A9 - SLA tries again

[TamilNet, Monday, 10 April 2000, 09:06 GMT]
Heavy fighting broke out between the Sri Lanka army (SLA) and the Liberation Tigers on the A9 highway between Eluthumadduval and Muhamaalai from the early hours of the morning today as the army made yet another attempt to recapture more than six kilometers of this road to the Elephant Pass garrison.
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SLA seeks Special Forces recruits

[TamilNet, Sunday, 09 April 2000, 20:15 GMT]
The commando regiment of the Sri Lankan army which is part of the SLA's elite 53 division called for new recruits today. The call for new recruits comes amidst reports that a large number of the 53 division's commandos have been put out of action due to constant deployment in special operations against the Liberation Tigers. The US Special Forces trained brigades of the 53 division have taken the brunt of the LTTE's Unceasing Waves III offensive since 2, November 1999.
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Profit plans stymie passage to Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 09 April 2000, 09:08 GMT]
The private operators of the passenger ship service to the north are quoting more than four thousand rupees (58 USD) for a return ticket to Jaffna from Trincomalee said a Jaffna Kachcheri official when contacted this morning by TamilNet over the continuing delay in obtaining the consent of the ICRC to escort such vessels. The official said "this ticket price structure is unfair". He added it could further compound the problem because the ICRC has no mandate, as far as he was aware, to escort a profit making passenger ship service.
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Dvora survivor swims ashore, helicopter hit

[TamilNet, Saturday, 08 April 2000, 05:20 GMT]
A wounded sailor who escaped from one of the Israeli built Dvora Fast Attack Craft (FACs) that were sunk last evening by the Liberation Tigers swam to the Amban coast in southeastern Jaffna early this morning. The sailor, R.M.S.Seneviratna, 21, of Mihintale told the TamilNet's Vadamaradchi correspondent who spoke to him in Amban soon after he arrived in the village that only he and another survived the Tiger attack on their FACs last night. Military sources in Jaffna said that a helicopter gunship was hit and damaged by fire from the coastal anti-aircraft gun positions of the Tigers last night in Vadamaradchi east.
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Fighting on Nagar Kovil interior road

[TamilNet, Friday, 07 April 2000, 21:38 GMT]
Heavy fighting broke out between the Liberation Tigers and the Sri Lanka army (SLA) on the road between Eluthumadduval and Nagar Kovil in Jaffna's southeastern sector last night from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. A SLA officer in Vadamaradchi east said that the fighting had broke out when the Liberation Tigers had attempted to advance on the interior road from their positions near Eluthumadduval towards Nagar Kovil.
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Bishop asked to mediate POW release

[TamilNet, Friday, 07 April 2000, 21:34 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Minister for Ethnic Affairs, Mr.Jeyaraj Fernandopulle wrote to the Bishop of Mannar today requesting him to mediate the release of the Sri Lanka army soldiers held by the Liberation Tigers in the Vanni. Church sources in Mannar said that the Bishop is expected to leave shortly, once he obtains clearance to visit the Vanni.
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Two Dvoras sunk -LTTE

[TamilNet, Friday, 07 April 2000, 17:00 GMT]
Two Dvora Fast Attack Crafts (FACs) were destroyed when the Liberation Tigers attacked a flotilla of Sri Lankan navy vessels off the coast of Vadamaradchi East in the north of the island this evening, the LTTE said in a press release.
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SLA battles to inch on MSR

[TamilNet, Thursday, 06 April 2000, 05:37 GMT]
Two attempts by the Sri Lanka army (SLA) yesterday to assault the positions of the Liberation Tigers on the A9 highway between Eluthumadduval and Pallai, south east of Jaffna, were counter-attacked and repulsed said the Voice of Tigers (VoT) in its morning broadcast today. The SLA in Jaffna, however, claimed that Operation Walikathara was on course but progress was quite slow due to stiff resistance and the high volume of artillery and mortar fire from the Tigers. The VoT said that Tiger troops damaged a SLA main battle tank in the fighting yesterday.
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Four civilians killed in shelling

