75 combatants killed - military

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 October 1999, 10:18 GMT]
Sri Lankan military officials said this afternoon 75 combatants have been killed during fighting in the Vanni region and off the Mullaitivu coast in the 24 hours up to midday today.
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Casualties mount in Vanni fighting

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 October 1999, 03:44 GMT]
Twenty-seven Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers were killed and over 75 wounded in yesterday's fighting with the Liberation Tigers in Olumadu-Ampakamam region , said security sources.
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Government seeks opposition "guarantees" for peace

[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 October 1999, 13:30 GMT]
The Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunge, in a letter to the leader of the main opposition United National Party, has sought "guarantees" which the President believes are prerequisites for a peace process to settle the island's conflict.
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Embargo violators fired at

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 13 October 1999, 20:10 GMT]
A young man was killed and another wounded off the coast of Pallivaasalpiddy in the Mannar island around midnight yesterday, when unidentified gun men fired at group of illegal traders attempting to smuggle banned goods to LTTE held areas of Vanni, sources said.
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News in Brief:

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 October 1999, 14:17 GMT]
Sinhalese encroaching on Tamil paddy fields, Flight to Colombo may cost rations, Regular trips from Vavuniya to Vanni.
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Women's Awakening Day celebrated

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 October 1999, 14:11 GMT]
A portrait of 2nd Lt. Malathy, the first woman fighter of the Liberation Tigers who died on October 10, in 1987 in a fight against the Indian Peace Keeping Forces (IPKF) was carried in a colourful procession from the 18th Mile Post of Mulankaavil to the Mulankaavil 'Maveerar' Auditorium on October 8, to mark the Women's Awakening Day, said Thamileela Vaanoli, the Commercial Service of the Voice of Tigers Radio this evening.
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News in Brief:

[TamilNet, Monday, 11 October 1999, 13:54 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers mark the death of their first woman fighter; abducted schoolboy found killed; unidentified parcel explodes.
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Former Jaffna MP arrested

[TamilNet, Monday, 11 October 1999, 11:23 GMT]
S. Ramamoorthy, former Member of Parliament for the Jaffna District, was arrested by the police this morning from his house at Negombo, along with another person, sources said. Police sources said they were arrested for illegal possession of firearms.
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Opposition MP denied access to Vanni

[TamilNet, Monday, 11 October 1999, 11:20 GMT]
The Ministry of Defence has turned down an application from the opposition parliamentarian Dr.Jayalath Jayawardana, to visit the LTTE controlled parts of the Vanni region, said sources.
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Food route to Vanni affected by rains

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 October 1999, 12:33 GMT]
Food supply to the northern Vanni the region has been affected, as three by-roads between Omanthai and Mankulam have been washed off by heavy rains yesterday, said government officials in Vavuniya.
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Year 2000 Appropriations Bill in parliament

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 October 1999, 11:47 GMT]
The Sri Lankan government's defence expenditure allocation for the year 2000 has risen to 52.43 billion rupees (728 million USD), according to the Appropriations Bill presented in parliament yesterday. This is an increase of 5.43 billion rupees (11.5 percent) compared to last year's defence allocation.
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SLA vehicle attacked

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 October 1999, 12:25 GMT]
Two Sri Lanka Army soldiers were killed when the Liberation Tigers attacked an army lorry with rocket propelled grenade (RPG) in the eastern district of Trincomalee around 3.30 p.m. this afternoon security sources said.
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Catholic Bishops to meet LTTE leaders

[TamilNet, Monday, 04 October 1999, 11:47 GMT]
The Catholic Bishops of Jaffna, Mannar and Batticaloa are expected to visit the Vanni region shortly to meet the senior members of the Liberation Tigers church sources said.
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PLOTE leader admits to past mistakes

[TamilNet, Sunday, 03 October 1999, 15:11 GMT]
Mr.Dharmalingam Siddharthan, the leader of the People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE) and a Member of Parliament for Vanni district yesterday admitted the moral responsibility for the mistakes made by his group, in the past.
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Transport restriction hits villagers

[TamilNet, Sunday, 03 October 1999, 11:15 GMT]
(News Feature) More than twenty thousand people in the coastal areas north of Mannar are facing starvation due to Sri Lanka Army (SLA) restrictions on food and medicine and transport to this area according to refugees from Vidaththalthivu who arrived on Thursday (September 30) in Pallimunai near Mannar town.
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Officials appeal for food

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 September 1999, 18:34 GMT]
The Government Agents of Vavuniya, Mullaithivu and Kilinochchi have made a request to Sri Lanka Army (SLA) officials in Vavuniya to make arrangements to dispatch the required quantity of relief food items to the displaced population in the areas held by the LTTE, said sources.
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Attack on MP’s house repulsed

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 September 1999, 12:54 GMT]
An attack by unidentified gunmen on the Police unit guarding the residence of V.Balachandran MP, for the Vanni district, was repulsed at about 11 pm last night, said Police sources.
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Convoy attack kills 20

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 September 1999, 14:12 GMT]
Twenty Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers were killed and 27 others wounded when the vehicle in which they were traveling was hit by a claymore mine blast around noon today in Batticaloa town. SLA soldiers fired indiscriminately, wounding two civilians, sources said.
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Communal tension before massacre - Bishop

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 September 1999, 10:34 GMT]
The anti- Tamil and Muslim propaganda conducted by the Sinhala Veera Vithane, a Sinhala extremist organisation in the Ampara district could have contributed to inflaming communal tensions ahead of the massacre of civilians in the border villages last weekend, the Bishop of Trincomalee and Batticaloa, Rt.Rev.Kingsley Swampillai said yesterday.
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Tamil Bishops urge peace talks

[TamilNet, Thursday, 23 September 1999, 13:27 GMT]
The Bishop of the Batticaloa-Trincomalee diocese Rt.Rev. Kingsley Swampillai who returned yesterday after a visit to the Vanni said that the Liberation Tigers denied reports that they were responsible for the massacre of Sinhala civilians in the Ampara district on September 18. The Bishops of the Tamil dioceses of Sri Lanka, Rt.Rev.Thomas Savundaranayagam (Jaffna), Rt.Rev.Rayappu Joseph (Mannar) and Rt.Rev. Swampillai (Batticaloa-Trincomalee) went to the Vanni on Monday Sept.20.
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