LTTE resistance heavy - SLA

[TamilNet, Monday, 16 February 1998, 23:59 GMT]
SLA sources in Vavuniya said that casualties in the fighting for Mankulam had risen to 27 soldiers killed and 124 wounded following clashes with the Liberation Tigers yesterday as well.
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LTTE holding Kilinochchi FDLs

[TamilNet, Monday, 16 February 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Brigadier Lohan Gunawardana, the General Officer Commanding of the 54 division told the team of journalists which was taken by the SLA to Kilinochchi yesterday that the LTTE is still in control of the four kilometer long Forward Defence Lines (FDLs) in the southern part of the town. The 54 division is stationed in the Elephant Pass- Paranthan- Kilinochchi complex.
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MoD blocks insecticide supplies

[TamilNet, Monday, 16 February 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) is restricting the supply of sulphur to the Jaffna District, said sources in Jaffna. No reason has been given by the MoD for this restriction.
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Shelling causes panic

[TamilNet, Monday, 16 February 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) shelled Gurunagar in Jaffna town from the Palaly SLA camp around 8.45 p.m. last night said sources in Jaffna. Though no one was injured, there was panic among the residents of the area.
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Mass arrest in Valaichenai

[TamilNet, Monday, 16 February 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The SLA cordoned off and searched the several villages in Valaichenai this morning. More than five hundred males from the villages of Peythalai, Kannakipuram, Puthukkudiyiruppu, Kannankikiramam etc., were taken to an empty ground near the Peythalai army camp.
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A comfortable blackout

[TamilNet, Monday, 16 February 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The conflict between the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE is being fought behind one of the most comprehensive news blackouts of recent times. The Sri Lankan government has been able to strictly control information coming out of the war zone with considerable success and without drawing much international criticism of the censorship. Sri Lanka's success stems from following a simple but effective strategy that has proved successful elsewhere.
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Journalists to see Kilinochchi

[TamilNet, Saturday, 14 February 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The Sri Lankan government announced today that it will take the press to Kilinochchi by air tomorrow. The government information department has informed newspapers and news agencies in Colombo that journalists would be flown to Kilinochchi tomorrow morning.
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SLA patrol attacked in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 14 February 1998, 23:59 GMT]
One soldier was killed and two were wounded when the Liberation Tigers ambushed a Sri Lankan army foot patrol last evening in Jaffna. The ambush was in Soorawaththai in Chunnakam, north of Jaffna town said army sources in Jaffna.
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Sporadic clashes in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Saturday, 14 February 1998, 23:59 GMT]
One Sri Lankan Policeman was killed south of Batticaloa town in the early hours of the morning today around 1.30 a.m. when the Liberation Tigers who came by boat fired on a sentry point by the Batticaloa lagoon.
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LTTE ambush in Polanaruwa

[TamilNet, Saturday, 14 February 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Five SLA soldiers were killed and an unknown number were wounded when the Liberation Tigers attacked an SLA detachment at Aralaganwila in the Polanaruwa district this morning around 8.45 a.m.
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Soldier killed in mine blast

[TamilNet, Friday, 13 February 1998, 23:59 GMT]
A soldier of the Sri Lankan Army (SLA) was killed in a mine explosion at Korakallimadu, 20 km north of Batticaloa, on the Batticaloa Valaichenai Road around 10.30 a.m. this morning, said sources in Valaichenai. There were no other casualties.
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Jaffna soldiers go missing

[TamilNet, Friday, 13 February 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers, who arrived in 2 speed boats last night, attacked and completely destroyed one Sri Lanka Army (SLA) sentry point at 'Savakalai' junction in Gurunagar in Jaffna. Other sentry points were also damaged near the Gurunagar housing scheme.
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Jaffna commander briefs diplomats

[TamilNet, Friday, 13 February 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The commander of the Sri Lankan security forces in Jaffna, Major General Lionel Balagalle, met members of the diplomatic community at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Colombo to explain the situation in Jaffna.
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LTTE seeks access to "secret" records

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 February 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Lawyers representing the Liberation Tigers have filed a motion with the US Court of Appeals, claiming the right to full access to "secretly compiled" US State department records, with a view to correcting "inaccuracies and distortions", according a news release released by Ramsey Clark Lawrence W. Schilling today.
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Batticaloa farmers face bleak prospects

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 February 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Farmers in the Batticaloa District - especially those from areas controlled by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) - are facing financial ruin with middlemen purchasing their harvest at very low prices, reports the TamilNet correspondent in Batticaloa.
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Pro-government militia seen bracing themselves

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 February 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Paramilitary organisations in Batticaloa such as the Peoples Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE) and the Razeek Group which is affiliated to the Eelam Peoples' Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF), are strengthening the fortifications around their camps and exercising greater vigilance through more rigorous checking of civilians, in fear of an attack by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), said sources in Batticaloa.
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Five killed in Vanni clashes - VoT

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 February 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The Voice of Tigers radio said in its night broadcast today that two Tigers were killed in the fighting which broke out between the LTTE and the SLA yesterday in the Mankulam area.
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Mine hits SLA bus

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 11 February 1998, 23:59 GMT]
3 SLA soldiers were killed and 21 wounded and when a bus carrying more than forty SLA troops in a convoy was hit by a claymore mine today, around 11.45 a.m. in Vanthaarumoolai, 18 kilometers north of Batticaloa on the main trunk road.
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Jaffna SLA comment on Kilinochchi battle

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 11 February 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The Sri Lankan security forces headquarters in Jaffna has released a statement about the situation in Kilinochchi-Paranthan-Elephant Pass following the attack on army positions here on February 1. The statement is addressed to the people of Jaffna in Tamil and was issued by Major C.P.J. Fernando on behalf of the Jaffna security forces commander.
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Jaffna SLA digs in

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 February 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Army instructed the farmers in the Thenmaradchi area in the Jaffna peninsula not to stack paddy or hay from their farms by sides of the road. This warning was meant especially for the farms adjacent to the roads.
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