Artillery barrage kills several civilians, dozens wounded within 24 hours

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 January 2009, 14:27 GMT]
At least 18 civilians have been confirmed killed within the last 24 hours till 3:00 p.m. Sunday in several villages of Mullaiththeevu district and the outer suburbs of Ki'linochchi district to the east of A9 highway. Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has stepped up artillery barrage continuously throughout the period, causing deaths and injuries to several. Dead bodies have been spotted in many places and transportation of wounded has been completely blocked due to the relentless artillery barrage. At least 42 civilians were wounded Sunday alone, according to available data. Medical authorities in Puthukkudiyiruppu express fear that the casualty figure could be much higher than what has been reported.
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Ramdoss exhorts Karunanidhi to urgent action in stopping Sri Lanka war

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 January 2009, 21:08 GMT]
Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) leader Dr S Ramadoss, who visited VCK leader Thol Thirumavalavan, now in his fourth day of a fast-unto-death over the humanitarian crisis imposed on Tamil civilians by Sri Lanka’s punitive bombardments, exhorted Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Kalaignar M. Karunanidhi to act urgently to invoke Indian intervention to stop the war. Emphatically refuting Mr. Karunanidhi's statement that the VCK leader had “unilaterally decided” to stage a protest fast without consulting the rest of the Tamil Nadu polity, Dr. Ramadoss said Thol Thirumavalavan, whose health is detoriarating, had consulted other leaders several times in the recent weeks.
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"Which norms of liberal democracy preclude IC attending to exodus, genocide?" asks IDP activist

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 January 2009, 03:52 GMT]
The LTTE doesn't obstruct or instruct the civilians of Vanni of what direction they have to take in fleeing the current phase of war. But, a large section of the civilians have considered that their security, even now, lies in the LTTE held areas in the eye of war, and are spontaneously moving towards that direction. "Allowing the war to continue, leaving Tamil civilians in the hands of the preying Sinhala army, which we dread, demonstrates only the cruelty of the few minds that determine the course of the war from outside of the island and how international norms evolved through civilisation have become a joke," said P. Kanakalingam, the president of Vanni People's Welfare Organisation (VPWO), on Thursday.
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Family man seeks protection, another reported missing, with Jaffna HRC

[TamilNet, Thursday, 15 January 2009, 15:53 GMT]
A father of four children and a carpenter by profession from Aanaikkoaddai in Valikaamam sought protection to his life with Human Rights Commission (HRC) Jaffna office as unidentified gunmen had tried to abduct him on 13 January from his residence during Sri Lanka Army (SLA) imposed curfew hours, according to the complaint lodged with HRC Thursday. Meanwhile, the wife of a three-wheeler driver registered a complaint with HRC Jaffna that her husband had gone missing since 30th October 2008 after leaving to Jaffna from Vavuniyaa.
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Doctors call for attack free zones surrounding displaced hospitals

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 13 January 2009, 23:45 GMT]
In a systematic well planned militarily and politically crucial campaign, the Sri Lankan Government directed military forces are pursuing attacks on densely populated areas east of the A9 in Vanni. Often in close proximity to relocated hospitals and camps of the fleeing population, its strategy seems to be one of aerial bombardment followed by immediate ground attacks, involving heavy artillery and mortar attacks that have caused increased civilian casualties. Above statistics and ground reports, echo a plea from government service doctors in Vanni, who have called for 'attack free zones' surrounding displaced hospitals.
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Pressure Colombo to stop attacking civilian targets, TRO appeals to India, UN, US

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 13 January 2009, 13:55 GMT]
In an urgent press released issued Monday, Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO), appealed to the Government of India, President-Elect Obama, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, and the international community, to pressure "the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) to cease attacks on civilian targets; allow unfettered humanitarian access to the Vanni by the UN and international NGOs; and to allow all necessary essential humanitarian assistance into the area."
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Ki'llinochchi woman arrested, in Uva Paranagama

