Tamil civilian shot dead in Buttala

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 August 2008, 11:44 GMT]
A Tamil civilian was shot dead by unidentified persons riding a motorbike shot dead at Karamaanthapuram, a Tamil village in Buttala division in Moneragala district, Sunday evening. The victim was riding in his motorbike when he was shot dead, police sources said.
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19 Tamils arrested in Gampaha, Kandy

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 August 2008, 11:41 GMT]
Nineteen Tamil civilians were arrested in two separate cordon and search operations conducted by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and police since Sunday evening till morning on Monday at Gampaha and Kandy towns, police sources said.
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Abducted girl escapes in Vaazhaichcheanai

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 August 2008, 08:08 GMT]
One of the five girl students abducted by unidentified armed men in a van Saturday in Paddiruppu area managed to escape when the van stopped at Kiraan Aachchiramam area in Vaazhaichcheanai police division in Batticaloa district, sources in Vaazhaichcheanai said. The fate of the other four girls remains unknown.
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Three Tamils abducted in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 August 2008, 03:51 GMT]
An unidentified group came in a white van abducted three Tamil civilians Ponniah Kaaralasingham, 55, his son-in-law Mahendrarajah Saarangan, 28, and Sivagnanam Anbalagan (43) from their residences located in Periyapuliyaalanku'lam in Vavuniyaa police division on Sunday night, according to complaints made by their relatives to the police and human rights groups in the area Monday.
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SLA fires artillery on LTTE positions in Poonakari

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 August 2008, 18:50 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) from its bases located on the coast of Jaffna lagoon began Sunday from around 6:00 p.m artillery fire directed towards Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) held Poonakari.
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2 female corpses recovered in Thenmaraadchi

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 August 2008, 17:08 GMT]
Kodikaamam police, directed by Chaavakachcheari magistrate, handed over two female bodies to Jaffna Teaching Hospital Sunday evening for identification. Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troops in Ki’laali Front Defence Line (FDL) positions in Thenmaraadchi had handed over the two bodies to the police claiming that they belonged to two female combatants of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the police said.
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SLA shoots dead Tamil youth in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 August 2008, 16:27 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Field bike unit troops shot and killed a Tamil youth Sunday around 5:45 p.m as he was riding on his motor cycle along Batticaloa-Kalmunai road in Kaaththaankudi police division in Batticaloa district, sources in Batticaloa said.
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Former IGP assumes duties as Governor of demerged North

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 August 2008, 10:48 GMT]
Former Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr. Victor Perera, Saturday assumed duties as the first Governor of Northern Province in an event held at the chief secretariat of the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) located at Varothiayar Nagar, Trincomalee, sources said.
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Tamil mother, daughter arrested in Moratuwa

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 August 2008, 02:36 GMT]
A Tamil mother and her daughter who were arrested at Moratuwa in a search operation conducted by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and Police Thursday night are still being detained in Mt.Lavinia Police Station, and are being interrogated by the Terrorist Intelligence Division (TID), reports from Colombo said. Both were taken into custody following the recovery of explosives in their house located in Soyzapura Housing Complex, according to the Police.
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TamilNet to be down for maintenance

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 August 2008, 20:17 GMT]
TamilNet will be taking the web server down Sunday night for four to six hours on scheduled maintenance purpose, starting from 23:01 GMT Saturday.
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Victor Perera vows to establish civil administration in North

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 August 2008, 18:55 GMT]
Victor Perera, the former Sri Lankan Inspector General of Police (IGP), who has been appointed as the Governor of the de-merged Northern Province by the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Saturday assumed duties at the Northern Provincial Secretariat located at Varoathaya Nakar in Kanniyaa, 3 km from Trincomalee of the Eastern Province. Mr. Perera said he would take steps to establish civil administration in the 'liberated areas' in the North and launch development projects there. Both the secretariats of Northern Province and Eastern Province are now functioning from Trincomalee.
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Government officials urge SLA to observe Safety Zones

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 August 2008, 08:10 GMT]
The target of the artillery attack of the Sri Lanka Army in the early hours of Friday in Mullaiththeevu was a residential enclave located within 500 meters radius of the Mullaiththeevu General Hospital, housing the Mullaiththeevu Government Agent (GA), the Medical Superintendent (MS) and many other government officials, who coordinate the essential services of the district. The attack was timed before a token protest scheduled for Friday by the government servants to voice against the killing of the Deputy Planning Director, Poonakari, in a claymore attack two weeks ago. TamilNet’s Vanni correspondent talked to the GA and the MS on Friday noon.
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Batticaloa Tamil bus driver, conductor arrested in Colombo

