SLA, LTTE exchange rocket fire in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Sunday, 24 September 2006, 13:47 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers and Liberation Tigers exchanged rocket fire in the eastern Batticaloa at 4:30 a.m. Sunday lasting twon hours, LTTE sources in Batticaloa said. Fighting broke out when Sri Lankan government troops attempted to move from Pulipainthakal Bridge in Kiran, through Tharavai Road, into areas held by the Liberation Tigers.
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Paramilitary white van squad abducts 3 youths in Santhiveli, Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 September 2006, 15:13 GMT]
Paramilitary armed men arriving in a white van abducted three youths in Santhiveli, falling under Eravur police division in Batticaloa on Monday around 7 p.m. When the mothers of the three abductees went and enquired at the Karuna group paramilitary camp in Maruthangala, Welikanda in Batticaloa, they were told the youths were brought in to carry out some work and the parents were asked to go away.
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Rajapakse wants protests postponed, Tamil doctor abducted in Colombo

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 September 2006, 01:49 GMT]
A protest shut-down, scheduled to be held Tuesday against the recent abductions of Tamil civilians and businessmen in Colombo, organised by representatives from seven political parties, was called off Monday following Rajapakse government's "requests", during the weekend, urging the organisors to postpone the shut-down, informed political circles in Colomb said. Meanwhile, a Tamil medical doctor and owner of three medical businesses in Colombo, was allegedly abducted in his car in Maradana in Colombo Monday.
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SLFP, UNP committees meet to work out common agenda

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 September 2006, 12:56 GMT]
The first meeting of the two committees appointed by the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), main constituent of the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government and the main opposition United National Party (UNP) was held Friday morning at the parliamentary complex located in Jayawardhanapura in Colombo to work out a common national agenda on seven prioritized areas with the ethnic conflict being the most important, political sources said.
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Tamil civilian shot dead in Valaichchenai

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 September 2006, 10:13 GMT]
Unidentified men shot dead a Tamil civilian Thursday night around 10:35 p.m. at Karuwakerni in Valaichchenai police division in Batticaloa district. The victim has been identified as Niranjan Vasantharajah, 28 and a father of two children, police sources said.
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Paramilitary group member shot dead in Chenkalady

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 September 2006, 09:54 GMT]
Unidentified armed person Friday morning around 7:00 a.m. shot dead a member of Karuna paramilitary group at Chenkalady near Kommathurai SLA camp in Eravur police division in Batticaloa district. The victim has been identified as Samithambi Thirumal, 28, police sources said.
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'White Van' squad abducts 8 civilans in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 11 September 2006, 18:28 GMT]
Eight civilians, including 2 young women were abducted in Jaffna by unidentified armed persons in white van, in five separate incidents, during the last 24 hours, ending at 6 p.m., Monday. Meanwhile, Surenthiraraja, the coordinator of Human Rights Commission in Jaffna Monday said that 67 persons were reported "disappeared" in August alone.
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Paramilitary cadre injured in internal squabble

[TamilNet, Monday, 11 September 2006, 11:03 GMT]
A member of the Karuna paramilitary group fired at another paramilitary cadre seriously injuring him after an argument near Alankulam in Vaharai division in Batticaloa district on Sunday night around 9.30 p.m, sources in Batticaloa said. The injured member P.Sinnan, 28, of Mankerni was admitted to the Pollonaruwa hospital, Valaichchenai Police sources said.
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STF offensive in Amparai thwarted - LTTE

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 September 2006, 15:32 GMT]
An offensive launched by the Sri Lanka Special Task Force (STF) troopers Wednesday morning from Kanjirankudah STF camp in Amparai district towards the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) controlled Kanchikudicharu area, was repulsed by the Tigers, said LTTE's Military Spokesman I. Ilanthirayan. According to medical sources in Amparai, at least 18 STF and paramilitary men were killed, and more than 25 wounded in the STF offensive.
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3 Tamil civilians shot dead in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Monday, 04 September 2006, 06:55 GMT]
Paramilitary gunmen attached to the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) located in Valaichenai fisheries harbour, rounded up Pethalai and Pattiyadichenai in Valaichchenai-Kalkudah police division in Batticaloa district shot and killed three Tamil civilians in the area between 7 and 9:30 p.m. Sunday.
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‘Coordinated, deliberate’ SLA campaign in LTTE areas - SLMM