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 13 January 2009, 10:41 GMT]
Uva Paranagama Police in Uva Province Monday early morning arrested a Tamil woman who is a resident of Ki'llinochchi. Police said she was taken into custody on receipt of information that she had been involved in Wattala suicide bomb blast that took place recently.
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SLA intensifies artillery attacks on civilian targets, hospital targeted

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 13 January 2009, 06:34 GMT]
Many civilians were wounded Tuesday morning when Sri Lanka Army (SLA) artillery guns targeted civilian settlements on all fronts of Vanni. A 38-year-old woman was killed and six wounded around 10:00 a.m., when Puthukkudiyiruppu hospital premises and its environs came under artillery fire. Meanwhile, four civilians, including 2 children of the same family, were killed in Visuvamadu. 2 more civilians were reported killed on Monday in Vaddakkachchi. More than 20 civilians have been wounded so far on Tuesday in the indiscriminate bombardment.
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Tamil diaspora calls off Pongkal, Vanni situation 'precarious'

[TamilNet, Monday, 12 January 2009, 08:45 GMT]
The representatives of Eezham Tamil diaspora organisations in Europe, Canada, Australia and the United States on Sunday said they were suspending all Pongkal celebrations as the situation of civilians in Vanni has reached intolerable limits. The announcement came as the Sri Lankan military was preparing for an all out war on densely populated territory in the northeast of Vanni. The diaspora representatives in a joint electronic message said it was "only the pressure from Tamil Nadu that could halt the genocidal onslaught on Tamils by the Sri Lankan armed forces on Tamils in Vanni."
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Civilian casualties increases 8 fold in Ki'linochchi district

[TamilNet, Monday, 12 January 2009, 00:54 GMT]
Ki'linochchi hospital, which was functioning in the town earlier has been moved closer to civilian centers, and is now functioning from Tharmapuram and two schools in Visuvamadu - at Visuvamadu Maha viththiyaalayam and Punnaineeraavi school - and in Kallaa'ru in Chu'ndikku'lam. The hospitals are functioning in difficult conditions and are overwhelmed with civilian casualties from the air strikes and artillery attacks. Only during the first week of January 2009 the hospitals belonging to Ki'linochchi district had to attend a number of casualties equaling that of 8 weeks during the months of November and December in 2008.
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12 wounded, SLA shells Puthukkudiyiruppu, Ka'ndaava'lai

[TamilNet, Sunday, 11 January 2009, 19:44 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) launched artillery fire on several fronts of densely populated Vanni throughout Sunday. Artillery shells exploded near Puthukkudyiruppu hospital, and the outskirts of Visuvamadu in Puthukkudiyiruppu division, Pu'liyampokka'nai in Ka'ndaava'lai and Vaddakkachchi in Karaichchi divisions of Ki'linochchi district. Several roads of Ki'linochchi and Mullaiththeevu districts were fully busy with vehicles and bicycles carrying the displacing civilians, despite the roads were being targeted by the artillery.
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SLA shells hit Health Secretariat of Ki'linochchi district

[TamilNet, Sunday, 11 January 2009, 18:09 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) fired artillery shells have hit the Deputy Provincial Director of Health Services (DPDHS) Secretariat for Ki'inochchi district, located at Pu'liyampokka'nai in Ka'ndaava'lai division Sunday noon. The attack on the DPDHS secretariat has come despite the government forces were given the coordinates of the secretariat, health officials said.
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Scores wounded in Sri Lankan bombardment on displacing civilians

[TamilNet, Sunday, 11 January 2009, 14:37 GMT]
The three armed forces of Sri Lanka have carried out a joint indiscriminate bombardment from air, land and sea targeting the civilians who were displacing from Vadamaraadchi East villages to Vanni mainland, causing injuries to at least 40 civilians, initial reports from the area said. The attack has targeted civilians who have come to Chu'ndikku'lam lagoon to cross over to Vanni mainland as the land route has been occupied by the Sri Lanka Army following the occupation of Elephant Pass. Medical authorities at Kallaa'ru said they were struggling to transport the wounded. Ambulances at Tharmapuram hospital were sent to Kallaa'ru in Chu'ndikku'lam.
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4 killed, SLA artillery targets civilian settlement in Puthukkudiyiruppu

