SLA shells hit Health Secretariat of Ki'linochchi district

[TamilNet, Sunday, 11 January 2009, 18:09 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) fired artillery shells have hit the Deputy Provincial Director of Health Services (DPDHS) Secretariat for Ki'inochchi district, located at Pu'liyampokka'nai in Ka'ndaava'lai division Sunday noon. The attack on the DPDHS secretariat has come despite the government forces were given the coordinates of the secretariat, health officials said.
Full story >>

2500 SLA deserters jailed, 4000 to face trial- Prison Commissioner

[TamilNet, Sunday, 11 January 2009, 16:17 GMT]
About two thousand deserted soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) are currently serving jail sentence from three months to one year rigorous imprisonment in several prisons in the south of Sri Lanka, sentenced by Military Tribunal after trial. A further four thousand deserted soldiers are in custody, and soon they would be facing inquiry before military tribunal, media reports said quoting Commissioner General of Prisons Major General Vajira Gunawardene.
Full story >>

Scores wounded in Sri Lankan bombardment on displacing civilians

[TamilNet, Sunday, 11 January 2009, 14:37 GMT]
The three armed forces of Sri Lanka have carried out a joint indiscriminate bombardment from air, land and sea targeting the civilians who were displacing from Vadamaraadchi East villages to Vanni mainland, causing injuries to at least 40 civilians, initial reports from the area said. The attack has targeted civilians who have come to Chu'ndikku'lam lagoon to cross over to Vanni mainland as the land route has been occupied by the Sri Lanka Army following the occupation of Elephant Pass. Medical authorities at Kallaa'ru said they were struggling to transport the wounded. Ambulances at Tharmapuram hospital were sent to Kallaa'ru in Chu'ndikku'lam.
Full story >>

"And they came for me" - Lasantha Editorial

[TamilNet, Sunday, 11 January 2009, 14:07 GMT]
"What is more, a military occupation of the country's north and east will require the Tamil people of those regions to live eternally as second-class citizens, deprived of all self respect. Do not imagine that you can placate them by showering "development" and "reconstruction" on them in the post-war era. The wounds of war will scar them forever, and you will also have an even more bitter and hateful Diaspora to contend with. A problem amenable to a political solution will thus become a festering wound that will yield strife for all eternity. If I seem angry and frustrated, it is only because most of my countrymen - and all of the government - cannot see this writing so plainly on the wall," says late Wickrematunge, in an editorial penned before his death; he adds "It has long been written that my life would be taken, and by whom. All that remains to be written is when."
Full story >>

3,000 Sri Lankan troops killed in three months, Army to double – newspapers

[TamilNet, Sunday, 11 January 2009, 12:37 GMT]
Three thousand Sri Lankan soldiers were killed fighting the Liberation Tigers in the past three months, the Sunday Island newspaper reported this week, quoting government Defence spokesman and Minister Keheliya Rambukwella. He was responding to opposition charges that 15,000 troops had been killed in the battles since October last year. Meanwhile SLA commander Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka wants to eventually double the size of the SLA to 300,000 soldiers to hold areas captured from the LTTE. A colonel of the SLA’s Air Mobile brigade was killed in a booby trap explosion in the fighting for Elephant Pass last week, the Sunday Times reported.
Full story >>

SLA soldiers arrest 33 civilians in Pa’lai

[TamilNet, Sunday, 11 January 2009, 04:18 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers arrested 9 women, 20 men, and 4 children in a search conducted Friday, in a house in Choaranpattu, Pa’lai area, earlier held by Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), sources in Jaffna said. SLA handed over the arrestees to Kodikaamam police.
Full story >>

4 killed, SLA artillery targets civilian settlement in Puthukkudiyiruppu

[TamilNet, Sunday, 11 January 2009, 03:11 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) fired artillery shells killed four displaced civilians, including the parents and the daughter of a family, residing in the settlement located behind the hospital of Puthukkudiyiruppu in Mullaiththeevu district Saturday night, according to medical sources. Two of the killed victims were 17-year-old students. Four civilians, including a 5-year-old child were wounded in the indiscriminate artillery attack. Meanwhile, artillery barrage on Vaddakkachchi and Pu'liyampokka'nai in Ki'linochchi district continued, disrupting the access roads for civilians to move away from the areas that have come under artillery barrage.
Full story >>

SLA attempt to advance from Ira'naimadu repulsed: Tigers

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 January 2009, 15:12 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) launched an offensive push from Ira'naimadu targeting to enter Vaddakkachchi in Ki'linochchi district Saturday. The Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) officials told reporters in Vanni that their defensive forces repulsed the move. 18 SLA soldiers were killed, 40 wounded and the Tigers seized arms and ammunitions in the clearing mission that followed the 8 hours long fighting.
Full story >>

Civilians trapped in SLA artillery barrage

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 January 2009, 11:43 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) fired artillery shells hit civilian settlements in Vaddakkachchi, killing a 56-year-old father and caused injuries to his 16-year-old son. Meanwhile, a 76-year-old elderly man residing in an elderly home sustained injuries Friday night after he returned home unable to reach Tharmapuram as Kaddaikkaadu Road (Vaddakkachchi - Tharmapuram Road) was continuously targeted by the shelling. In the meantime another male was killed in SLA shelling at Chu'ndikku'lam on Friday.
Full story >>