[TamilNet, Friday, 01 September 2006, 14:05 GMT]
Amid the furore triggered by international truce monitors’ findings that Sri Lankan security forces carried out the massacre of 17 aid workers, other conclusions by the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) lost focus, including the charge the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) carried out “deliberate, planned and coordinated offensive military operations” against LTTE cadres and civilians in LTTE-controlled areas from April 1, weeks after Norwegian facilitated talks in Geneva to de-escalate rising violence.
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Abducted youth being trained in Polannaruwa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 August 2006, 11:05 GMT]
A number of youths from Amparai district abducted by Army-backed anti-LTTE paramilitaries are undergoing weapons training at military bases in Polannaruwa District, LTTE officials who met with the United Nations’ child agency, UNICEF, said this week. Many youth had been brazenly picked up by unmarked ‘white vans’ in Army-controlled parts of the eastern districts, they said, urging UNICEF to visit the training sites.
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Paramilitary detonates explosive laden motorbike with teenager - LTTE

[TamilNet, Friday, 25 August 2006, 11:01 GMT]
Paramilitary cadres operated by the Sri Lanka Army in Batticaloa district, sent a 19-year-old boy in a motorbike with explosives towards the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Forward Defence Line (FDL) and detonated the bike Thursday around 1:00 p.m., said LTTE's Batticaloa District Political Head P. Daya Mohan.
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Karuna Group child recruits, government links worry HRW

[TamilNet, Friday, 25 August 2006, 08:41 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s government was colluding in the recruitment of children by anti-Tamil Tiger paramilitary groups, Human Rights Watch said Thursday. Warning that the links between the Karuna Group and the government “seem to be very clear,” HRW senior legal adviser James Ross said a new worry for HRW was the abduction of children by the Karuna Group. Ross also condemned the LTTE for recruiting fighters under the age of 18 – a practice the LTTE says has ceased.
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Catholic priest reported missing in Allaipiddy, Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 August 2006, 13:17 GMT]
Rev.Fr. Thiruchelvam Nihal Jim Brown, Age 34, Parish Priest Allaippiddy, Jaffna is reported missing since 20 August 2006, according to a news release issued by the NorthEast Secretariat of Human Rights.
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Policemen guarding Karuna group office injured in friendly fire

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 August 2006, 21:05 GMT]
Two policemen guarding the Batticaloa office of paramilitary Karuna group were injured when the gun of a fellow policeman went off accidentally, around 12:15 p.m., Sunday. Both policemen were immediately admitted at the Batticaloa Teaching Hospital.
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Valaichenai civilian shot dead, body of youth found in Kallady

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 August 2006, 07:58 GMT]
Unidentified gunmen Friday night around 8.45 p.m. shot dead a Tamil civilian at Vinayagapuram in Valaichchenai police division about 32 km off north of Batticaloa town. The victim has been identified as Poopalapillai Koneswaran, 45, a father of four children. Meanwhile, a multilated body with stab wounds in the neck and abdomen was found in near clock tower Saturday at 6:00 a.m in Kallady, Batticaloa by kattankudy police division, police sources said.
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Tamil Nadu Chief Minister condemns Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Thursday, 17 August 2006, 15:42 GMT]
Kalaignar M Karunanidhi, the Chief Minister (CM) of the southern Tamil Nadu state of India, has condemned the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombing in Vallipunam in Mullaithivu district in NorthEast Sri Lanka, where tens of schoolgirls were killed and more than 100 wounded Monday. Describing the SLAF air-strike as an "atrocious and inhumane act", the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu state, home to 60 million Tamils in India, has urged the Prime Minister of India, Manmohan Singh, to request the Sri Lankan government to hold talks to settle the issue peacefully and stop killing innocent Tamils.
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Pandemonium at Colombo peace rally

[TamilNet, Thursday, 17 August 2006, 12:18 GMT]
There was pandemonium in the peace rally organized by the National Anti-War Front (NAWF) held Thursday evening at Viharamahadevi Park when a group of members of the Sinhala extreme National Bhikku Front (NBF) arrived at the site carrying a banner asking the organizers of the NAWF to proceed to Killinochchi to preach peace.
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March for Peace campaign to be held in Colombo

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 August 2006, 19:21 GMT]
A broad coalition of people against violence and war is to participate in a "March for Peace," organized by the National Anti-war Front (NAWF), that will begin at Hyde Park in Colombo at 2:00 p.m. Thursday, culminating in a peace rally at the Viharamahadevi open Air Theatre at 3.00 p.m, said a press release issued by the NAWF Chairman, Dr Kumar Rupesinghe.
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