Bomb blast in front of SLAF HQ in Colombo, airman, civilian killed

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 January 2009, 12:06 GMT]
A Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) airman and a civilian were killed and 36 persons, including 16 airmen were wounded in a bomb explosion in front of the SLAF head office in the high security zone in Slave Island, Colombo 2, Friday at 5:15 p.m., while the city was lighting firecrackers celebrating the occupation of Ki'inochchi town by the Sri Lanka Army. The explosion took place 15 minutes after Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa announced, in a televised address, that the SLA had captured the town of Ki'linochchi, 320 kilometres north of Colombo.
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SLA occupies Ki'linochchi town

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 January 2009, 11:20 GMT]
The Sri Lankan military authorities Friday said their forces have occupied the strategic town of Ki'linochchi in Vanni, situated 320 km north of Colombo. The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has entered a virtual ghost town as the whole civilian infrastructure as well as the centre of the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) had shifted further northeast. It is the first time after a decade the Sri Lankan forces have been able to take control of the town after several months of fierce fighting that has claimed hundreds of combatants on both sides of the war.
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SLA shelling blocks ambulances, 2 injured in convoy

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 January 2009, 09:56 GMT]
Two persons who accompanied with the convoy of ambulances from Puthukkudiruppu to Vavuniyaa were wounded when Sri Lanka Army (SLA) fired artillery shells at Mannaaka'ndal Friday morning, shortly after two ambulances left Puthukkudiyiruppu, medical authorities said. Two ambulances with 13 civilians with serious injuries, being transferred from Tharmapuram and Puthukkudiyiruppu hospitals to Vavuniyaa hospital, after getting clearance through the ICRC, were forced to turn back as the SLA stepped up artillery fire on the road.
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Child injured in SLA gunfire in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 January 2009, 08:55 GMT]
A one and a half year old child was seriously injured Wednesday around 2:30 a.m in the indiscriminate gunfire by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers from their camp located in Makilloor Ka’n’nakipuram in Ka’luvaangchchikudi police division in Batticaloa district.
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Tharmapuram hospital struggles to cope with victims of air strikes

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 January 2009, 00:32 GMT]
The hospital located at Tharmapuram, the new administrative centre of Vanni, struggles to cope with a high number of patients as Sri Lankan air strikes and artillery barrage on Wednesday and Thursday killed 10 and caused injuries to more than 50 civilians. The hospital, originally a village level hospital, has to cope with the inpatients of Ki'linochchi hospital, with its short space and lack of medical equipment, was forced to dispatch its vehicles on Thursday seeking blood donors to come forward to donate blood as all blood types in were at critical level.
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SLAF bombs Ka'ndaava'lai, Ki'linochchi suburb

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 January 2009, 23:59 GMT]
Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombers that attacked Murasumoaddai on Paranthan Mullaiththeevu Road thrice, returned to bomb the next junction, Ka'ndaava'lai, while hundreds of civilians were fleeing the carnage at Murasumoaddai in the evening around 4:30 p.m., on Thursday. Two civilians, a 60-year-old mother and a 20-year-old male were injured in the attack on the densely populated junction. Three shops were fully destroyed and six shops damaged.
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SLA claims occupation of Paranthan junction

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 January 2009, 16:38 GMT]
Sri Lankan Defence Ministry on Thursday claimed that its troops reached Paranthan Junction, which is situated north of Ki'linochchi town on A9 Road. Informed military sources said the SLA suffered high casualties as the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) put up heavy resistance. The occupation of Paranthan junction comes after SLA suffering three major debacles in which several soldiers, including child soldiers and young recruits have been killed.
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Civil society decries internment of Vanni families in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 January 2009, 13:53 GMT]
Sri Lanka military and Police in Kopaay are keeping more than 155 members of 60 families who arrived in Jaffna as refugees from Vanni in a newly established camp in Kopaay Teachers Training College without basic facilities and without any freedom of movement, civil society sources in Jaffna said.
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Claymore attack kills policeman, home guard in Ampaa'rai

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 January 2009, 11:47 GMT]
A Sri Lankan Police Constable and a home guard were killed in a Claymore ambush at Veerachchoalai in Chammanthu'rai in Ampaa'rai Thursday morning around 8:30, Police said.
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5 killed, 28 wounded in SLAF attacks on Murasumoaddai for second day

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 January 2009, 09:41 GMT]
Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombers hit civilian settlements three times in Murasumoaddai in Vanni killing civilians and causing injuries to many on Thursday. At least 5 civilians have been reported dead so far by the medical staff at Tharmpuram hospital. 28 civilians, including five children, were admitted at the hospital after the attacks. Civilians were still trapped in the site as Sri Lanka Army (SLA) launched artillery barrage on the settlement after the indiscriminate air strike. 10 civilians have been killed and more than 50 wounded within 30 hours on Wednesday and Thursday in Murasumoaddai.
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Clashes erupt in Mukamaalai FDL

