112 troops killed, 793 wounded in June - Sri Lankan PM

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 July 2008, 08:53 GMT]
Ratnasiri Wickremanayake, the Sri Lankan prime minister Tuesday opening the debate in the parliament on the motion seeking approval to extend the State of Emergency for another month revealed that one hundred and twelve Sri Lankan armed forces personnel were killed and seven hundred and ninety three were injured in the battlefield against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in June.
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SLAF attacks paddy fields again, civilian wounded

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 July 2008, 06:25 GMT]
A 24-year-old man, father of two, was wounded Tuesday morning when two Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombers attacked Kugnchup-paranthan and the adjacent paddy fields along Paranthan - Poonakari (Pooneryn) road. TamilNet correspondent who visited the attack site said that the bombardment has caused extensive damage to the agricultural lands in the 5th canal. The road was also damaged in the attack. The SLAF bombers came again in the afternoon and attacked the same area with deep bombs leaving large craters.
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Protection seekers in Jaffna face uncertain future

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 July 2008, 00:21 GMT]
Nearly three hundreds civilians who sought protection with Jaffna Human Rights Commision (JHRC) and kept in protective custody within Jaffna prison premises are facing danger of being removed against their wishes as a result of the activities of a local judge, sources in Jaffna said. Continued threats from in Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Intelligence and paramilitary operatives forced many civilians to surrender to the HRC from various parts of the peninsula during the past two years. The SLA has earlier forced protection seekers at Jaffna prison to sign a letter, stating that they were LTTE members, before accommodating them to the centre at Thellippazhai.
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Tamil trader shot dead in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 July 2008, 16:14 GMT]
A 40-year-old Tamil trader was shot dead Monday around 2:00 p.m. at Chivapuri, a suburb of the Trincomalee city by unidentified men, who arrived in a motor bike to his house after he returned from his shop. He had been running a bar along Central Road in the city.
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A9 gateway to Vanni re-opens at Oamanthai

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 July 2008, 11:58 GMT]
The ICRC resumed its services at A9 gateway to Vanni after having secured guarantees from the Government of Sri Lanka that attacks such as that took place close to the gateway would not be repeated, informed sources in Vavuniyaa told TamilNet. The ICRC resumed its services from 3:00 p.m. Monday.
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Sivajilingam seeks referendum to decide Tamil Eelam

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 July 2008, 01:42 GMT]
Let the International Community hold a referendum to get the will of Eezham Tamils for an independent homeland if it is not convinced of their sentiments shown explicitly through the events of Pongku Thamizh all over the world. Australia supported such a referendum in East Timor, said Tamil National Alliance MP, Sivajilingkam to TamilNet, when he came to address the Pongku Thamizh event held at Sydney on Sunday.
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Spontaneous show of solidarity in Canada

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 July 2008, 23:00 GMT]
In a spectacular show at short notice, more than 75,000 Canadian Tamils spontaneously gathered at Downsview Park in Toronto, Canada, for the Pongku Thamizh event, forging solidarity for the cause of Eezham, on Saturday. It was in fact a response to the oppressive policies of the International Community against Eezham Tamil nationalism, observers say.
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15-year-old Tamil boy abducted in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 July 2008, 15:25 GMT]
Unidentified men who came in a three-wheeler Saturday night abducted a 15-year-old Tamil boy from his house located in Kaanthinakar, a suburb of the east port city, according to complaints lodged with the Uppuve'li Police Sunday by his parents.
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30 civilians arrested in Puththa'lam

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 July 2008, 15:23 GMT]
Thirty civilians, Tamils and Muslims, were taken into custody by the Sri Lankan police in a cordon and search operation conducted in Puththa'lam town in northwestern province Sunday morning till afternoon. Every shop and buildings located in the town came under search, residents said.
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Tigers target SLAF bomber over Vanni

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 July 2008, 14:37 GMT]
A Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) MiG-27 fighter jet was forced to return after it sustained damage in anti-aircraft fire over Ki'linochchi area in Vanni Sunday afternoon, LTTE officials told media in Vanni. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) officials in Colombo, admitting that an aircraft had a troubled landing at Katunayaka military airbase in Colombo after carrying out an air strike, said that the fighter jet had 'skidded off' the runway while landing.
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Civilians wounded in SLAF bombardment

