Land mine blast kills 3 SLA soldiers in Ampaa’rai

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 February 2009, 14:19 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) triggered a landmine killing 3 Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers and seriously injuring 2 soldiers Tuesday around 1:45 p.m when they were engaged in road patrol at Pannalakamam area in Ampaa’rai district, LTTE sources in Ampaa’rai district said. Meanwhile, a policeman was killed and a home guard injured in a grenade attack on the sentry post located at Veeramunai junction Tuesday around 3:30 p.m in Chammaanththu’rai, the sources added.
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UN experts concerned at suppression of criticism, impunity

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 February 2009, 01:57 GMT]
Ten independent UN experts on Monday expressed their deep concern at the deteriorating human rights situation in Sri Lanka, particularly the shrinking space for critical voices and the fear of reprisals against victims and witnesses which – together with a lack of effective investigations and prosecutions – has led to unabated impunity for human rights violations.
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SLA traps hundreds of civilians in safety zone border

[TamilNet, Sunday, 08 February 2009, 03:05 GMT]
Around 4,000 civilians, fleeing intense shelling by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) have been caught by the SLA that entered a bordering area of Chuthanthirapuram safety zone Friday, according to initial reports. The SLA soldiers opened fire on the civilians, instructing them to walk deeper into SLA controlled territories carrying white flags with them, according to youths who managed to escape.
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Missing SLA soldiers' parents urge ICRC to approach LTTE

[TamilNet, Sunday, 08 February 2009, 02:25 GMT]
Parents of missing Sri Lankan soldiers this week urged the ICRC to approach the LTTE to check whether their sons were in Tiger custody as reports appeared in Colombo media of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) overrunning an LTTE detention camp in Visuvamadu area. The association of missing soldiers parents, based in Kandy, has sent a letter to the ICRC in Colombo urging it to take up the issue with the LTTE as they feared 750 Sri Lankan soldiers were in LTTE custody.
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SLA hands over body of Tamil farmer to Vaazhaichcheanai hospital

[TamilNet, Saturday, 07 February 2009, 08:39 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers in Paduvaankarai in Batticaloa district handed the body of a Tamil farmer Friday morning to Vaazhaichcheanai hospital claiming that he had committed suicide by taking poison, sources in Batticaloa said. Vaazhaichcheanai district magistrate who held the inquest into the death ordered Vaazhaichcheanai police to find the true cause of death and submit the report before 12 February.
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Tigers seize SLA arms storage in PTK

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 February 2009, 16:02 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) this week seized an arms storage from the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Puthukkudiyiruppu (PTK), sources close to LTTE told TamilNet Friday. Hundreds of SLA crack commandos were drawn into Mannaka'ndal and Keappaapulavu 'boxes' and were cut off from their rear supplies during a pre-emptive strike by the Tiger forces, resulting in the loss of more than one thousand SLA soldiers since February 01. An arms storage, which was full of weapons as the SLA was in full preparation to launch its 'final assault' on PTK was seized by the Tiger commandos engaged in the preemptive strike.
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65 Vanni patients transferred to Mannaar, relatives languish in internment camp

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 February 2009, 20:43 GMT]
Sixty-five seriously wounded patients brought to Vavuniyaa by the ICRC last week have been transferred to Mannaar hospital and admitted there under strict military surveillance, medical sources in Mannaar said. Meanwhile, twelve relatives of the patients, who accompanied them from Vanni to provide care and separated by the SLA at Oamanthai, are still languishing at Nelullku'lam internment camp. The patients in Mannaar, most of them young children and elderly, who have lost either both legs or both hands and need personal care by close family members, have urged the authorities to allow their relatives to be with them as initially facilitated by the ICRC.
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SLA forces public to hoist lion flag on Independence Day, in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 February 2009, 17:52 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Jaffna has been engaged in issuing strict orders to the public to hoist the national flag of Sri Lanka on Independence Day Wednesday on all houses as well as public and private institutions, using loud speakers attached to SLA vehicles, in the last few days, sources in Jaffna said. Shop keepers and traders in Vadamaraadchi and Thenmaraadchi in particular have been warned by SLA officials in their area that they will not be allowed to open their shops in the future if they fail to follow their orders, the traders said.
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Sri Lanka HRC key officials visit Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 February 2009, 15:12 GMT]
A high profile team of Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission (HRC) Colombo arrived Friday in Jaffna where they met Sri Lanka Army (SLA) officers and the magistrates in Jaffna and discussed matters related to the interests of persons placed in the protective custody of Jaffna Prison and the civilians brought to Jaffna peninsula by the SLA and placed in detention camps, sources in Jaffna said. The team flew back to Colombo Sunday.
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'Tigers in pitched battle against genocidal military' - LTTE

