Large scale search in Colombo, several taken into custody

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 December 2008, 12:14 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA), Sri Lanka Police and Special Task Force (STF) Thursday and Friday conducted cordon and search operations covering Muhathuwaaram, Kotahena, Wellawatte, Rajagiriya, Dehiwala, Kohuwela and Nugegoda in the western province. Several civilians, majority of them Tamil upcountry residents, were taken into custody. Police headquarters did not reveal till Friday evening the number of civilians under custody, civil sources said.
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19 Tamils arrested in Gampaha

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 December 2008, 10:13 GMT]
Nineteen Tamil civilians were taken into custody in cordon and search operations conducted from Friday morning for several hours in parts of Gampaha town in the Western province by the Sri Lanka Army and Sri Lanka Police with the assistance home guards units. Police said the arrested are being detained in police stations to ascertain their identity as they failed to provide the national identity cards and other legal documents.
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Second Tamil youth shot dead in Moneragala

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 December 2008, 09:13 GMT]
Unidentified armed men shot dead a young Tamil trader in a rubber estate located in Paalaaru in Buttala in Moneragala district Wednesday night. He was the second Tamil youth shot dead by unidentified men in Moneragala district within two days, civil sources said.
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Jaffna residents asked to shun Sri Lanka Govt organized tamashas

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 December 2008, 03:03 GMT]
In a fax message sent to the media in Jaffna peninsula Friday night, an organization calling itself Ellaa’lan Force, requested the residents of Jaffna peninsula to shun 'carnival' type events organized in Jaffna by the Government of Sri Lanka. "These events, organized to reinforce a preception of prevailing normality, are mainly used as a cover to avoid international spotlight on the killing of Tamils," the message said, according to sources in Jaffna.
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Boston Globe: Grant Tamils autonomy in homelands

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 December 2008, 22:51 GMT]
Boston Globe in an editorial published today warned that Sri Lanka’s military campaign will only produce “new phase of protracted guerrilla warfare,” and that lasting peace is possible only when Sri Lanka's government “grant[s] the Tamils meaningful autonomy in their homelands.” The paper also asserted a cautionary note to the Sri Lanka Government that “[e]thnic or nationalistic pride should not be allowed to inflict such suffering on civilians who committed no crime but to be trapped in a war zone.”
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SLA strengthens security measures in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 December 2008, 15:47 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Jaffna strengthened security arrangements in and around Jaffna town Friday due to the presence of V. Anandasangari, the leader of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) and Minister Douglas Devananda in Jaffna and in view of the Industrial Exhibition that is to take place in Jaffna town from Saturday until Monday, organized by Government Commercial sector in Colombo, sources in Jaffna said.
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Tamil laborer shot dead in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 December 2008, 16:16 GMT]
Unidentified armed men shot dead Tuesday night a Tamil laborer working in the Vavuniyaa police station when he was returning home in Thonnikal in Vavuniyaa division after duty. His body was recovered from Ukkulangkulam junction blindfolded and hands tied from behind with gunshot injuries in his head, sources said.
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Sri Lanka Police arrest 3 Tamil women in Kandy

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 December 2008, 16:10 GMT]
Teldeniya Magistrate in Kandy district Wednesday ordered remand till December 30 for three Tamil women who were arrested during a cordon and search operation conducted in Wattegama division Tuesday, police sources said. The arrested women are residents of Verugal in Trincomalee district and had been traveling in a three-wheeler to Kandy town.
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Tamil trader shot dead in Buttala

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 December 2008, 13:06 GMT]
Unidentified armed men arriving in a motorbike shot dead a young Tamil trader in Buttala in Moneragala district Monday night. The assassins shot the trader while the victim was inside his shop and fled from the scene, according to sources in Buttala.
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STF abducts 2 Tamil civilians in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 December 2008, 10:59 GMT]
Sri Lanka Special Task Force (STF) commandos abducted two family men who passed through their camp at Pearatheevu in Ka’lavaangchikuddi police division in Batticaloa district Saturday as they were returning from Ka’luvaangchikudi hospital to their homes in Thumpangkea’ni in Paduvaankarai area, according to the victims' relatives.
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Heavy fighting erupts in Kugnchup-paranthan

