No response to ceasefire offer

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 May 2000, 16:29 GMT]
There was no official reaction from the Sri Lankan government to the ceasefire declared unilaterally by the Liberation Tigers Friday to enable civilians in the Thenmaradchi division and other sectors of the Jaffna peninsula to move out, with the assistance of the UNHCR, to designated safer areas. Sri Lankan army headquarters sources in Colombo peremptorily dismissed the LTTE ceasefire.
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Ceasefire to evacuate civilians - LTTE

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 May 2000, 17:16 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers will observe a temporary ceasefire between 10am and 10pm Saturday May 27 to facilitate the evacuation of civilians to safe areas from battlezeones of the Thenmarachchi division of the Jaffna peninsula, the LTTE said Friday in a statement from its London offices. The UNHCR is to assist the evacuation, the Tigers said. Over 40 civilians have been killed and 150 wounded by indiscriminate shelling and bombing by the Sri Lankan armed forces, the LTTE statement said, adding that the Sri Lankan military was also preventing civilians from moving to areas of safety.
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ICRC ship aborts Jaffna trip

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 May 2000, 09:23 GMT]
'Java Gulf', the vessel operated by the International Committee of the Red Cross to the embattled Jaffna peninsula will be returning to Trincomalee port later Friday afternoon because the ICRC was "unable, at the final moment, to secure agreement with the Sri Lankan security forces and the Liberation Tigers regarding the port of disembarkation" a spokesman for the organisation said.
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Tigers advance on Meesalai

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 May 2000, 16:25 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers resumed their offensive in the Jaffna peninsula Wednesday and are advancing towards Meesalai on the A9 highway, the LTTE said in a statement from its London offices. The crew of a Sri Lankan Air Force helicopter gunship were killed when it was shot down, the Tigers said. Meanwhile the town of Chavacachcheri had come under "a continuous barrage of indiscriminate artillery shelling" from the Sri Lanka armed forces, the LTTE said. The Tigers took control of the town in an offensive last week.
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Fighting erupts near Batticaloa town

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 May 2000, 21:50 GMT]
Heavy fighting erupted close to the Batticaloa this evening when the Liberation Tigers shelled the Sri Lanka army camp on the approach to the Sri Lanka Air Force base southwest of the town. Mi 24 Helicopter gunships were sent in to strafe the positions of the Tiger troops ahead of the Vavunathivu camp late in the evening today. The Tigers returned fire and continued to shell and fire on the camp sources in batticaloa said.
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FMM condemns closure of papers

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 May 2000, 09:33 GMT]
The Free Media Movement (FMM) in Sri Lanka, while condemning the closure of two newspapers, has called upon "all democratic forces, here and aboard, to exert maximum pressure upon the Sri Lankan government to desist from using emergency regulations to restrict the freedom of expression and other democratic rights in Sri Lanka."
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ICRC ship cancelled

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 May 2000, 14:11 GMT]
Mr. Harasha Gunawardene, the spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Colombo told TamilNet that his organisation's weekly ship service between Trincomalee and Jaffna was cancelled Monday due to security reasons. The ICRC ship was to sail from the eastern port town of Trincomalee to Kankesanthurai (KKS) harbour.
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Tigers train guns beyond harbour

[TamilNet, Sunday, 21 May 2000, 18:06 GMT]
Artillery shells fired by the Liberation Tigers hit coastal areas to the west of Kankesanthurai (KKS), Sri Lanka army's only harbour in Jaffna, yesterday sources contacted by phone in the northern peninsula said Sunday. The shelling indicates that the LTTE has moved its field guns closer to the sprawling military base complex in Palaly and Kankesanthurai the sources said.
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Tiger manoeuvres pressure SLA

[TamilNet, Sunday, 21 May 2000, 11:46 GMT]
The special forces of the Liberation Tigers which on Saturday overran the Sri Lankan army garrison and other defensive positions in Chavakachcheri and its environs, fifteen kilometers south of Jaffna, are attacking the Kilali base and the remaining Sri Lanka army positions in the peninsula's Thenmaradchi division said the special noon news broadcast of the Voice of Tigers today.
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Chavakachcheri captured - LTTE

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 May 2000, 14:41 GMT]
Chavakachcheri, the second largest town on the Jaffna peninsula, fell to the Liberation Tigers Saturday, after 12 hours of heavy fighting, the LTTE said in a press release from its London offices. The troops of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) were fleeing towards Kodigamam, the last SLA-held position in the Thenmarachchi sector, the Tigers said.
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Tigers urge SLA surrender

