14,000 Civilians displaced from Vaharai

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 December 2006, 00:37 GMT]
Nearly Fourteen thousand Tamil refugees have been displaced from LTTE-controlled Vaharai area in Batticaloa District towards the areas under the control of Sri Lankan Army (SLA), Koralai Pattu North (Vaharai), Regional secretariat sources reported on Sunday.
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Policeman shot dead in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 December 2006, 14:31 GMT]
An unidentified young man shot dead a policeman attached to Palameenmadu police station at Kurukalmadam in Kalavanchikudi police division in Batticaloa district Monday around 6:05 p.m, Kalavanchikudi police said. The assailant had followed the policeman and shot him while he was waiting for bus to report for duty, the police added.
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Under attack, Christians fear militant Buddhism

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 December 2006, 03:29 GMT]
Amid growing violence in Sri Lanka that Church leaders have likened to the 'killing fields' of Cambodia, Christians in the island are facing increased persecution from Buddhist extremists, Release International reported this week. Christians in Sri Lanka are appealing to the international community for help, RI which monitors persecution of churches around the world, said. Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) also says Christians in Sri Lankan are facing more intense persecution as mob violence becomes an increasingly visible trend in the country.
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Karunanidhi orders explosives probe amid Delhi’s denials

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 December 2006, 02:24 GMT]
After police in Tamil Nadu found a vehicle carrying a huge quantity of explosives meant for Sri Lanka, Chief Minister M Karunanidhi today ordered officials to ascertain whether any business house was exporting explosives without the Centre's knowledge. A Sri Lankan Government request for supplying the explosives, dated October 10, 2005, was carried by the vehicle's driver Ravi Verma, PTI said. According to the papers, the consignee for the explosives was a Sri Lanka naval base in Colombo.
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2 SLA troopers, 1 policeman injured in Chenkalady mortar attack

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 December 2006, 00:18 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Batticaloa said two of its troopers including a woman, and a policeman were injured in a Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) mortar attack launched Tuesday from 3:45 p.m until 4:15 p.m on its sentry post at the Black Bridge on the Chenkalady-Badula road leading into LTTE held region. Two mortar shells fell and exploded near the sentry post injuring the victims, the source added.
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Heavy fighting breaks out in Vaharai region

[TamilNet, Monday, 04 December 2006, 15:09 GMT]
Heavy fighting broke out between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and Sri Lanka Army (SLA) at Kattumurivu, located 5 km inside the LTTE controlled Vaharai region in Batticaloa district Monday morning around 10:00 a.m. The fighting continued amid heavy artillery and mortar shelling at 5:00 p.m.
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CSW voices concern over Christians in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Saturday, 02 December 2006, 03:12 GMT]
Citing violence agains Christian worshippers in Gampola, Gampaha, Kandy and Puttalam district, Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), a human rights organisation specialising in religious freedom, expressed concern over the safty of Christians in Sri Lanka. In a news item published in its website, the Organization urged the authorities in Sri Lanka to "ensure that all citizens have the opportunity to practice their chosen religion with out fear of harassment by mobs and urge all faith communities to show tolerance and respect for one another.”
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Mahinda Rajapakse leaves to India

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 November 2006, 15:54 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse left Saturday afternoon to India on a four day visit. Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse is scheduled to inaugurate the Asian Mayors Conference in Dehra Dun in Uttaranchal State in North India Sunday. Tamil mayors from Chennnai, Madurai, Tirunelveli, Saleem, Tiruchi and Coimbatore in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu will be boycotting the Asian Mayor's meeting, media reports in Tamil Nadu said.
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Two Police constables injured in Vavuniya claymore attack

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 November 2006, 12:00 GMT]
Two Sri Lanka Police constables were injured, one of them seriously, when unknown assailants triggered a claymore mine targetted at a Police road patrol in Poovarasankulam along Vavuniya-Mannar road at 7:40 a.m. Saturday, Vavuniya Police said.
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Tractor driver shot dead in Valaichenai

[TamilNet, Saturday, 11 November 2006, 14:31 GMT]
Three unidentified gunmen tookaway a tractor driver from his home for interrogation Friday around 8:00 p.m at Vinayagapuram Kalmadu road in Marutha Nagar in Valichenai, and later shot him dead near a refugee camp on the Vinayagapuram School road, Valaichenai police said.
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SLA intensifies deployment in Northern Front, curfew imposed

[TamilNet, Sunday, 29 October 2006, 05:59 GMT]
Amid reports of deployment of additional troops and military hardware in Northern Front, Sri Lanka Army, from Palaly military base, Sunday morning announced curfew in villages near Northern Front Forward Defence Line (FDLs). Meanwhile, Sri Lankan troopers engaged in a major training exercise throughout Saturday night in Palaly, Thondamanarau lagoon and Valalai area in Vadamaradchy sector of the Jaffna district. The SLA rehearsal comes following a sudden visit by Sri Lanka Army commander Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka to Palaly Saturday as Parties, the GoSL and LTTE delegations were engaged in talks in Geneva, Switzerland.


