Hospitals, ambulances hit by shelling, hundreds killed - ICRC

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 January 2009, 10:20 GMT]
"Hundreds of people have been killed and scores of wounded are overwhelming understaffed and ill-equipped medical facilities in Sri Lanka's northern Vanni region," said the ICRC. hospitals and ambulances have been hit by shelling and several aid workers have been injured while evacuating the wounded. "The violence is preventing the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) from operating in the region," said Jacques de Maio, ICRC head of operations for South Asia in Geneva.
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Protest fast in Jaffna against Vanni killings, displacements

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 January 2009, 09:19 GMT]
More than 400 persons including Jaffna Bishop, Rt. Rev. Thomas Saundaranayagam, former Bishop of Church of South India, Catholic priests and nuns took part Wednesday morning in a protest fast, urging Sri Lanka government to stop the artillery barrage and aerial bombardment on Vanni civilians and to bring an end to their continuing displacements, sources in Jaffna said. The protest held in front of St. Mary’s Church in Jaffna began around 9:00 a.m. Meanwhile, a Sri Lanka Army (SLA) commander, who unexpectedly came and sat for about 15 minutes along with the protestors, told that Buddhist Sinhala Chauvinists are the primary cause of the current problem before leaving, the sources added.
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Tamil leaders label Pranab visit futile

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 January 2009, 07:32 GMT]
Frontline leaders in Tamil Nadu, including Dr.S.Ramadoss, Vaiko and Thirumavalavan have expressed their disappointment that Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee never pressed for an immediate ceasefire when he met Sri Lankan President Rajapaksa during his emergency visit to Colombo Tuesday night.
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3 Tamil youths arrested in Kandy

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 January 2009, 19:00 GMT]
Three Tamil youths from Mullativu and Visvamadu were arrested in a cordon and search operation conducted in Kandy town Monday evening, police sources said. The youths are being detained in the Kandy police station and are being further interrogated.
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2 Tamil civilians reported missing in Colombo

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 January 2009, 18:42 GMT]
Two Tamil civilians residing in Colombo have been reported disappeared since January 11 with the van they were traveling, according to complaints lodged with the Kotahena and Borella police by their wives on Monday.
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Norwegian Tamils appeal for urgent action from Norway

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 January 2009, 17:47 GMT]
Nearly four hundred Norwegian Tamils gathered Tuesday between 7:30 a.m and 10.00 a.m in front of Norwegian Foreign Ministry in Oslo and appealed to Norway to condemn the Sri Lanka government's killing of innocent Tamil civilians in Vanni, sources in Oslo said.
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Abducted Muslim trader released in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 January 2009, 16:23 GMT]
The Muslim trader alleged to have been abducted by unknown Muslim armed men Sunday noon in Kaaththaankudi police division in Batticaloa district was released Monday night with his eyes bound and subjected to severe assault, Kaaththaankudi police said.
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300,000 civilians face hunger, Colombo, abettors re-enact African scene in South Asia

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 January 2009, 16:10 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has instructed UN and World Food Programme officials to keep away from 'safety zone,' which has been subjected to continuous inhuman artillery barrage, denying civilians any meaningful space of refuge, said the latest reports from the offices of the Regional Director of Health Services (RDHS) for Ki'linochchi and Mullaiththeevu. 300,000 Tamils are denied of even drinking water and are facing hunger, the reports say. "Completely given up by the International Community, the civilians are left to face the fate at the hands of their genocidal killers. Indications are that they would rather choose to die starving rather than getting caught by Colombo's army of predators," said a medical staff at Udaiyaarkaddu hospital.
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Jaffna Catholic priests protest against Vanni killings, displacements

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 January 2009, 13:05 GMT]
Members and bishops from Jaffna Catholic diocese led by Jaffna Bishop, Rt. Rev. Thomas Saundaranayagam, will launch a protest fast from Wednesday in St. Mary’s Church also known as ‘Periya Koayil’ in Jaffna, urging Sri Lanka government to stop artillery and aerial bombardment on Vanni civilians, and to bring an end to their continuing displacements, according to an announcement issued from Bishop’s House. The protest fast will begin at 9:00 a.m Wednesday and end at 3:00 p.m, and will continue on a rotational basis.
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TNA calls for shut down in North, East of Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 January 2009, 12:31 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) called upon the people in the North and East of Sri Lanka to observe a general shut down on Friday, the 30th of January, to protest against the killing of Tamil civilians by Sri Lanka armed forces. Several hundreds of Internally Displaced People (IDPs) assembled within the Colombo designated "safety zone" have died in the last four days from artillery and air strikes by Sri Lanka military.
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Tamil Nadu needs to forge an Eezham front

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 January 2009, 11:46 GMT]
It is time that like-minded political parties, civil groups, social activists, student organizations and cultural institutions of Tamil Nadu jointly forge a mass movement under one umbrella and aim to achieve independence and sovereignty for Eezham Tamils, urged a large number of mails received by TamilNet from India, Eezham and the Tamil diaspora all over the world in the last ten days in response to the call of TamilNet for opinion. "The front should face the forthcoming elections in Tamil Nadu on the question of achieving an independent and sovereign nation state for Eezham Tamils, in no uncertain terms, and get the mandate from the people", the mails further urged.
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No humanitarian supplies from UN, WFP, say TRO officials

