was a premeditated massacre as the military was given instructions by the SL Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa to isolate hospitals from civilian access by artillery barrage.
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Civilian casualties rise, SLA, SLAF attacks continue on safety zone

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 February 2009, 21:31 GMT]
Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombers attacked Moongkilaa'ru Sunday night around 10:00 p.m. casualty details are not known. Amid reports of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) using cluster munitions fitted to artillery shells in its indiscriminate barrage on civilian refuges, around 13 dead bodies of civilians were recovered Sunday morning in completely burned state, beyond identification, at Moongkilaa'ru in Udaiyaarkaddu within the 'safety zone' announced by the government of Sri Lanka. More than 30 children and elders were killed Saturday alone, reports said. Civilian casualties were mounting also on Sunday.
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Shelling hits hospital, ICRC shocked

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 February 2009, 19:39 GMT]
The International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC), in a statement issued from Colombo Sunday expressed shock at the shelling of Puthukkudiyiruppu Hospital a second time in a week, and said "wounded and sick people, medical personnel and medical facilities are all protected by international humanitarian law. Under no circumstance may they be directly attacked," pointing an accusing finger at the Government of Sri Lanka and the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) without mentioning either by name.
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SLA arrests 10 Tamils, 5 Sinhalese in Chilaw

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 February 2009, 16:42 GMT]
Ten Tamils and five Sinhalese were taken into custody in a cordon and search operation conducted in Chilaw town Saturday by the Sri Lanka Army and police on receipt of information that some strangers had infiltrated. Houses, shops lodges and boarding houses were subjected to careful search, police sources said.
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Sri Lanka warns interfering Westerners

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 February 2009, 14:47 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s hardline government warned Sunday that Western ambassadors, news agencies and INGOs of "dire consequences" if they attempt to give the LTTE a second breath of life. "They will be chased away (if they try) to give a second wind to the LTTE terrorists at a time the security forces, at heavy cost, are dealing them the final death blow," Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa told The Sunday Island.
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'Tigers in pitched battle against genocidal military' - LTTE

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 February 2009, 13:48 GMT]
"The defensive formations of the Liberation Tigers are courageously facing the Sri Lanka Army, which has been engaged by Colombo in a genocidal war against Tamils," said S. Puleedevan from LTTE's Political office in Vanni Sunday evening. The offensive units of the SLA had massed near Puthukkudiyiruppu (PTK) in full strength, with tanks and all preparedness in their hurry to capture PTK in the next one or two days, but are now pushed back beyond their forward lines, he said. The fighting, which began in the early hours of Sunday was still continuing.
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Tigers launch preemptive strike in PTK

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 February 2009, 07:05 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) forces Sunday morning launched a preemptive strike on Sri Lanka Army (SLA) offensive units that were prepared for an all out assault on Puthukkudiyiruppu (PTK). The SLA has suffered heavy casualties, initial reports from Vanni said.
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British Tamils stage largest ever march protesting genocide, mandating Tamil Eelam

[TamilNet, Saturday, 31 January 2009, 21:50 GMT]
More than one hundred thousand British Tamils marched through central London Saturday condemning Sri Lanka’s war against their people and calling for an independent Tamil Eelam. The unprecedented response on one of the coldest days this year turned out to be the largest ever gathering of the British Tamil community. It seems almost half of the Eezham Tamil community in Britain joined the march Saturday. While the turnout reflected the anger and outrage over the genocide committed on Tamils by Colombo and its international abettors, significant focus of the march was the demand for the recognition of Eezham Tamil sovereignty in the island of Sri Lanka. It was actually a mandate, the organizers said.
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Artillery-fired cluster shells, aerial bombing on safety zone, 39 civilians killed

[TamilNet, Saturday, 31 January 2009, 17:44 GMT]
For the first time within the safety zone, Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombers Saturday attacked Moongkilaa'ru and Chuthanthirapuram. Relentless artillery fire also continued throughout the day on civilian targets. 39 civilians were killed and 128 wounded in the indiscriminate attacks. Artillery-fired cluster munitions were used in the attacks by the SLA against civilians targets, blamed LTTE's Political Head B. Nadesan. Meanwhile a doctor attending the wounded at Udaiyaarkaddu hospital described the situation as a two-pronged genocide, one through military operations and the other by refusing medical supplies.
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Grenade attack on SLA sentry post in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 31 January 2009, 14:40 GMT]
Two unidentified persons on bicycle hurled a hand grenade on the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) sentry post in I'nuvil in Valikaamam Friday around 7:10 p.m during power cut, sources in Jaffna said. The soldiers in the sentry post were injured, according to unconfirmed reports from the area.
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Only 26 respond to Rajapaksa's 48-hour ultimatum

[TamilNet, Saturday, 31 January 2009, 12:11 GMT]
In the last 48-hours, only 26 civilians have crossed through Oamanthai into Sri Lankan government controlled area, District Secretariat sources in Vavuniyaa said Saturday evening. Meanwhile, Sri Lankan military sources put the number of civilians who crossed Oamanthai at 65. In the meantime, the representatives of the Internally Displaced People in Vanni have expressed fear that many hundreds of civilians are going to perish within the next few hours as a Sri Lankan military official in Colombo said the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) would go on an "all out operation" to "eliminate the remaining Tigers" after the lapse of 48-hour ultimatum.
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'UN subtly abets Colombo's genocide' - MP

[TamilNet, Saturday, 31 January 2009, 10:28 GMT]
The United Nations, which has not asserted its international authority and responsibility with the Colombo government in directly taking charge of the affected civilians of Vanni, has no moral or humanitarian grounds to urge the civilians to submit themselves against their will into the hands of those who commit genocide on them, said Batticaloa parliamentarian S. Jeyananthamoorthy on Saturday. "Hitherto, the UN and the International Community have only demonstrated their miserable failure in making the Colombo government to observe human rights. What is their guarantee now for the security and dignity of civilians, other than untrustworthy assurance of Mahinda Rajapaksa," asked the MP who charged the UN for playing in the hands of a genocidal government.
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Umbrella front announces February 4 statewide bandh in Tamil Nadu

[TamilNet, Saturday, 31 January 2009, 09:34 GMT]
Demanding a permanent ceasefire in Sri Lanka and the withdrawal of all Indian military aid to Colombo, leaders of the umbrella front in Tamil Nadu, Ilangkaith Thamizhar Paathukaappu Pearavai, which was recently formed to protect the Eezham Tamils, announced Saturday that they would mark the Sri Lankan Independence Day on February 4 as a day of protest. A state-wide bandh and a black-flag procession have been announced.
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