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 December 2008, 08:14 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) fighting formations were engaged in a heavy fighting with the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Kugnchup-paranthan, where the SLA suffered a debacle a few weeks ago, according to initial reports from the area.
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Sri Lanka Air Force attacks convent in Vanni, deploys cluster bombs

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 December 2008, 07:40 GMT]
Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombed a convent named Holy Cross Convent, located on Paranthan Mullaiththevu Road, 600 meters away from Paranthan junction Tuesday night around 10:30 p.m., a day before Christmas. TamilNet correspondent who visited the site Wednesday morning witnessed that the attacked premises was marked with Red Cross on the roof. The nearby church also sustained damage. The SLAF deployed cluster munitions in the bombardment, residents who fled the site said. 85 cows of a herd a few meters away from the convent were killed in the attack.
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Colombo instructs Vanni GAs to refrain from requesting aid from UN Agencies, INGOs

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 December 2008, 05:55 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Commissioner General of Essential Services, S.B. Divaratne, in a letter issued to the Government Agents of Vavuniyaa, Mullaiththeevu and Ki'linochchi last month has instructed the GAs to refrain from making any requests for food and non food assistance from INGOs and UN Agencies. "All your requirements should be processed throgh the Commissioner General of Essential Services, even in the event of any urgent necessity," the letter states. The content of the letter, which is interpreted as a threat to the Tamil GAs, is also document of evidence for how a structural genocide is being inflicted upon the Tamil people, an official serving under one of the GAs told TamilNet.
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Tamil civilian reported missing in Colombo

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 December 2008, 05:48 GMT]
A 26-year-old Tamil civilian has been reported missing since he left home in Wellawatte to Fort in Colombo on business purpose on December 16, according to complaints lodged by his wife to the Wellawatte Police and human rights organizations.
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Weapons seized, fighting continues in Ki'linochchi - LTTE

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 December 2008, 14:45 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) officials in Vanni on Tuesday said there were one AK LMG, four Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG) Launchers, one Light Anti-Tank Weapon (LAW), five T-56 assault rifles among the arms seized in the clearing mission that followed Monday's clashes in Ki'linochchi. Fighting continues in Pulikku'lam and Kugnchupparanthan on Wednesday.
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Four seek humanitarian protection with HRC in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 December 2008, 12:29 GMT]
Four Tamil civilians in Jaffna have sought protection with the Human Rights Comission in Jaffna due to threats to their lives, especially after the worsening situation in Vara'ni in Thenmaraadchi following the recent abductions of two youths.
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Tamil civilian reported missing in Wellawatte

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 December 2008, 12:23 GMT]
Sinnakili Nimalakaran, 26, father of four month old child, has been reported missing since he left home in Wellawatte to Fort, Colombo, for business purposes on December 16, according to complaints lodged by his wife to the Wellawatte Police and human rights organizations.
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Hoodlums search, rob Tamil passengers in trains

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 December 2008, 02:30 GMT]
Incidents of Tamil passengers robbed by Sinhala gangs in trains running between Vavuniyaa, Trincomalee and Batticaloa, and Colombo have escalated at alarming rate, according to civil sources. Sinhala hoodlums enter trains when the trains stop at Ragama, Veyangoda, Maho and Anuradhapura stations, and subject Tamil passengers to search amid security provided by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and police, civil sources said.
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SLN arrests 29 civilians fleeing war, in Jaffna lagoon

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 December 2008, 17:23 GMT]
Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) arrested Sunday morning 29 civilians, fleeing Sri Lanka Army continuing artillery barrage, bombings and economic sanction, from Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) held Vadamaraadchi East, Iyakkachchi and Pa’lai, across Ki’laali lagoon, sources in Vadamaraadchi said. The boat, with a 6-month-infant children and pregnant women dared to cross the lagoon, was about to sink when the SLN arrested them, according to government sources.
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Muslim engineer’s house attacked in Kalmunai

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 December 2008, 14:44 GMT]
Unidentified armed men, who arrived at the house of Kalmunai Town Council Engineer in Chainthamaruthu in Klamunai lobbed grenade at his house and set fire to the vehicles parked inside the premises, Kalmunai police said. Meanwhile residents said that there had been difference of opinion between the engineer and paramilitary Karuna group regarding a new housing project launched a few days ago in Kalmumunai Tamil area in Ampaa'rai district.
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