15,000 deprived of livelihood in Paduvaankarai

[TamilNet, Saturday, 08 December 2007, 21:27 GMT]
Half of the affected agriculture-dependent families in Batticaloa district are from Paduvaankarai region, where the major cultivable land of the district, is situated. Forced to flee their paddy fields, standing ripe and ready for harvest, the families who returned under the Government of Sri Lanka's (GoSL) resettlement, could only witness the remains of the properties and livestock that had been looted by the Sri Lankan forces. Although four months have elapsed since their resettlement, the GoSL has not provided any assistance to the farmers to resume paddy cultivation.
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Disparity in condemning attacks on civilian targets, counterproductive - TNA MPs in Oslo

[TamilNet, Saturday, 08 December 2007, 13:49 GMT]
"The recent condemnations on the attacks of civilian targets in Sri Lanka came only after witnessing attacks on a civilian target in the South. There was no condemnation by the International Community when Mannaar Coordinator of an International NGO, Rev. Fr. Nicholaspillai Pakiyaranjith, was slain in a Claymore attack in Vanni by the Sri Lankan DPU team. Why did the IC fail in condemning the indiscriminate air-attacks on civilian targets in Vanni?," asked the Batticaloa district Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian S. Jeyanandamoorthy and Jaffna district MP K. Sivanesan while talking to media in Oslo on Friday after a meeting with the Norwegian Special Envoy Jon Hanssen-Bauer.
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Tigers repel SLA attack in Ma'nalaa'ru

[TamilNet, Saturday, 08 December 2007, 08:35 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) fighters on Friday thwarted an attempt made by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) to advance into LTTE territory in Ma'nalaa'ru, Kokkuththoduvaay around 9:30 a.m, sources at Liberation Tigers Ma'nalaa'ru Operations Command said.
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Kaagnchirangkudaa

[TamilNet, Saturday, 08 December 2007, 00:41 GMT]
The cove / corner of Kaagnchirai trees
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LTTE thwarts SLA advance attempt in Adampan, Mannaar

[TamilNet, Friday, 07 December 2007, 18:16 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) thwarted an attempt made by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) to advance from Maanthai into Adampan Friday morning in a fierce fight against the SLA which lasted from 9:00 a.m until 3:00 p.m, sources in Mannaar said. Both sides have not released any information.
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3 returning expatriates reported missing from Katunayake

[TamilNet, Friday, 07 December 2007, 16:13 GMT]
Three Tamil men, returning from Saudi Arabia after two years employment, are reported missing after leaving Kattunayake International Airport Sunday, according to a complaint made to P. Rathakrishnan, Deputy minister and Upcountry Peoples’ Front parliamentarian for Colombo district by Mannaar district Peoples’ Association Coordinating Officer, Mohamed Fowmi, civil sources in Mannar said.
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Court allows inquiry into CWC's FR petition against mass arrests

[TamilNet, Friday, 07 December 2007, 12:02 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Supreme Court Friday granted permission to the Ceylon Workers Congress to proceed with its Fundamental Rights Violation petition against the alleged illegal arrest and detention of thousands of Tamil citizens without valid reason and reasonable suspicion recently carried out in Colombo and its suburbs by the law enforcement authorities.
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CWC files FR petition against mass arrest, detention of Tamils

[TamilNet, Thursday, 06 December 2007, 19:43 GMT]
The Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC) Thursday filed a Fundamental Rights Violation petition in the Supreme Court seeking the court to prevent further arrest and detention of Tamil people without any valid reason and reasonable suspicion. This is the second FR violation petition filed in the Supreme Court against the mass arrest and detention of Tamil residents. The first FR petition was filed Tuesday by the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA), sources said.
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Sri Lanka extends State of Emergency

[TamilNet, Thursday, 06 December 2007, 19:39 GMT]
Sri Lanka's parliament Thursday adopted a motion to extend the State of Emergency for another month by a majority of 126 votes. 141 parliamentarians from the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) and its constituent parties Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC) and Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) voted for the motion. The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) also voted with the government, parliamentary sources said.
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Medical staff in Vanni protest against DPU Claymore attacks on ambulances

[TamilNet, Thursday, 06 December 2007, 11:50 GMT]
More than 700 medical staff in Vanni, including doctors, nurses, technical staff, midwives and minor staff from K'ilinochchi and Mullaiththeevu districts, Thursday morning staged a protest against targeted Claymore attacks by the Sri Lanka Army Deep Penetration Unit (DPU) on ambulances and humanitarian vehicles. In August last year, a DPU attack on the ambulance of Nedungkea'ni claimed the lives of the doctor of Nedungkea'ni hospital, his wife, two nurses and the driver of the ambulance. On 25 November, the driver of the ambulance of Muzhangkaavil hospital was seriously wounded in a Claymore attack at Mudkompan in Poonakari (Pooneryn).
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LTTE to handover bodies of 4 SLA killed in Mannaar