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 May 2000, 17:44 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers Friday appealed to the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers in the Jaffna peninsula to surrender "to avoid a bloodbath." The LTTE said in a statement from its London offices that soldiers who lay down their arms "will be treated with dignity and honour" and handed over to the custody of the International Committee of the Red Cross "within 24 hours".
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Artillery fire closes Jaffna air, sea ports - LTTE

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 May 2000, 16:03 GMT]
The Sri Lankan military has suspended operations in Jaffna's lone sea port and cancelled flights from the single airstrip on the peninsula after both came under direct artillery fire, the Liberation Tigers said Friday. The LTTE said in a statement from its London offices that its guns had hit the runway at Palali airbase and military installations at Kankesanthurai sea port. Meanwhile, advancing columns of LTTE troops captured the areas of Madduvil and Sarasali today, the organization said, adding that fighting was raging at the strategic Sarasali junction.
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Palaly shelling cancels Jaffna ship

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 May 2000, 07:33 GMT]
'The City of Trinco', a passenger ship to Jaffna that was scheduled to depart this morning from the eastern port of Trincomalee was canceled by the Sri Lanka Navy for security reasons officials said. The ship was to set sail with 350 passengers to the Kankesanthurai harbour (KKS), located in the sprawling Palaly base complex in the northern sector of the Jaffna peninsula. The Liberation Tigers say that their artillery units have been firing on the base since Wednesday.
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Kaithady SLA base captured - LTTE

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 May 2000, 16:07 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers said Wednesday they had overrun the strategically important Sri Lanka Army (SLA) base at Kaithady, killing one hundred soldiers and wounding hundreds more and cutting off thousands of SLA troops in the Thenmaradchchi sector.
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Tigers advance on twin fronts

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 May 2000, 21:41 GMT]
In a twin fronted assault, the Liberation Tigers have advanced deep into Sri Lanka Army (SLA) held territory in the Jaffna peninsula, the LTTE said Tuesday. Tiger forces have advanced from earlier captured positions into the Chavakachcheri sector and are attacking the SLA base at Kaithady having overrun SLA defences at Navatkuli, the LTTE said in a statement from its London offices. LTTE forces have also smashed SLA defences at Pasaiyur and Kurunagar in the outskirts of Jaffna city, the statement said further.
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Kadirgamar says paying dearly for arms

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 May 2000, 20:41 GMT]
"What is the message that you would like to give Prabhakaran at this juncture?" asked Dilip Ganguly, the Colombo correspondent of Associated Press, as Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister Mr.Lakshman Kadirgamar was winding up his press conference today. The Minister replied "Is it not time for you (Prabhaharan) to say 'I've seen a good battle; now it must end' ?" Mr.Kadirgamar ruled out the possibility of his government getting down foreign troops to fight the Liberation Tigers.
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Tigers ask civilians to move

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 May 2000, 11:38 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers said that Operation Unceasing Waves III has resumed in Jaffna following a few days gap for the safe out movement of civilians, according to the Voice of Tigers broadcast monitored in Vavuniya this morning. The Tigers asked civilians in theMunicipality limits of the Jaffna town to urgentlymove out to safer areas such as Chankanai, Manipay, Siththankerni, Sandilippai and Vaddukkoddai in the Waligamam west sector of the peninsula according to the radio.
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All party backing sought for war

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 May 2000, 16:56 GMT]
"The government doesn't intend stopping the war. The Tigers wont be allowed to advance any further in Jaffna" said Sri Lankan President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga addressing an all party meeting convened today to discuss the military crisis in the north. A proposal that all parties should unanimously resolve to defeat the Liberation Tigers was objected to by the Tamil United Liberation Front although the President was in agreement with this suggestion of the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna and the Sinhala Mahasammata Bhoomiputra party.
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SLA warns Jaffna journalist

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 May 2000, 20:15 GMT]
The Sri Lanka army in Jaffna reprimanded and warned senior Jaffna journalist Mr.C.N Vithyatharan today for publishing in his paper a story about the Sri Lankan President breaking into tears during her meeting with Indian Air Force chief A.Y Tipnis last week. He was also severely warned that action would be taken against him for publishing in his paper, Uthayan, the names of the five civlians, including two children, who were killed in the Sri Lanka Air Force bombing in Pooneryn on Friday, May 12.
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Offensive exposes Jaffna's 'soft underbelly'

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 May 2000, 16:02 GMT]
Sri Lankan Air Force jets continued bombing raids on the positions of the Tiger troops holding the Ariyalai and Thanangkilappu sectors to the south east of Jaffna town. However, the situation report put out by the Sri Lankan government's Media Centre today indicated that the Tigers are active in these sectors despite the heavy bombing.
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