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 July 2008, 12:17 GMT]
At least four civilians were wounded at Vaddakkachchi, around 7 km from Ki'linochchi Sunday at 4:20 p.m. when two Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombers attacked a residential area twice, Tamileelam Police officials told media in Ki'linochchi. 15 houses have sustained serious damage in the aerial attack.
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LTTE leader pays homage to Black Tigers

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 July 2008, 06:47 GMT]
LTTE leader Mr. V. Pirapaharan participated in the Black Tigers commemoration day events held Saturday in Vanni. 356 Black Tigers have laid down their lives, 254 of them in sea operations, during the last 21 years since 05 July 1987, when the first Black Tiger Captain Miller, drove an explosive laden truck on Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troops garrisoned at Nelliyadi Central College in Vadamaraadchi in Jaffna. Last year, Black Tiger commandos stormed the Sri Lankan airbase in Anudradhapura in LTTE's first combined Black Tiger and Tamil Eelam Air Force attack, destroying more than 10 air crafts.
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SLA continue artillery barrage on LTTE territory across Jaffna lagoon

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 July 2008, 01:53 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA), from its artillery bases along Jaffna lagoon coast, continue artillery fire on Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) held territory across the lagoon from Friday night. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) helicopters stepped up surveillance mission in the lagoon area as well as on the coastal areas in Vadamaraadchi as Tigers observed Black Tigers Day on Saturday.
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Sri Lanka, a case of political inequality

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 July 2008, 16:38 GMT]
Striking a sharp contrast to Colombo's portrayal of Eezham struggle as a terrorist issue, Frances Stewart, the director of the Oxford based Centre for Research on Inequality, Human Security and Ethnicity (CRISE), looks at the crisis as a case of inequalities in political power between the Tamils and Sinhalese. In an interview that appeared in Human Rights Tribune, on Thursday, she said: "Horizontal inequalities have political, economic, social and cultural dimensions… Inequalities in political power, which are very important, where one group may have total dominance of the political system, and another group does not have any access, which is the situation more or less in Sri Lanka."
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Ejected IDP family denies wrongdoing

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 July 2008, 12:39 GMT]
A widowed Tamil woman and three children displaced from Trincomalee district and living in an interim camp in Kalviyangkaadu, Batticaloa, and recently ejected from the camp by the village officer (GS) of the area for immoral conduct, has called for justice from Human Rights Commission (HRC).
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NCPC, SPC elections to be held on August 23

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 July 2008, 09:58 GMT]
Elections to the Sabragamuwa Provincial Council (SPC) and North Central provincial Council (NCPC) will be held on August 23, the Sri Lankan Commissioner of Elections Dayananda Dissanayake announced Friday at the closure of nominations. Meanwhile all major political parties, ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA), main opposition United National Party (UNP) and the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) which suffered a split some months ago have been contesting all the four districts in the two provinces.
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Tamil trader shot dead, 4 abducted in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 July 2008, 09:42 GMT]
A 67-year-old Tamil trader, Arumugam Karuppiah, was shot dead Thursday night at Paarathipuram in Vavuniyaa by unidentified persons. He succumbed to gunshot injuries on admission at the Vavuniyaa general hospital, according to medical sources. Meanwhile, 4 Tamil civilians were abducted by unidentified persons since Wednesday at three different places in Vavuniyaa.
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3 policemen, 2 civilians injured in Claymore attack in Ea’raavoor

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 July 2008, 16:37 GMT]
A Claymore attack on the train from Batticaloa to Colombo Thursday around 8:15 p.m near Ea’raavoor Railway station injured three policemen and two civilians including a student. The train left Batticaloa Railway station at 7:30 p.m.
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DPU shoot dead student in Vanni

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 July 2008, 16:19 GMT]
Deep Penetration Unit (DPU) of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) shot and killed a student of Mallaavi Central College Thursday around 10:20 a.m at Aiyangku’lam in Mallaavi in Vanni.
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Abducted restaurant owner released

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 July 2008, 14:31 GMT]
The owner of a restaurant abducted June 30 Monday night from Paduvaankarai within Palugaamam police division in Batticaloa district was released early morning Thursday, sources said.
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