Tamil woman shot dead, in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 July 2008, 09:29 GMT]
Kaaththaankudi police recovered the body of a young Tamil woman with gun shot wounds on the forehead in Poonochchimunai village in Batticaloa district on information given by the residents of the village, Kaaththaankudi police said. She had been shot and killed Wednesday early morning, the police added.
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5 TMVP men arrested for robbery, in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 July 2008, 07:31 GMT]
Batticaloa police arrested Tuesday evening five men of the paramilitary-cum-political party Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP) on suspicion of robbing Rs. 700,000 and 15 sovereigns gold jewelry from a house in Kalladi area in Batticaloa on Monday evening, on the complaint lodged by the owner of the house, Batticaloa police said.
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2 Tamil labourers abducted in Colombo

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 July 2008, 20:49 GMT]
Two Tamil labourers working in a shop along Galle Road in Dehiwala in Colombo were abducted by a group of persons dressed in police uniform Monday night. The gang arrived in a white van and forcibly took Muthukumar Selvakumar and Palaniyaandi Shanmugarasa from the shop, according to complaints lodged by the owner of the shop with the Dehiwala Police and humanitarian organizations.
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3 Tamil youths arrested in Kandy

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 July 2008, 20:47 GMT]
Three Tamil youths were taken into custody by the Kandy Police Monday evening on receipt of information that they had been taking photograph of the Kandy Teaching Hospital. They had been residents of Ampaarai and Kalmunai, police sources said.
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Looming humanitarian crisis in Vanni

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 July 2008, 11:25 GMT]
45,338 additional persons have been displaced in Mannar, Vavuniyaa, Ki'linochchi, and Mullaitivu districts, due to the shelling and aerial bombardment by th Sri Lanka Security Forces in the last four weeks, adding to the Internally Displaced People (IDP) population of 107,048 in Vanni, said a report released by the Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO). The report warned that the restrictions imposed by the Government of Sri Lanka to humanitarian agencies to attend to the IDP needs have created conditions for an imminent humanitarian crisis in Vanni.
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Vellaave'li

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 July 2008, 08:20 GMT]
The wild expanse
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Tamil youth abducted in Kalmunai

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 July 2008, 08:12 GMT]
Unidentified armed men arriving in a three-wheeler abducted Friday night a Tamil youth from his house in Kalmunai in Kalmunai police division in Ampaa'rai district, according to the complaint lodged with Kalmunai police by his mother.
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Sri Lanka rejects LTTE truce offer, responses differ

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 July 2008, 04:15 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s government Tuesday rejected the Tamil Tigers offer of a unilateral ceasefire for the period of the SAARC conference (Jul 26 to Aug 4). But senior officials of the Colombo government gave different responses as to the government stance on the truce offer, announced formally by the LTTE Political Wing on Monday.
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LTTE announces unilateral ceasefire during SAARC summit

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 July 2008, 18:30 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) on Tuesday announced that the movement would observe unilateral ceasefire during the period of SAARC conference from 26th July to 04 August, giving cooperation for the success of the conference. Conveying goodwill and trust of the Tamil people, the LTTE Political Wing, in a press statement issued from Vanni said it wished for the success of the SAARC conference, extending the movement's support to the "countries of our region, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and Maldives."
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Corpse of male person recovered from cemetery well in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 July 2008, 15:35 GMT]
A highly decomposed corpse believed to be of a Tamil civilian beyond recognition was recovered from a well located in the general cemetery in Thedchchanakulam in Vavuniyaa Monday evening around 4:00 p.m. by the Vavuniyaa police on receipt of information from a Grama Sevaka Officer of the area, police sources said.
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Colombo's war boomerangs

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 July 2008, 09:20 GMT]
For the first time in two years, after Colombo launched its war, public and private sector employees in South have come to the open demanding higher wages from the government, despite Rajapaksa government's appeals to the public to back the military campaign. Ironically, the extreme nationalist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), which helped Mr. Rajapaksa into power and backed the military campaign, has come out openly to campaign for a salary increase of Rs. 5,000 per month and have threatened to launch a three day strike which comes in the backdrop of a one day token strike which had mixed results.
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Tamil trader abducted in Negombo

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 July 2008, 01:02 GMT]
A Tamil trader, Kanagalingam Manoharan, 40, a father three children, was abducted Saturday evening a round 5:00 p.m. from his shop located in Negombo by a group of armed persons who arrived in a white van, according to complaints lodged with the Wennapuwa Police by his wife.
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The master plays his cards

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 July 2008, 14:37 GMT]
Kalaignar M. Karunanidhi, chief minister of the Tamil Nadu state of India, cautioned the Indian Government on Saturday that his state wouldn't hesitate to seek the retrieval of Kachchatheevu from Sri Lanka if the rights of the Tamil Nadu fishermen are not safeguarded. The timing and intensity of the demand leads to wide-ranging speculations among observers.
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Family man shot dead in Kaaraitheevu in Ampaa’rai

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 July 2008, 09:12 GMT]
Unidentified armed men shot and killed a Tamil family man Saturday around 12:30 p.m in Kaaraitheevu area in Chammaanththu’rai police division in Ampaa’rai district, in front of his mother’s house, sources in Kaaraitheevu said.
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Tamil civilian abducted in Negombo

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 July 2008, 07:03 GMT]
A Tamil civilian was abducted Saturday evening by unidentified persons came in a white van at Vaikaal in Wennapuwa police division in Negombo district according to complaints lodged with the Wennapuwa police by his relatives.
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SLA hands over corpse of a civilian gone missing in Vanni

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 July 2008, 04:19 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) handed over a male corpse in a highly decomposed state Thursday to International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) claiming it to be the body of a member of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The person killed was the driver of a vehicle who had gone missing 13 July in Oddangku’lam in Thu’nukkai in Vanni.
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Tamil bank employee arrested in Kandy

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 July 2008, 17:57 GMT]
A Tamil employee attached to the Kandy branch of a state bank is being detained in the Kandy police station for allegedly video taping the house of Minister Keheliya Rambukwella located in Kandy, sources said. He was arrested under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), since his arrest on Tuesday last week human rights sources in Colombo said.
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Impersonator accused of Kalmunai robberies

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 July 2008, 15:17 GMT]
A Thamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP) operative posing as a member of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has been robbing a number of residences of nearly 1.5 million rupees during the past month within Kalmunai police division in Ampaarai, sources said.
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Eezham exhibition impresses UK parliamentarians

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 July 2008, 14:28 GMT]
A photo exhibition on '60 years of oppression of Tamils in Sri Lanka,' held at the premises of British Parliament on Wednesday brought in 'positive responses' from the Lawmakers cutting across party lines and other dignitaries, according to British Tamils Forum, the organisers of the display.
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All transport links to Jaffna to be severed during SAARC

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 July 2008, 14:08 GMT]
In preparing for the forthcoming 15th summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) to be held from July 27 to August 3 in Colombo, Sri Lanka Government is suspending all transport, by air and ship during a two-week period starting July 25 between Jaffna peninsula and the rest of Sri Lanka, imposing virtual isolation of NorthEast Tamil areas, informed sources from Jaffna said. Although Ministry of Defense has not formally issued a directive, air-transport officials, and port authorities have indicated that the suspension of all forms of transport to and from Jaffna are imminent.
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