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 05 April 2000, 13:52 GMT]
Four civilians were killed and 11 injured when the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) based in Naagar Kovil opened up a heavy barrage of shelling on a group of refugees taking shelter in a catholic church in the village of Chempiyanpattu in the Vadamaradchi East division, today, LTTE sources in London said.
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Civilians being used as human shield -LTTE

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 05 April 2000, 08:49 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers said in a press release today that the Sri Lanka Army was holding thousands of civilians as human shields in the northern battle zones. The LTTE said that the ICRC and the UNHCR delegations in Jaffna were failing in their duty protect civilians.
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Heavy fighting again in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 05 April 2000, 06:35 GMT]
Heavy fighting broke out this morning in Jaffna's southern sector between the Liberation Tigers and the Sri Lanka army (SLA). Residents in Mirusuvil, a village by the A9 highway southeast of Chavakachcheri, said that both sides are bombarding each other's positions with heavy volumes of mortar and artillery fire since morning.
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Release refugee says Tamil group

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 05 April 2000, 04:25 GMT]
A Tamil group in Colombo called on the international community today to persuade the Sri Lankan government to let the refugees held up at Kilali in Jaffna by the Sri Lanka army proceed to safer areas in other parts of the northern peninsula.
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SLA armoured thrust repulsed - LTTE

[TamilNet, Monday, 03 April 2000, 15:38 GMT]
Over one hundred Sri Lankan soldiers were killed and more than three hundred injured in the fierce fighting that erupted at Muhamalai yesterday the Liberation Tigers said in a press release issued from its London offices. The Tigers said they have destroyed 2 Tanks and damaged five others.
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SLA goes for Muhamaalai again

[TamilNet, Monday, 03 April 2000, 13:36 GMT]
Fierce fighting erupted again on the Main Supply Route to Jaffna's gateway garrison today when the Sri Lanka Army made another attempt from this morning to capture the segment of the A9 highway held by the Liberation Tigers.
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Civilians asked to leave battle zone

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 April 2000, 18:41 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Thamil Eelam (LTTE) asked the people of the Pachchilaipalli division near the Elephant Pass garrison in Jaffna to leave their villages by tomorrow afternoon and move to safety in Kodikamam. The Tigers said that they will hold fire from 6 a.m. in morning to 2 p.m. in the afternoon tomorrow to facilitate the movement of people out of Pachchilaipalli.
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Sea Tiger strategies concern SLA

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 April 2000, 12:52 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army has banned fishing in the Jaffna lagoon for three days amidst apprehensions about further amphibious operations by the Sea Tigers aimed at cutting off the army's current supply route to Elephant Pass. Fishermen who went to the Gurunagar jetty in Jaffna town to put out to sea this morning were turned back by the army.
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Tigers, SLA brace for more

[TamilNet, Friday, 31 March 2000, 17:34 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers consolidated areas they captured on the peninsula's southeastern coast this week and the Sri Lankan army re-deployed troops from Maathagal and Varani to strengthen its defences in Thenmaradchi against the Unceasing Waves III offensive. The SLA, meanwhile, banned fishing again in the seas off the Vadamaradchi coast.
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Radio lists Tiger KIA

[TamilNet, Friday, 31 March 2000, 10:54 GMT]
The Voice of Tigers said in its special noon broadcast today that thirty one Tigers including two black Tigers and a member of the organisation's 'border force' were killed in the latest phase of Operation Unceasing Waves III in Jaffna. The total number of Tigers killed so far in the Jaffna offensive since Sunday night is sixty.
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Nagar Kovil SLA counters barrage

[TamilNet, Friday, 31 March 2000, 08:02 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers opened up a barrage with artillery and mortars on the Sri Lanka army camp at Nagar Kovil on Jaffna's east coast last night. The bombardment began around 8 p.m. and went on until 3 a.m. this morning.
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SLA releases casualty figures

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 March 2000, 13:40 GMT]
Eighty Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troops, including five officers have been killed and six hundred and thirteen, including thirty one officers, have been wounded in the fighting with the Liberation Tigers in the Jaffna peninsula since Sunday night said the Ministry of Defence in a press release Thursday afternoon.
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