[TamilNet, Sunday, 11 January 2009, 03:11 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) fired artillery shells killed four displaced civilians, including the parents and the daughter of a family, residing in the settlement located behind the hospital of Puthukkudiyiruppu in Mullaiththeevu district Saturday night, according to medical sources. Two of the killed victims were 17-year-old students. Four civilians, including a 5-year-old child were wounded in the indiscriminate artillery attack. Meanwhile, artillery barrage on Vaddakkachchi and Pu'liyampokka'nai in Ki'linochchi district continued, disrupting the access roads for civilians to move away from the areas that have come under artillery barrage.
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SLA attempt to advance from Ira'naimadu repulsed: Tigers

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 January 2009, 15:12 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) launched an offensive push from Ira'naimadu targeting to enter Vaddakkachchi in Ki'linochchi district Saturday. The Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) officials told reporters in Vanni that their defensive forces repulsed the move. 18 SLA soldiers were killed, 40 wounded and the Tigers seized arms and ammunitions in the clearing mission that followed the 8 hours long fighting.
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IFT calls for redoubling of effort to support Eelam Tamils

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 January 2009, 12:47 GMT]
Accusing the International Community of attempting to "wean Tamil people, both in the Tamil homeland and the Diaspora, away from the LTTE," by advocating the need for a political solution while Kilinochchi is under occupation, International Federation of Tamils (IFT), a Geneva-based umbrella group of expatriate Tamil organizations, in a press release issued today "called upon over 70 million strong world Tamil community to redouble it support to the Eelam Tamils for their struggle to create the State of Tamil Eelam," and interated "that the future State of Tamil Eelam will negotiate with the Sinhala State of Sri Lanka to create a mutually acceptable relationship whereby both Peoples pool their sovereignties to associate with each other for purposes of mutual benefit."
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AHRC fears more killing following Senior Editor's assassination

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 January 2009, 12:19 GMT]
Calling on the "local and international community to take note of the escalation of violence in Sri Lanka and to do all [they] can to intervene for the purpose of saving lives," Asian Hurman Rights Commission (AHRC), a Hong Kong based rights watchdog, in press release issued today, warned that the situation points to "establishment of a dictatorship with the help of some sections of the military," and that "[i]f the local and the international community ignore this situation it may once more have to regret yet another situation of carnage."
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Sri Lanka steps up aerial bombardment on Vanni

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 January 2009, 11:51 GMT]
Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombers dropped at least 20 bombs in four sorties on Chu'ndikku'lam and the coastal areas on Thursday. Two SLAF bombers dropped 10 bombs at 7:10 a.m., and the bombers returned again two hours later at 9:00 a.m. targeting the same area. Kallaa'ru in the same region was attacked at 11:00 a.m. The bombers returned for the fourth time around 3:00 p.m. to target the same area.
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7 killed, Sri Lankan artillery attack targets civilian centre of Vanni

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 January 2009, 07:52 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army fired artillery shells targeting Tharmapuram Junction, the remaining centre of displaced civilians in Vanni killing at least four and causing injuries to many around 1:20 p.m. on Thursday, after artillery shelling killed three, including a child in Vaddakkachchi. Two of the slain victims were children. The attack has targeted Tharmapuram Junction, which is located 75 meters from the hospital. Tension and chaos prevailed in the hospital, which was full of the wounded civilians, as they were forced to seek shelter from the artillery barrage.
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Sunday Leader Editor assassinated

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 January 2009, 05:59 GMT]
Lasantha Wikramatunga, the chief editor of the English Weekly Sunday Leader, who was shot by unknown gunmen Thursday morning, has succumbed to his injuries at the hospital. Mr. Lasantha Wikramatuga was shot while he was on his way to work around 9:30 a.m. The newspaper and its editor as well as the editor of Morning Leader have been harassed and threatened continuously during the last three years. All Leader publications are very critical towards the government and exponents of opposition political views. The killing has shocked the journalists who are critical of Rajapaksa government.
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