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 August 2008, 04:41 GMT]
Sri Lanka police arrested Friday the driver and the conductor of a private bus that took passengers from Batticaloa to Colombo at Maradana and took them and the bus to Moratuwa police station around 5:00 p.m. The police, when contacted by the owner of the bus, said that the two were brought to the police station for interrogation, the owner of the bus said.
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NPM opposes granting police, land powers to PCs

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 August 2008, 01:41 GMT]
The National Patriotic Movement (NPM), an extreme Sinhala nationalist organization, said Friday that it would launch a struggle if the government accedes to the demand to devolve land and police powers to provincial councils. "Granting of such powers to provincial councils is tantamount to granting Tamil Eelam to Velupillai Pirapaharan,"said Dr.Gunadasa Amarasekara, President of NPM at a press briefing held in Colombo.
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Japan funds construction of bridge in Badulla, agro-wells in Batticalao

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 August 2008, 16:41 GMT]
The Government of Japan has provided US$175,000 through the Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Projects (GGP), of which 50% is allocated to "Consortium of Humanitarian Agencies" to construct a bridge across Badulu Oya in the Badulla District, and the remaining 50% to the "Lanka Jathika Sarvodaya Sharamadana Sangamaya Inc.", to ensure food security to the resettled IDP families in the Batticaloa District, a press release issued by the Japanese Embassy in Colombo said Friday. The Batticaloa project will also provide help to IDP families to enhance income sources in Manmunai South West to get back to normalcy.
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Protest demonstration against Minister Mervin Silva in Colombo

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 August 2008, 15:00 GMT]
More than a hundred media persons and political leaders staged a protest demonstration Friday around 12:00 noon at Colpetty junction in Colombo, organized by five leading media associations, condemning Minster Mervin Silva’s assault on media persons who went to participate in the opening ceremony of Kelaniya flyover recently, sources in Colombo said.
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HRW: Tissanayagam's detention violates international law

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 August 2008, 11:03 GMT]
Expressing deep concern at Sri Lanka Government's "disregard for Sri Lankan and international law," the Human Rights Watch (HRW), a New York based rights watchdog, in a press release issued Friday said, Tissainayagam and two others arrested by Sri Lanka's Terrrorism Investigation Division (TID) "have spent more than 150 days in custody, yet no charges have been filed and no evidence of any crime has been produced...If the authorities have no credible basis to charge Tissainayagam and the two others, they should be immediately released.”
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Sri Lanka steps up offensive in Ma'nalaa'ru, LTTE recovers SLA dead bodies

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 August 2008, 06:50 GMT]
LTTE officials told TamilNet Thursday that their defensive formations seized arms and ammunition after pushing back the SLA troops that attempted to advance further into LTTE territory in Ma'nalaa'ru (Weli Oya) region. Four dead bodies of the SLA were also recovered by the Tigers. Arrangements were underway to hand over the dead bodies through the ICRC, according to the LTTE officials.
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Child killed, Mullaiththeevu GA wounded in SLA shelling

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 August 2008, 05:54 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) launched an indiscriminate artillery barrage in the early hours of Friday. Official residences of Mullaiththeevu District Secretary (Government Agent) and the doctors of Mullaiththeevu hospital, located inside the hospital premises were hit by the shelling. The artillery barrage killed an 18-month-old baby and caused injuries to 16 civilians, including the GA, Ms. Imelda Sukumar, who was at her official residence and Medical Superintendent Dr. V. Shanmugarajah's wife, hospital officials told TamilNet. Meanwhile, the Director of LTTE's Peace Secretariat S. Puleedevan, blamed the Sri Lankan government for repeatedly violating the Geneva Conventions during its offensive.
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Iran ‘willing’ to share nuclear technology with Sri Lanka, ups aid

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 August 2008, 18:45 GMT]
Iran is willing to share nuclear technology for peaceful purposes with Sri Lanka, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told The Island newspaper. Mottaki, who was in Colombo to attend the 15th SAARC Summit told The Island, that Iran and Sri Lanka are long standing friends and Tehran was willing to assist Colombo in all fields, including uranium enrichment for peaceful purposes. He also called for the establishment of an Asia parliament on the lines of the European Parliament as a first step towards regional integration. Iran has outpaced Japan as Sri Lanka’s biggest donor this year.
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