Two civilians killed in SLA ambush

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 12 July 2000, 16:50 GMT]
Two civilians who were returning from a temple festival south west of Batticaloa Wednesday were shot dead by the Sri Lanka army. Velmurugu Charles Satkunam of Kaluwanchikudi and Ilyathamby Arumugam the 40th Colony were returning from the annual festival of the Thaanthamalai Murugan temple in the interior in the early hours of the morning today around 3.30 a.m. when they were shot dead by an SLA ambush party at Vaalakkaalai near the 39th Colony on the Ampara-Batticaloa district border sources said.
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Policeman wounded in Trinco

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 11 July 2000, 21:30 GMT]
Unidentified gunmen shot and wounded a police officer near the Post Office Junction in the Trincomalee town around 5 p.m. Tuesday, security sources said. Sergeant Bandara of the Special Unit has been warded at the Intensive Care Unit in Trincomalee hospital, hospital sources said.
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40 Government troops killed -LTTE

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 11 July 2000, 07:23 GMT]
Forty Sri Lanka Army soldiers were killed and over 200 injured when the Liberation Tigers counter attacked an offensive thrust by the Government troops in the Ariyalai-Columbuthurai sector of the Jaffna Municipality, yesterday, according to LTTE official sources in London. The Tigers recovered 8 bodies of soldiers killed in the battle.
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TULF says PA-UNP formula "unacceptable"

[TamilNet, Monday, 10 July 2000, 11:02 GMT]
The delegation of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) that met the Sri Lankan President Monday afternoon to the discuss devolution formula which the government and the United National Party agreed upon last week, told her that the PA-UNP proposal did not satisfy Tamil aspirations with regard to the structure of the Sri Lankan state, the unit of devolution and powers relating to state land. The TULF delegation "impressed upon the government that the LTTE should be involved in the negotiating process in order to bring an end to the war and an effective resolution to the conflict". The party said that it had strongly objected to the referendum to determine the continuation of the north-eastern province as one unit.
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SLRC visits Vanni Hospitals

[TamilNet, Saturday, 08 July 2000, 13:40 GMT]
A team of Sri Lanka Red Cross Society (SLRC) officials are visiting the LTTE held parts of the Vanni region to assess the situation there said sources. The team visited the Puthukkudiyiruppu hospital where there is acute shortage of vital drugs and other medical equipment.
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Ban precludes Indian role - Balasingham

[TamilNet, Thursday, 06 July 2000, 12:09 GMT]
While asserting that India has an active role to play in Sri Lanka, the Liberation Tigers' theoretician and chief negotiator, Anton Balasingham told the Deccan Herald newspaper that New Delhi cannot play that role so long as the LTTE remains a banned organization in India. "We recognise India's predominance in the region and we look forward to the time when it will lift the ban on our organization," he told the paper in an interview published Thursday, adding that the LTTE was seeking new relationship with India as a friendly ally.
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Unable to trace disappeared -HRC, AI

[TamilNet, Thursday, 06 July 2000, 09:35 GMT]
The Human Rights Commission (HRC) in Vavuniya has not been able to find the whereabouts of 17 people who have been reported 'missing' or arrested by the Sri Lankan security forces during the first six months of this year, said Mr.Sreetharan, the chairman of the Commission. He said HRC received 303 complaints during the period. Meanwhile human rights organisation, the Amnesty International (AI), issued a press release Wednesday expressing its concern over the safety of Thambiah Wijayakumar, 24, who was arrested on 22 June in Vavuniya.
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Nagar Kovil SLA thrust repulsed -LTTE

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 05 July 2000, 20:55 GMT]
The combat units of the Liberation Tigers repulsed an offensive assault by the Sri Lanka Army in the Nagar Kovil area of the Vadamaradchi eastern coast on Tuesday, inflicting heavy casualties, LTTE official sources in London said this evening.
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Army gives armoured vehicles to STF