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Talks should address democracy, human rights, development- GoSL

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 October 2006, 12:43 GMT]
Expressing hopes that the talks will build the "required atmosphere and move the country forward to the realization of a just and honorable peace," Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva, in the opening speech on behalf of Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) Saturday morning said, GoSL's APC is "formulating a political and constitutional framework for the resolution of the national question." He said that despite provocations of the LTTE, GoSL is continuing the dialogue, and cautioned "LTTE not to consider GoSL's commitment to the peace process as a sign of weakness."
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Batticaloa cultivators protest against SLA ban

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 October 2006, 21:36 GMT]
Batticaloa cultivators demonstrated from 9:00 a.m to 12:00 noon Friday in front of Vantharumoolai Agricultural Productivity Centre demanding the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) lift the 2 month ban to take agricultural vehicles, implements, and fertilizer to their paddy lands in the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) held areas from Batti-Vallaichenai main road, civil society sources said.
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Fresh Sri Lankan offensive towards Vaharai repulsed - Ilanthirayan

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 October 2006, 09:41 GMT]
An offensive launched by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) towards Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) controlled Vaharai region in the East was repulsed by the Tigers Friday, according to LTTE Military Spokesman Irasiah Ilanthirayan, who was speaking to media from Geneva, Swtizerland.
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TNA appeals to UN: "GoSL uses Humanitarian crisis as tool of war"

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 October 2006, 06:36 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) consisting 22 out of the 23 Tamil members elected to Sri Lankan Parliament from the NorthEast, in an appeal to the United Nations High Commissioners for Human Rights and Refugees, said that the Government of Sri Lanka was using the humanitarian crisis as a tool of war. Detailing the humanitarian situation prevailing in all the districts of NorthEast, the TNA charged that the GoSL was engaged in a policy to drive the Tamil civilian population out of the Trincomalee District. The TNA's appeal to UN comes a day before the talks in Geneva.
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Abducted youth found dead in Earvur

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 October 2006, 15:52 GMT]
The body of a Tamil youth, abducted by unidentified armed men Wednesday at Santhanamadu in Sithandy area in Eravur police division in Batticaloa, was recovered with assault injuries at 4th Kurichchi, Nagathambiran Road in Sithandy Saturday morning around 9:00, by Eravur police, sources in Batticaloa said.
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Navalady families' tsunami woes continue

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 October 2006, 00:24 GMT]
Families of tsunami destroyed Navalady in Batticaloa District picketed in front of the offices of the Batticaloa Municipal Council, Manmunai North Regional Secretariat and Kacheri Planning Secretariat Wednesday at 10:00 a.m., demanding permanent housing, civil society sources in Batticaloa said. More than 250 families have been living with only basic facilities in make shift tents in Thiraimadu, Batticaloa for the past two years.


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Civilians turn to SLHRC for protection amid death threats

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 04 October 2006, 00:06 GMT]
More than 15 internally displaced families from Maduvil north in Thenmaradchchy complained that they have been receiving death threats from the Sri Lanka Army (SLA), and sought protection from the Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission (SLHRC) Jaffna office, civil society sources in Jaffna said Tuesday. IDPs say they fear for their lives if they return to their homes in Thenmaradchy without security guarantees, the IDPs said.
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ICRC hands over bodies of slain LTTE cadres

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 October 2006, 11:49 GMT]
Liberation Tigers Batticaloa District Commander Col. Ramesh, who had taken command recently, attended the funeral of three of the eleven Tiger cadres who were killed in an alleged Sri Lankan Special Task Force (STF) ambush inside the LTTE territory in Batticaloa. The bodies of the 11 Tiger cadres killed Saturday dawn in the counter-insurgency Special Task Force (STF) attack, were handed over to the Tigers by the Representatives of the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) Sunday around 3.30 p.m, according to Batticaloa District LTTE Deputy Political Head, S. Seeralan.
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Thileepan, Shankar commemorated in NorthEast

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 September 2006, 23:22 GMT]
The nineteenth death anniversary of Lt. Col. Thileepan, a political leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, who fasted unto death in 1987, and the fifth death anniversary of Col. Shankar, a senior commander and the founder of the Tiger air-wing, who was killed in a Sri Lankan Deep Penetration Unit triggered Claymore mine in Vanni in 2001, were commemorated in NorthEast on Tuesday. Hundreds of people took part in token fasts. Temple and church bells were rung at 10:48 a.m. The leader of the LTTE, Mr. V. Pirapaharan, paid homage to Thileepan and Shankar at a commemoration event.
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