Artillery duel injures four women, hundreds flee Kudumbimalai

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 November 2006, 02:05 GMT]
Four women were injured when a mortar shell launched from Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) area targeting the Murkodanchenai Sri Lanka Army (SLA) camp fell and exploded on a house near the SLA camp Tuesday around 9:30 a.m., security sources from Batticaloa said. Meanwhile, hundreds of families from LTTE-controlled Kudumbimalai area sought shelter in adjoining jungles seeking safety from SLA fire from Valaichenai Brigade camp Tuesday night, LTTE sources said.
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Fisherman shot dead in Valaichenai

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 November 2006, 08:07 GMT]
Unidentified armed men took away a fisherman from his home at Kinaiyadi Nagathambiran temple street in Valaichenai police division in Batticaloa and shot him dead Monday around 11:00 p.m, said Valaichenai police.
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Protest held in Colombo condemning abductions

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 November 2006, 21:09 GMT]
Committee for Tracing the Abducted Persons held a demonstration in Colombo Fort railway station Wednesday 12:00 noon demanding the release of persons abducted in Colombo and the suburbs, and urging civil society to pressure the Sri Lanka government to take urgent steps to prevent future abductions, civil sources said.


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TNA condemns killing of PS member, attack on MP's House

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 31 October 2006, 12:19 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) in a press release issued Tuesday, accused two Sinhala Homeguards for killing the elected TNA member Seruwila Pradesiya Sabha, and condemned the grenade attack on the private residence of TNA Vanni parliamentarian, Sivanathan Kishore.
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Paramilitary cadre shot, injured in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 October 2006, 21:59 GMT]
A member of paramilitary Karuna group was shot and seriously injured when unknown gunmen fired at a group of cadres walking from Pillaiyar Temple along Badulla Road to the paramilitaries' office Saturday morning in Chenkalady in Batticaloa District, Eravur police source said.
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Karuna ‘abducted hundreds of children’ – The Times

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 October 2006, 15:48 GMT]
The Karuna Group has abducted between 300 and 900 children — some as young as 12 — since March, The Times newspaper reported this week, quoting international and local aid workers in Sri Lanka. The paramilitary group’s “escalating activity has emerged as a key factor behind the upsurge in violence that has killed more than 2,000 people this year and left a 2002 ceasefire agreement in tatters,” the British newspaper said.
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3 paramilitary cadres killed, 8 wounded in Chenkalady

[TamilNet, Thursday, 26 October 2006, 07:00 GMT]
A paramilitary cadre of Karuna group, who joined the group recently, shot and lobbed grenade at his fellow cadres, killing three and critically wounding eight around 1:00 a.m. Thursday, Eravur Police said. The paramilitary cadres were at sleep inside the Chenkalady Pillayar temple, close to the Black Bridge camp of the Sri Lanka Army, located 15 km northwest of Batticaloa town.
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FMM condemns burning of 10,000 copies of Virakesari

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 October 2006, 09:39 GMT]
The Free Media Movement (FMM)- Sri Lanka condemned the burning 10,000 copies of the Tamil daily Virakesari, and Metro News near Kiran Regional Secretariat 22nd Monday around 3:50 a.m. by paramilitary cadres alleged to be belonging Karuna group, in a statement released Wednesday in Colombo, political sources in Colombo said. Earlier in August, paramilitaries collaborating with the SLA threatened the owner of Surena Travels not to deliver to Muruges and Son Stores, Sudaroli and Thinakural news papers.


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NorthEast shuts down against de-merger

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 October 2006, 07:38 GMT]
The entire districts of NorthEast Wednesday came to a standstill following a shut down protest expressing Tamil opposition to Colombo's move to de-merge the NorthEast. Very few vehicles plied the streets, shops remained closed, businesses and private institutions remained closed and the Tamil towns in Sri Lanka Army (SLA) controlled areas, Batticaloa, Trincomalee, Vavuniya, Mannar and Jaffna were deserted, despite the threats by the SLA and paramilitaries.
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Two civilians injured in Valaichenai shootings