[TamilNet, Thursday, 06 December 2007, 07:01 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) officials in Ki'linochchi told media Thursday that arrangements were underway to handover corpses of four Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers to the SLA through the ICRC. The soldiers were killed in a clash that erupted between the Tigers and a SLA unit that attempted to advance towards Ku'risuddaku'lam in Mannaar.
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LTTE ambush kills SLA soldiers in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 05 December 2007, 14:25 GMT]
At least three Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers were killed when a ambush unit of the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam engaged in a clash with SLA road patrol at Chinnachchitpikku'lam located southwest of Vavuniyaa around 7:00 a.m. Informed military sources put the SLA casualty figure at 5 killed.
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FR petition filed against illegal arrest, detention of Tamils

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 05 December 2007, 13:30 GMT]
The Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) based in Colombo Tuesday filed a Fundamental Rights Violation petition in the Sri Lanka's Supreme Court seeking to prevent Tamil citizens being arrested without any valid reason and reasonable suspicion. The petition has also sought the Supreme Court to formulate a set of guidelines directing the law enforcement authorities in how to deal with the arrest and detention of persons, legal sources said.
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Body of male washed ashore in Chempiyanpattu

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 December 2007, 19:05 GMT]
The highly mutilated body of a male, estimated to be 35-years old, was recovered by Tamil Eelam police (TEP) Tuesday morning 6:00 a.m. along the coast of Chempiyanpattu seas, in Vadamaraadchchi East, sources said.
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3 SLA troops dead, several injured in LTTE retaliation in Ki'laali

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 December 2007, 17:20 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) thwarted an attempted advance operation of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) into LTTE held Ki’laalii area Tuesday around 1:00 p.m, killing three SLA troops and injuring many, LTTE sources said. SLA began the operation with artillery, mortar and Multi-Barrel Racket fire from 4:30 a.m in preparation for the advance operation launched at midday, the sources said.
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Rights groups condemn "Collective Punishment"

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 December 2007, 16:25 GMT]
Center for Policy Alternatives (CPA), a Colombo-based think-tank, and the Free Media Movement (FMM), a media watch group in Colombo, are considering taking legal action against Sri Lanka authorities for the mass arrest of more than 2000 Tamils in suburbs of Colombo this week, media reports in Colombo said. The arrests were made after the Government of Sri Lanka accused the Liberation Tigers of carrying out the two bomb attacks that killed 21 people and injured more than 40 in Colombo.
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A5 route in Batticaloa district reopened

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 December 2007, 08:00 GMT]
Chengkaladi-Badulla A5 route in Batticaloa connecting the districts of Badulla and Batticaola, which had been closed 12 August 2006 due to the war between the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), was opened Monday for public use, sources in Batticaloa said.
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NPC condemns mass arrests in Colombo

[TamilNet, Monday, 03 December 2007, 14:42 GMT]
"Hundreds of Tamils residing in Colombo have been arrested in a crackdown reminiscent of the attempt to evict temporary Tamil residents from Colombo in June this year," said National Peace Council, a Colombo based peace group, in a press release issued on Monday. "The people who have been arrested include women with children. Some of them are Tamil workers from the central hills who have been living in Colombo for many years. When they are arrested in this manner, they stand to lose their livelihoods for which they do not obtain compensation. Others are people who have left the north and east where they cannot live peacefully and safely due to the war conditions in that part of the country."
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Colombo lacks sincerity in investigating Fr. Jim Brown's disappearance - Jaffna Bishop

[TamilNet, Monday, 03 December 2007, 12:05 GMT]
The Bishop of Jaffna, Rt. Rev. Thomas Saundranayagam, who is on a mission to Vanni, on Sunday said that the manner in which Colombo was handling the investigation on the disappearance of Rev. Fr. Jim Brown, seemed like an eyewash exercise without any sincerity, being conducted to "hoodwink the International Community" into believing that investigation was continuing. "Two weeks ago, a CID officer from Colombo came to meet me. He only knew Sinhala. I was shocked to realize how he could conduct investigations without working knowledge in Tamil and English to collect evidence on the disappearance of Fr. Brown," the Bishop said while briefing media on the prevailing situation in Jaffna.
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Six Tamils arrested in Mannaar

[TamilNet, Monday, 03 December 2007, 10:19 GMT]
Mannaar Police Monday around 7:00 a.m. took six Tamils including two women into custody in the bazaar area of the Mannaar town. Police alleged that the women, being detained in Mannaar police station, were members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE).
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