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 February 2009, 13:48 GMT]
"The defensive formations of the Liberation Tigers are courageously facing the Sri Lanka Army, which has been engaged by Colombo in a genocidal war against Tamils," said S. Puleedevan from LTTE's Political office in Vanni Sunday evening. The offensive units of the SLA had massed near Puthukkudiyiruppu (PTK) in full strength, with tanks and all preparedness in their hurry to capture PTK in the next one or two days, but are now pushed back beyond their forward lines, he said. The fighting, which began in the early hours of Sunday was still continuing.
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Grenade attack on SLA sentry post in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 31 January 2009, 14:40 GMT]
Two unidentified persons on bicycle hurled a hand grenade on the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) sentry post in I'nuvil in Valikaamam Friday around 7:10 p.m during power cut, sources in Jaffna said. The soldiers in the sentry post were injured, according to unconfirmed reports from the area.
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Maya tells of Sri Lanka Genocide to U.S., world fans

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 January 2009, 13:00 GMT]
Oscar and Grammy award nominee, Eezham born music phenom, Maya Arulpragasam, in the PBS interview on Tavis Smiley show Thursday told the U.S. listeners and fans worldwide that "there's been a systematic genocide which has quiet thing because no one knows where Sri Lanka is. And now it's just escalated to the point there's 350,000 people who are stuck in a battle zone and can't get out, and aid's banned and humanitarian organizations are banned, journalists are banned from telling the story."
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Last statement of Muthukumar

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 January 2009, 09:04 GMT]
Journalist Muthukumar distributed a 4-page statement in Tamil before his self-immolation Thursday in Tamil Nadu. TamilNet provides a translation for the English readership to grasp the significance, without taking responsibility for the accuracy of facts. "The sacrifice of young and idealistic Muthukumar is lamentable beyond words and thoughts of re-enactment should never become a necessity to anyone. It is a reminiscence of the Vietnam of 1960's when self-immolation of monks protesting brutal atrocities as a consequence of US military campaign was common. Such acts occur as a last resort of public frustration when governments suppress democratic space and don't respect overwhelming public opinion of emotional importance," said a diaspora Tamil academic.
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India's devastating 'play with fire' in the island of Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 January 2009, 07:11 GMT]
The Indian game that doesn't enjoy any popular support from any quarter concerned, can only be autocratic and will prove to be devastative to the entire island. The present Indian Establishment is incapable of doing anything constructively new, other than destroying Tamil safeguards. India is not only heading for maintaining perpetual trouble in Sri Lanka, but also is inviting turmoil to a part of its own country. The Co-chair countries need to immediately neutralize the disastrous Indian adventure that is totally bereft of public support, by stopping the war, by not insisting on a solution based on a united Sri Lanka and by de-proscribing the LTTE, which is looked upon as the vanguard by most of the Eezham Tamils, writes a political analyst in Vanni.
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4 Indian military experts wounded in Vanni

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 January 2009, 07:01 GMT]
Four Indian military experts, assisting the Sri Lankan military, were wounded this week in Vanni and are undergoing treatment in Colombo, reliable sources told TamilNet Friday. The story, first broke by the Australia based Global Tamil Vision (GTV) on Thursday, had said the wounded were Indian soldiers who were undergoing treatment at a military hospital in Colombo. Although TamilNet was able to confirm through reliable sources on Friday that there are at least 4 Indian military experts undergoing treatment, specific details were not obtainable due to the prevailing threat on the right to know information in the island.
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4 SLA soldiers killed in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 January 2009, 06:41 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) combatants killed 4 Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers Thursday around 9:45 a.m, in an attack on the SLA road patrol team at Nilaave’li in Trincomalee district, LTTE sources in Trincomalee said.
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Colombo's war crimes turn to rape of the fleeing - Jaffna MP

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 January 2009, 11:45 GMT]
Civilians who have been caught by the Sri Lanka Army recently in Vadamaraadchi East in Jaffna and from Murasumoaddai in Ki'linochchi district, who are confined to the 'detention camps' run by the Sri Lankan military, have complained to their relatives that the Sri Lankan soldiers have taken several women into their custody and were sexually abusing them, said Jaffna district parliamentarian S. Gajendran on Wednesday. Those who continue to justify and abet the on going war against Tamils and those who directly or indirectly advocate surrender of Tamil civilians to their adversaries are a party to war crimes, he further said.
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SLA soldiers attack fishermen in Poonakari sea

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 January 2009, 16:43 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers posted along the coast of Poonakari and Kalmunai attacked indiscriminately the fishermen who had gone to fish there from Kurnakar area on the opposite coast of Jaffna lagoon, Kurunakar Fisheries Society sources said. Meanwhile, SLA banned fishing in the seas of the areas mentioned above as a measure strengthening the coastal security as Poonakari has been made the SLA commanding base for the Vanni mainland, sources in Jaffna said.
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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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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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