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 24 October 2006, 15:45 GMT]
Unidentified persons waiting in ambush opened fire seriously injuring a youth riding his bicycle for work, at Kinnaiady in Valaichenai police division in Batticaloa Tuesday around 6:40 a.m, Valaichenai police said. In a separate incident, a woman, 30, was caught in the cross fire between two rival groups and was seriously injured around 11:00 a.m, at Vinayagapuram in the same police division.
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Paramilitary cadres burn Tamil dailies in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Monday, 23 October 2006, 10:58 GMT]
Fifteen paramilitary cadres alleged to be belonging to Karuna group, stopped a private bus and a van transporting Tamil dailies Virakesari and Metro News from Colombo to Batticaloa and Amparai, near the Kiran Regional Secretariat, and set fire to the news papers in a compound opposite the Secretariat Monday around 3:50 a.m., civil sources from Kiran said.
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3 abducted Tamils found shot to death in Colombo

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 October 2006, 21:33 GMT]
Three Tamil residents in Colombo, abducted by unidentified persons driving a white van on Thursday, were found shot to death in Piliyandala and Ragama areas, Police sources said. People Vigilance Committee (PVC), a Committee comprising a number of political parties and civil right organizations in Colombo, in press release issued Friday said, nine Tamils have been killed and thirty-three have disappeared in the last few weeks in Colombo. The release added that nine persons have been released after paying ransom.
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Tamil fisherman shot dead in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 October 2006, 22:03 GMT]
Unidentified persons shot dead a Tamil fisherman of Division No: 10 of Trincomalee town Thursday afternoon around 2:30 while fishing in Back Bay Sea. The victim has been identified as Rajagopal Karunakaran.
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SLMM inspects scene of STF Amparai offensive

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 October 2006, 09:45 GMT]
Edward and Bjørn Kjelsaas, officers of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), accompanied by Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Amparai District Political Head S. Jeya, inspected the destroyed houses and properties by STF artillery shelling, and spoke with the affected civilians Tuesday morning around 11:30 a.m., sources in Amparai said. Earlier, Mr Jeya, had briefed the SLMM at the LTTE political office on the Thursday's pre-dawn offensive of the Sri Lankan Special Task Force (STF) into Liberation Tigers territory in Kanchikudicharu.


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29 reported missing in Colombo - Civil Monitoring Committee

[TamilNet, Saturday, 14 October 2006, 08:33 GMT]
The Civil Monitoring Committee (CMC), formed recently in Colombo by involved Tamil and Sinhala politicians, to monitor extra judicial killings, abductions and disappearances, based on the records registered so far, reported Friday that 29 persons were still missing in Colombo. Six persons were reported killed. Eight persons were released, according to the list compiled from the details become public and from the people who are willing to talk.
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Rajapakse-Wickremasinghe MoU to be signed late October

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 October 2006, 11:53 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse and leader of the main opposition United National Party (UNP), Ranil Wickremasinghe, Thursday met and discussed in detail regarding the implementation of six point programme agreed upon by the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), main constituent of the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) and the UNP following four rounds of talks, political sources in Colombo said.
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Kidnappers release Eastern Campus Dean

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 October 2006, 00:15 GMT]
The kidnapped Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Culture, Eastern University of Sri Lanka (EUSL), Dr Bala Sugumar, was released by the kidnappers on Tuesday midnight in Batticaloa, near his home, after he was held captive for ten days, family sources said.
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Karuna group member shot dead in Akaraipattu

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 October 2006, 11:22 GMT]
An unknown armed youth riding a motorbike shot dead a member of the Karuna paramilitary group Tuesday around 10:30 a.m at Akaraipattu in Amparai district, said Akkaraipattu police. Akkaraipattu district Magistrate Mr. T. L. A. Manab visited the scene to conduct inquest into death, and ordered the police to hand over the dead body to the relatives after post-mortem examinations.


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20 youths abducted in 2 days in Amparai

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 October 2006, 05:22 GMT]
More than 20 Tamil youths were reported abducted in Akkaraippattu and Thirukkovil area in Amparai district by unidentified armed gang traveling in white vans on Sunday and Monday, civil society sources said. Relatives of abducted filed four complaints, two in Akkaraippattu and two in Thirukkovil, sources added.
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SLFP, UNP hold third round of talks

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 October 2006, 11:30 GMT]
Third round of talks between the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), main constituent of the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) and the main opposition United National Party (UNP) were held in the Jayewardenepura parliamentary complex Tuesday morning, political sources in Colombo said. Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake led the SLFP delegation and Karu Jayasuriya, Deputy Leader of UNP led the UNP team.
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