Paramilitaries abduct 35 children in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Friday, 07 July 2006, 12:07 GMT]
Paramilitary cadres, Thursday abducted more than 35 underage youths from the villages of Thivuchenai, Karuppalai, Sorivil and Sevanapitty in Batticaloa district, residents said. Parents of the abducted children, gripped by fear and insecurity, are afraid to make complaints to the police or human rights watchdogs, a Grama Sevaka official said. Tension prevails in the interior villages of Batticaloa district.
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SLMM Trinco head meets Elilan in Sampoor

[TamilNet, Friday, 07 July 2006, 11:09 GMT]
Mr.Ove Janssen, head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) in Trincomalee Friday morning met with Mr.S.Elilan, Trincomalee district political head, LTTE sources in Trincomalee said. The meeting was arranged to discuss the current ground security situation in the district with the SLMM and to brief the SLMM about the difficulties faced by Tamil civilians in Muttur east, LTTE sources said. The meeting was held in the LTTE district political secretariat located in Sampoor in the Muttur east.
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Gunmen hijack auto-rickshaw in Valaichenai, driver shot, wounded

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 July 2006, 12:28 GMT]
Unidentified gunmen hijacked a three-wheeler Sunday around 12:30 p.m. near Valaichenai Railway station, 28 km north of Batticaloa town, Police said. The driver of the vehicle, shot and wounded by the gunmen, was rushed to Valaichenai hospital and transferred to Batticaloa hospital for further treatment, medical sources said.
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TRO worker abducted in Valaichchenai

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 July 2006, 08:05 GMT]
Krishnapillai Kamalanathan, an official of the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) was abducted by members of the Karuna paramilitary group at Valaichchenai, about 30 km. north of Batticaloa, around 10.30 a.m., Sunday. Krishnapillai has been working as a child protection officer of the TRO, Vakarai division.
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Media Institute opens in Kilinochchi

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 July 2006, 04:54 GMT]
"Today is a historic and joyous day marking an important milestone in the development of our national infrastructure as we inaugurate educational activities in the new Tamil Media Educational Institute. Our national leader's deep desire and dream has finally been realized," said Head of LTTE's Political Wing, S.P. Thamilchelvan speaking at the opening ceremony of the Media Institute in Killinochchi at 9:00 a.m., Saturday, sources in Kilinochchi said.
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9 Tamil engineering undergrads arrested by Moratuwa Police

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 June 2006, 01:15 GMT]
Nine Tamil students from Jaffna, following undergraduate course in engineering at the Moratuwa campus, have been arrested by Moratuwa Police, and are being detained at the Police station from Tuesday afternoon. Police officers did not disclose the reason for the arrests, sources said.
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SLA soldier shot, injured in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 June 2006, 17:00 GMT]
Unidentified gunmen shot and injured a Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldier in Saththukondan, Batticaloa-Trincomalee road at 7:40 a.m., Wednesday near the Saththurukundan SLA camp, security sources said.
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Rajapakse will disarm Karuna if LTTE accepts direct peace deal- paper

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 June 2006, 12:50 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse has intimated to the editor of Jaffna daily Uthayan, N. Vithyatharan, to exchange messages with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to strike a deal for starting direct talks with the LTTE, with the intention of bypassing the facilitation of Royal Government of Norway, a leading broadsheet in Colombo, Sunday Leader said in its latest edition. Mr Rajapakse had said that he will disarm Karuna Group if his proposed two week peace-deal is accepted by the LTTE, the paper said.
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RAW aiding paramilitary recruitment in India - report

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 June 2006, 01:15 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s Army-backed Tamil paramilitaries are seeking recruits amongst Tamil refugees in Tamil Nadu, offering hefty salaries, an Indian news agency reported this week. The Eelam National Democratic Liberation Front (ENDLF), an India-based paramilitary group now operating in an anti-LTTE grouping under the Karuna Group, is seeking recruits from refugee camps and orphanages in southern India, an Indian website reported, citing local press reports. The recruitment is being conducted with the knowledge of India’s external intelligence agency, RAW (Research and Analysis Wing), the report added.
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UNICEF calls for halt to child recruitment by Karuna Group

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 June 2006, 11:27 GMT]
Following reports from the field in the past week of abductions and forced recruitment of children in the areas of Santhiveli, Kiran, Mankerni, Valaichchenai and Iruthayapuram in Manmunai North, the UNICEF, in a press release issued Thursday, condemned the abductions, and called for an immediate halt to the recruitment of children by Karuna Group.


