SLA short of troops - Commander

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 May 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Lieutenant General Rohan DeS Daluwatte, Commander of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA), said at a press conference today, that there was a shortage of security forces personnel to open the road from Vavuniya to Kilinochchi. He said that it was due to this necessity that deserters were being recalled to service.
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Mortar shells traded

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 May 1998, 23:59 GMT]
A mortar shell fired from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) controlled area of Paduvankarai in the outskirts of Batticaloa town, fell in the premises of the Batticaloa Airport which is across the lagoon from Paduvankarai, but caused no casualties nor damage, said sources in Batticaloa.
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Batticaloa travellers being filmed

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 May 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Passengers undergoing security checks at Mannampitty, 65 km north of Batticaloa, while en route from Batticaloa to Colombo are video filmed by soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) at the checkpoint, said sources in Batticaloa.
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Flu epidemic among refugees

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 May 1998, 23:59 GMT]
S. Satchithanantham, head of Aalankerni Vipulananda Mahaviththiyalayam (school) told a school principles conference in Trincomalee this morning, that 35 families displaced from Upparu, 40 km south of Trincomalee, are camping in the school premises from March 18 without any facilities or a place to go to, said sources in Trincomalee.
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Spotters mark eight for arrest

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 May 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Around 700 persons from the villages of Vandaramoolai and Kaluvankerni, 15 km north of Batticaloa, were rounded up and marched to the Vishnu temple at Vandaramoolai during a cordon and search operation by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA), which lasted from 5:00 a.m. till noon, said sources in Valaichenai.
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UN official on talks with LTTE

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 May 1998, 23:59 GMT]
A press statement issued today, Olara Otunnu, UN Special Representative on Children and Armed Conflict, following his visit to the Vanni said that the Liberation Tigers had assured him that they do not recruit anyone under the age of 17 and they do not deploy anyone under the age of 18 in combat now.
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Army ignores cease-fire - VoT

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 May 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Despite the declaration of cease-fire by the Liberation Tigers in order to support the visit of Mr. Olara Otunnu, UN Special Representative on Children in Armed Conflict, to the Vanni, the Sri Lankan forces have launched a heavy mortar barrage from their positions near Mankulam and Kilinochchi, said the Voice of Tigers (VoT) in its broadcast this morning.
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UN official meets LTTE delegation

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 May 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Mr. Olara Otunnu, UN Special Representative on Children in Armed Conflict met a delegation from the Liberation Tigers today at an unspecified location in Thunukkai in the Vanni, today, said sources in Vavuniya.
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One killed in firefight

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 May 1998, 23:59 GMT]
One unidentified armed man, believed to be a member of the LTTE, was killed in Mannar in the northwest of the island, this afternoon around 1.30 p.m in a firefight that lasted for 45 miniutes, said Sri Lankan police sources.
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SCF to study Vanni children's plight

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 May 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Ten thousand school children from a total of 66,000 living in the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) controlled areas, are unable go to school due to the war. These statistics were presented at a seminar in Trincomalee organised by the Ministry of Education, Cultural Affairs and Sports of the Northeast Provincial Council (NEPC), and sponsored by Save the Children Fund (SCF).
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Three Policemen killed

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 May 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Three Sri Lankan Policemen, including one sub-inspector were killed and two injured when the Liberation Tigers attacked Policemen travelling in a tractor, this afternoon in Jeyalathgama in Cheddikkulam, southwest of Vavuniya, said police sources in Vavuniya.
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Rumbled Tiger impersonators retaliate

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 May 1998, 23:59 GMT]
A group of people returning home after poosai (worship) at a temple in Chulipuram, 15 km northwest of Jaffna, were accosted and asked to hand over the food they were carrying by soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) posing off as members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) around 8 p.m. on Monday, said sources in Jaffna.
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Senior MPs call for UN intervention

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 May 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Senior Members of Parliament (MPs) from six political parties who met Mr. Olara Otunnu, UN Special Representative on Children and Armed Conflict, requested him to intervene in the Sri Lankan ethnic conflict to bring about a solution, despite the subject not coming strictly within his mandate, said sources in Colombo.
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Fishermen to share sea with fish

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 May 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Fishermen working near certain villages on the northern coast of Waligamam in the Jaffna peninsula, about 15 km north-west of Jaffna, are forced to stay in waist deep water for up to four hours, due to new security restrictions imposed by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) on shallow water fishing, said sources in Jaffna.
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Otunnu declines calls for UN intervention

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 May 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Mr. Olara Otunnu, UN Special Representative on Children in Armed Conflict arrived to Vavuniya this afternoon and met Sri Lanka government officials, said sources. The Sri Lankan officials said that it is the wish of the people that UN should put pressure on both parties in the conflict and to bring about peace.
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UN official in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 May 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Mr. Olara Otunnu, United Nations Special Representative on Children in Armed Conflict, visited Jaffna yesterday and had meetings with the Jaffna Government Agent said sources in the Jaffna Kachcheri. He also met Maj. Gen. Balagalle, at the Palaly SLA base yesterday said SLA sources in Jaffna.
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Jaffna island troops pulled out

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 May 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Sections of the 514 Brigade of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) stationed at Allaipiddy, Mandatheevu and Mankumban, in the islands off the Jaffna peninsula, are in the process of being withdrawn to other areas, said sources in Jaffna.
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Artillery barrage follows skirmish

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 May 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and police camps around Valaichenai, 30 km north of Batticaloa, went on a shelling spree last night following an attack on the SLA-Police checkpoint at Ottamaavadi bridge, 36 km northwest of Batticaloa, by the Liberation Tigers around 2:50 a.m. today, said sources in Valaichenai.
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Former SLAF chief's guard charged

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 May 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Rukmal Herath, a bodyguard of the former Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) commander, Air Marshal Oliver Ranasinghe, was produced before the Gangodawila courts, in a suburb of Colombo, on the charge of attacking Iqbal Athas, a well known Sri Lankan journalist, said legal sources in Colombo.
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Tigers attack homeguard, SLA posts

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 May 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Two home guards were killed when the Liberation Tigers attacked their forward defence post at Sampitty in the Amparai district at 12.50 a.m today, said the Voice of Tigers in its night broadcast.
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