Media activists protest against Lasantha assassination

[TamilNet, Friday, 09 January 2009, 21:41 GMT]
Hundreds of media activists took to the streets in Colombo Friday protesting against the assassination of one of the prominent journalists in Colombo and Chief Editor of Sunday Leader, Lasantha Wickramatunga, who was shot dead Thursday. The protesters accused Rajapaksa regime for the prevailing impunity as heavily armed military personnel ringed the area of protest at Regal Junction, the metropolitan heart of the city. Meanwhile, opposition parties have blamed the government for using the military achievements in its war against the LTTE as a propaganda ploy to suppress and eliminate the opposition.
Full story >>

SLA arrests 4 Tamil civilians in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Friday, 09 January 2009, 20:46 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers took four Tamil civilians into custody Wednesday morning while they were resting in a hut located in a paddy field in Puthukku'lam in Vavuniyaa division on their return home after hunting. These youths are residents of Sasthrikoo'langku'lam and Puthukku'lam.
Full story >>

SLA takes control of A9 - Rajapaksa

[TamilNet, Friday, 09 January 2009, 14:59 GMT]
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Friday announced that the Sri Lanka Army regained the control of A9 Jaffna Kandy highway linking the south and the north after 23 years. Meanwhile, the Sri Lankan Defence Ministry said that 53 Division commanded by Brigadier Kamal Gunaratne and 55 Division commanded by Brigadier Prasanna Silva based in the Mukamaalai area have advanced nearly 22 km south and occupied the Elephant Pass (EPS) and hoisted the Sri Lankan flag. The EPS was held by the LTTE for over eight years.
Full story >>

SLAF suffers casualties in Tiger ambush in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Friday, 09 January 2009, 12:04 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) from Trincomalee district claimed that 12 Sri Lankan armed personnel were killed and 6 sustained injuries in a Claymore and gunfire ambush on a tractor carrying armed personnel from Panku'lam to Muthalikku'lam (Morawewa) at 8:55 a.m. Friday. Meanwhile, Sri Lankan military sources in Colombo said three Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) personnel and four civilians and seven SLAF personnel sustained injuries in the ambush. A main camp of the SLAF is currently situated in Morawewa, which was earlier a traditional Tamil village called Muthalikku'lam.
Full story >>

Armed robberies escalate in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Friday, 09 January 2009, 11:08 GMT]
Masked armed men robbed three houses, threatening the owners at gunpoint, at Puthukkudiyiruppu in Vaazhaichcheanai police division Thursday night, according to complaints lodged with the police. One of the houses robbed is located 200 m from the office of TMVP Pillayan paramilitary group, on Vaazhaicheanai Maadi Veethi.
Full story >>

SLN arrests 12 youths fleeing war in Vadamaraadchi East

[TamilNet, Friday, 09 January 2009, 01:07 GMT]
Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) arrested Friday twelve youths fleeing war in Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) held Vadamaraadchi East in a boat which was washed ashore on Point Pedro coast in Vadamaraadchi, sources in Point Pedro said. SLN handed over the arrestees to Point Pedro police who produced them in Point Pedro court Monday.
Full story >>

Grenade attack on SLA soldiers, in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 January 2009, 18:49 GMT]
Unidentified persons launched a grenade attack Thursday around 6:30 p.m on Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers in Kokkuvil area in Jaffna, sources in Jaffna said. SLA soldiers conducted a search in the area throughout the night immediately after the attack, the sources added.
Full story >>

IFT calls for redoubling of effort to support Eelam Tamils

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 January 2009, 12:47 GMT]
Accusing the International Community of attempting to "wean Tamil people, both in the Tamil homeland and the Diaspora, away from the LTTE," by advocating the need for a political solution while Kilinochchi is under occupation, International Federation of Tamils (IFT), a Geneva-based umbrella group of expatriate Tamil organizations, in a press release issued today "called upon over 70 million strong world Tamil community to redouble it support to the Eelam Tamils for their struggle to create the State of Tamil Eelam," and interated "that the future State of Tamil Eelam will negotiate with the Sinhala State of Sri Lanka to create a mutually acceptable relationship whereby both Peoples pool their sovereignties to associate with each other for purposes of mutual benefit."
Full story >>

Sri Lanka steps up aerial bombardment on Vanni

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 January 2009, 11:51 GMT]
Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombers dropped at least 20 bombs in four sorties on Chu'ndikku'lam and the coastal areas on Thursday. Two SLAF bombers dropped 10 bombs at 7:10 a.m., and the bombers returned again two hours later at 9:00 a.m. targeting the same area. Kallaa'ru in the same region was attacked at 11:00 a.m. The bombers returned for the fourth time around 3:00 p.m. to target the same area.
Full story >>

7 killed, Sri Lankan artillery attack targets civilian centre of Vanni

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 January 2009, 07:52 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army fired artillery shells targeting Tharmapuram Junction, the remaining centre of displaced civilians in Vanni killing at least four and causing injuries to many around 1:20 p.m. on Thursday, after artillery shelling killed three, including a child in Vaddakkachchi. Two of the slain victims were children. The attack has targeted Tharmapuram Junction, which is located 75 meters from the hospital. Tension and chaos prevailed in the hospital, which was full of the wounded civilians, as they were forced to seek shelter from the artillery barrage.
Full story >>

3 civilians, including child, killed in SLA shelling in Vanni

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 January 2009, 06:26 GMT]
Three civilians, including a child, were killed Thursday morning when Sri Lanka Army (SLA) artillery guns stepped up shelling on densely populated Vaddakkachchi in Vanni, according to initial reports from Tharmapuram hospital. There were three children among the 9 wounded who have been rushed to the hospital.
Full story >>