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 31 December 2008, 17:53 GMT]
Clashes erupted between Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Tuesday night in Mukamaalai Forward Defence Line (FDL) area after a short lull, sources in Thenmaraadchi said. Artillery duels and gunfire exchange heard through out Tuesday night, and continued intermittently on Wednesday.
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Second male body washed ashore in Vadamaraadchi

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 31 December 2008, 17:32 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) coast guards found a male body washed ashore Wednesday near the light house at Point Pedro Munai area in Vadmaraadchi and informed Point Pedro police, sources in Vadamaraadchi said. Point Pedro magistrate, accompanied by the police, visited the site and conducted inquest into the death.
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65 Tamil youths arrested after Wattala attack

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 31 December 2008, 13:11 GMT]
Sixty five Tamil youths were arrested in cordon and search operations conducted by the Sri Lanka Police and Sri Lankan Army (SLA) on Monday and Tuesday following the suicide bomb attack at the Wattala on a camp of the Civil Volunteer Force (CVF). The arrested youths are being detained in several police stations in the Colombo district and are being interrogated, police sources said.
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North and South cannot remain separate, Rajapaksa tells Jaffna people

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 31 December 2008, 08:57 GMT]
“The people of Jaffna peninsula should forget the tragic past and all people of the north and south should live as one people”, Mahinda Rajapaksa, the President of Sri Lanka, said in a special satellite television broadcast Monday night for the people of Jaffna peninsula, which has become an open prison under Sri Lanka Army (SLA) control. Another message, delivered by Mr. Rajapaksa to the people of Jaffna, was that he has taken steps to 'liberate' Ki’linochchi and Mullaiththeevu and very soon the people there will 'live like' the people of Jaffna.
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5 civilians killed, 16 wounded in air strikes, hospital reports blood shortage

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 31 December 2008, 04:26 GMT]
Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombers attacked a civilian settlement near Murugananda school in Murasumoaddai on Paranthan - Mullaiththeevu Road killing two females of a family and a male on the spot. Another man, who was seriously wounded, succumbed to his injuries at the hospital. 16 civilians, including a couple, were wounded. The attack has targeted three civilian settlements in Murasumoaddai Wednesday around 8:00 a.m. The indiscriminate bombardment on fleeing civilians, Internally Displaced Person's huts, close to the ICRC Karaichchi branch office, a school, temple and agricultural lands aims at instilling fear at the minds of the civilians in Vanni, observers said.
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Jaffna SLA, GA accused of delaying HSZ resettlement

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 December 2008, 19:03 GMT]
Displaced residents in Jaffna and civil society organizations have accused the Government Agent (GA) of Jaffna and the Palaly Military High command of deliberately delaying implementation of Supreme Court’s order to begin resettlement inside designated areas within the High Security Zone (HSZ) in Valikaamam North, sources in Jaffna said.
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6 detainees allowed on bail, in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 December 2008, 18:17 GMT]
Mallaakam magistrate Ms. Sarojini Illankovan allowed bail on surety Tuesday for six persons detained by police arrested during a cordon and search conducted by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and police three months ago at the Saiva temples in Maasiyapiddi following a clash in the area, sources in Jaffna said. The eleven taken into custody during the search included Saiva priests, trustee board members and devotees. Five of these had been released on bail earlier, the sources added.
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Ki'linochchi hospital attacked again

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 December 2008, 15:30 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) fired artillery shells have again hit Ki'linochchi hospital Tuesday evening between 3:50 and 4:00 p.m., initial reports from the town said. Hospital building was damaged in the shelling. Meanwhile, close-exchange of gunfire was reported in Paranthan area.
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SLN harasses fishermen, confiscates boats, in Jaffna islet seas

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 December 2008, 11:07 GMT]
Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) troopers in Oorkaavattuirai (Kayts) arrested 12 fishermen fishing with Sri Lanka Army issued fishing pass Monday morning on Paalaitheevu seas close to the islets of Jaffna. The SLN confiscated the passes, 36 boats, fishing equipment and the catch from the 12 fishermen and took them to their base in Oorkaavattu’rai.
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Teenage SLA soldier mysteriously shot dead in Thenmaraadchi, Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 December 2008, 11:03 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Mukamaalai informed Kodikaamam police that a soldier’s body with gunshot wounds was found in Mukamaalai area Saturday. Chaavakachcheari magistrate on being informed of the death visited the site and conducted the inquest into the death. The 18-year-old soldier had been sent to Mukamaalai FDL from the SLA 52nd Division located at Vara'ni in Thenmaraadchi.
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