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New medical faculty established for Eastern University

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 June 2006, 00:08 GMT]
The first batch of medical students for the newly opened medical faculty, the seventh in the island, at the Eastern University was welcomed in a ceremony held at 9:00 a.m. on Monday 19th June at Kallady in Batticaloa, administrative officials of the university said. The Vice-Chancellor of the Eastern University Dr. S. Ravindranath welcoming the new students said, “This new Faculty of Health-Care Sciences, will benefit a million people living in the eastern province extending from Mullaitivu to Pottuvil."
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Paramilitary cadres abduct Batticaloa youth

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 June 2006, 00:23 GMT]
A group of men driving a white van abducted Thayaparan Subaraj, 18, of Thalankuda in Puthukudiyiruppu in the Batticaloa Kattankudi police division at 5:00 p.m. Tuesday, Kattankudi police said. Local witnesses said the abductors were paramilitaries belonging to Karuna group.
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Tamil businessman shot dead in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 June 2006, 16:40 GMT]
Two armed men who came in a motorbike entered a crowded liquor restaurant in Kommathurai, 16 km northwest of Batticaloa, shot and killed the business owner, Iyathurai Nirmalakumaran, 55, Tuesday around 7:00 p.m., Eravur Police said. The killers were Karuna Group paramilitary cadres, who had been demanding money from the businessman, according to civilian sources in Kommathurai.
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STF, paramilitary attack on LTTE office repulsed - LTTE

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 June 2006, 14:49 GMT]
Special Task Force (STF), the elite counter insurgency arm of the Sri Lankan forces and paramilitary cadres launched an attack on the Political office of the Liberation Tigers, located in Pavatta, in the interior west of Thirukkovil in Amparai district, Sunday around 2:15 a.m. during the night. The Tigers repulsed the STF and paramilitary cadres, according to Amparai District LTTE Political Head, Jeya. Truce monitors are yet to visit the attack site. Paramilitary cadres brought in 2 lorries are still moving around in the STF controlled area, according to the residents.
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Paramilitary group abducts Muslims, demands ransom

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 June 2006, 14:02 GMT]
11 Muslim dairy farm workers out of a group of 18, going out to work from the Muslim village of Thambalai, were abducted Saturday by the Karuna paramilitary group on Pollonaruwa-Sunkavil road, 10 k.m. east of Pollonaruwa. The abductees were being held in the close by jungles of Sinnavil, with ransom demands of 1 million rupees, relatives of the farm workers said. Thambalai villagers have managed to collect 100,000 rupees, and paid the abductors who then released 5 farm workers, and demanded 500,000 rupees for the release of the remaining 4.
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Paramilitary Karuna Group abducts 125 children in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Thursday, 15 June 2006, 06:30 GMT]
More than 125 underage youths have been abducted by paramilitary Karuna Group in Sri Lanka Army and paramilitry launched cordon and search operations since Tuesday in Batticaloa district. SLA arrested youths were handed over to paramilitary cadres and the paramilitary cadres were allowed to enter houses, beat up the underage youths and to abduct them for training. More than 75 youths were abducted in Valaichenai area, 27 youths were abducted in a cordon and search operation Thursday morning in Kiran. Another 23 youths were abducted at Santhiveli.
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SLA interrogates 300, detains one youth in Valaichenai round-up

[TamilNet, Monday, 12 June 2006, 10:40 GMT]
A 26-year old youth has been detained by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers during a cordon and search operation conducted by the SLA and Sri Lanka Police in the villages of Vinayagapuram, Pandimadu, Kalmadu and Kannankiramam in Valaichenai Police division at 5:30 A.m. Monday morning, police sources in Valaichenai said.
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Impromptu rally as UK hunger strike ends

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 June 2006, 09:08 GMT]
Almost a thousand Tamils gathered in front of Britain’s Houses of Parliament as Thaya Idaikader, who had been staging a hunger strike since midday Friday prepared to end it, after his scheduled 101 hours. Begun as a one-man protest against the international community’s refusal to compel Sri Lanka’s government to halt atrocities against Tamil civilians, Idaikader’s protest struck a chord with the wider Tamil community in Britain and in many other Diaspora centres around the world.
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Transport Board worker gunned down in Batticaloa, one wounded

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 June 2006, 16:00 GMT]
Unknown gunmen riding in a motorbike shot and killed a Sri Lanka Transport Board (CTB/SLTB) worker and wounded another youth, who were standing outside Valaichenai bus stand, Saturday around 7:45 pm., Valaichenai Police said.
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SLA soldier killed in Manalaru

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 June 2006, 15:43 GMT]
A Sri Lanka Army soldier was killed and another injured in a Claymore mine attack while they were returning to their camp after a road clearing mission at Kokkuthoduvai in Manalaru (Weli Oya in Sinhala) on Saturday 12.30 p.m., military sources in Colombo said.
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