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 January 2009, 11:34 GMT]
The World Food Programme (WFP) officials responsible for the food supply to civilians in Vanni and UN officials who were in the Chunthanthirapuram food station, the only station for delivering food supplies, are yet to resume humanitarian supplies to the thousands of civilians who are without any supplies, a Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) official told TamilNet from Chuthanthirapuram. The WFP and UN officials fled the 'safety zone' after the artillery barrage by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA). Now, they are staying in Puthukkudiyiruppu (PTK), according to the instructions by the SLA, the TRO officials further said.
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Norway breaks silence, condemns war

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 January 2009, 10:21 GMT]
The Norwegian Foreign Minister, Jonas Gahr Støre, in a statement issued on Tuesday said his government condemned the ongoing war in Sri Lanka, which has caused "unacceptable sufferings to the civilians," in the country. Meanwhile, International Development Minister Erik Solheim has called on the parties stressing that all the people in conflict area should be able to move freely and that the civilians who flee the war must be assured a dignified and respectful treatment under the supervision and monitoring of UN and international observers. "The sick and the wounded must be given access for treatment and ambulances must be able to travel unhindered, in and out of the conflict area," Mr. Solheim has demanded.
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Dead bodies decomposed beyond identification - medical authorities

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 January 2009, 09:06 GMT]
Initial reports emerging from Udaiyaarkaddu hospital as the ICRC representatives came out of their bunkers and started helping the medical authorities said that many dead bodies of civilians that were not buried so far have become decomposed beyond identification. 3 shells exploded near the hospital as late as 1:40 p.m. Tuesday. There have been 2 fresh killings in artillery fire and at least 8 wounded were brought in Tuesday's shelling. There has been no sign of additional medical help coming into the region, the officials said.
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Students in Chennai protest against alleged Indian military aid to Colombo

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 January 2009, 07:00 GMT]
Tamil Nadu Police arrested a group of students in front of Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly Tuesday while they were attempting to protest against what they alleged as an attempt by the Indian Government to export battle-tanks to the Sri Lankan military, reacting to reports and photographs that have appeared in a largest selling Tamil daily (Erode edition of Dianthanthi). Meanwhle, Tamil political leaders in Tamil Nadu, when contacted by TamilNet said that they were investigating the veracity of the claim that tanks photographed at Erode were destined for the Colombo government.
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9 Tamil youths arrested, security tightened in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 January 2009, 04:37 GMT]
Nine Tamil youths were taken into custody by the Sri Lanka Police in Trincomalee town on Friday on suspicion that they had been active cadres of LTTE. They youths are being detained in Trincomalee police station and are being subjected to severe interrogation by the Terrorist Intelligence Division (TID), sources said.
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Targeting civilians in safety zone, premeditated war crime of Colombo - Nadesan

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 January 2009, 20:12 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) Political Head B. Nadesan, Monday night told TamilNet that Colombo has committed a grave war crime by asking civilians and their facilities, including the ICRC, to move inside a 'safety zone,' without any shelter or infrastructure support and then by subjecting them to inhumane artillery barrage, killing hundreds and causing injuries to more than one thousand.
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'Biased UN official misleads humanity, safely sitting in Colombo' - Vanni journalist

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 January 2009, 17:59 GMT]
The UN spokesman in Colombo, Gordon Weiss, reported by AFP put the number of dead civilians inside safety zone on Monday only at ten, adding that he could not say who was responsible for the civilian casualties. “ We don’t know where the firing came from”, AFP quoted him saying. The UN, which has a universal franchise to intervene on behalf of civilians trapped in war has not only forfeited all its rights, including the right to monitor what is happening, to the genocidal government of Colombo, but also comes out with blatant lies aimed at protecting the perpetrator of war crime, accused Mr. Ravi, a journalist in Vanni.
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TNA seeks IC to stop carnage, urges medical help to victims

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 January 2009, 15:47 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) in an urgent press statement has called upon the international community to use all its influence with the Sri Lankan State to bring an immediate end to the massacre of these Tamil civilians. The TNA further appeals that the international community intervenes to secure immediate medical supplies and medical personnel to be sent to treat the affected civilians.
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More than 300 civilians feared killed, people bleed to death on streets

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 January 2009, 15:30 GMT]
In a scene of carnage of untold proportion on civilian targets hit by hundreds of Sri Lanka Army fired artillery shells, more than 300 people have died and several hundreds are bleeding to death within the last 24 hours, amidst pouring rain inside the 'saftey zone' declared by the Colombo government. Houses and vehicles burn for a stretch of three km between Va’l’lipunam Kaa’li temple and Moongkilaa’ru towards Paranthan road, reports from Vanni said on Monday. Unattended bodies and injured people unable to move are lying around everywhere, while a remaining doctor fled and helpless ICRC officials virtually cried at the scene from their bunkers, TamilNet correspondent said.
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