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 05 July 2000, 20:48 GMT]
The Special Task force (STF), the elite arm of the Sri Lankan security forces, was given ten armoured vehicles by the Ministry of Defence Wednesday to beef up its operational capabilities against the Liberation Tigers in the eastern province and the southwestern sector of the Vanni. The STF is a specially trained and equipped unit of commandos drawn from the Sri Lankan Police. The operational responsibilities of the STF have been increased due to the withdrawal of Sri Lankan army troops from the east and Mannar in recent months to stall the advance of the Tigers in the Jaffna peninsula.
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Fighting erupts in Nagar Kovil

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 July 2000, 14:12 GMT]
Heavy fighting erupted in Nagar Kovil on the southeastern coast of the Jaffna peninsula from the early hours of the morning Tuesday when the Sri Lanka army launched an operation into territory held by the Liberation Tigers. The SLA said that the operation is still in progress. Thirty seven SLA personnel, including three officers, were wounded in counter attacks by the Liberation Tigers according to the SLA.
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Medicine shortages prompt demonstration

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 July 2000, 21:02 GMT]
Hundreds of people staged a demonstration in front of the office of Medicine Sans Frontiers (MSF) at Puddukudiyiruppu in the Mullaithivu District in the north-east of the island demanding that the aid agency should take immediate steps to get down enough drugs to save the lives of patients.
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SLA offensive repulsed -LTTE

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 July 2000, 08:48 GMT]
Tamil Tiger combat units have repulsed an offensive thrust by the Sri Lankan troops at Gajabapura in the Weli Oya sector of the Northern Sri Lanka yesterday, killing 15 soldiers, according to LTTE official sources in London.
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Devolution proposals 'no basis for solution' - LTTE

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 June 2000, 09:36 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers said Friday the Sri Lankan government's devolution proposals were unacceptable as the basis of a solution to the Tamil national question as it "failed to address the national aspirations of the Tamil people" and it was intended to "promote the majoritarian [Sinhala] interests."
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Detained student admitted to hospital

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 June 2000, 21:03 GMT]
A GCE A/L student from Muttur has been detained at the Trincomalee Police Headquarters since last month. While being interrogated by the Police during this period he has been admitted twice to Trincomalee base hospital for medical treatment for injuries inflicted on him, relatives said.
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Arms ship destroyed - LTTE

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 June 2000, 14:30 GMT]
The MV Merces Uhana, a cargo vessel destroyed off the Jaffna coast by the Sea Tigers in a naval battle Monday, was carrying arms and ammunition, the Liberation Tigers said in a statement from their London offices. A Dvora gunboat was also seriously damaged in the 8-hour clash, the LTTE said, adding that ten Sri Lankan sailors and six Tigers were killed.
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Four more skeletons found in Kilinochchi

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 June 2000, 17:25 GMT]
Villagers cleaning a compound in Kilinochchi, 45 km. south of Jaffna, found four skeletons, with their hands tied behind their backs in a toilet pit on Thursday, the Voice of Tigers said.
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LTTE not included - President

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 June 2000, 10:25 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President Chandrika Kumaratunge Friday re-iterated her government's position that the Liberation Tigers would not be included in the proposed interim administration for the North and East. A press release by the government's Special Media Information Center said no decision had been made to include the LTTE "which is a terrorist organization" and blamed media reports for the confusion.
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5000 Jaffna refugees sheltered in Pooneryn

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 June 2000, 14:56 GMT]
More than five thousand civilians displaced from the Thenmaradchi division of the Jaffna peninsula due to bombing and shelling have been housed in a transit camp in Pooneryn, international aid agency sources said Thursday. The United Nations High Commission for Refugees and the International Committee of the Red Cross are providing limited emergency relief to the displaced civilians they said.
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Tigers release Elephant Pass video

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 June 2000, 17:44 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers have released a 40 minute long English language video documentary of their assault on the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) base at Elephant Pass, which they overran on April 22, the Tamileela vanoli, the commercial service of the Voice of Tigers (VoT) said Wednesday.
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Tigers dismayed over ICRC, UNHCR inaction

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 June 2000, 07:16 GMT]
The political section of the Liberation Tigers has issued a statement expressing deep regret and dismay over the inaction of the United Nations High Commissioner of Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Commission of the Red Cross (ICRC) in helping to evacuate Tamil civilians trapped in the combat zones of the Thenmaradchchi sector of the Jaffna peninsula , according to the night broadcast of the Voice of Tigers.
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