'Sinhala nation has killed our dove of peace' - LTTE Leader Pirapaharan

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 November 2007, 17:08 GMT]
The Sinhala nation has taken the life of a political leader "deeply loved by the Tamil speaking world" and "greatly respected by the international community," said Velupillai Pirapaharan, the leader of Liberation Tigers, in a message to the Tamil people on Saturday, following the demise of LTTE's Political Head and Chief Negotiator, Brigadier S. P. Thamilchelvan. "I raised him as a great commander, an unparalleled political head, a diplomat who communicated with the entire world, and a skilled negotiator," Mr. Pirapaharan said. "Buried within his beautiful smile, I recognized, right from the beginning, a thousand profound meanings, his abilities, and his leadership qualities."
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US Senator expresses concern of Sri Lanka's rights violations

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 November 2007, 13:51 GMT]
Advocating for "international human rights field presence" in Sri Lanka, and asserting "there is no military solution to Sri Lankan conflict," the Democratic Senator from Vermont and Chairman of Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Patrick Leahy, in a statement issued at the Senate sessions on 2nd November said: " We have been increasingly concerned with reports of abuses by Sri Lankan government forces - not from the LTTE or their supporters as some have inaccurately claimed, but from the United Nations, the Department of State, and international human rights organizations."
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Karunanidhi laments the death of Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 November 2007, 11:43 GMT]
Seen as a significant gesture, the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and veteran leader of Tamils, M. Karunanidhi, condoled the demise of Thamilchelvan on Saturday. Kalaignar Karunanidhi, quite typical of his style, used the medium of poetry and pun to pass a subtle message that the Tamils of Sri Lanka haven't gone brotherless. The Chief Minister's emotion-filled condolence gains significance in the background of a prevailing impression that the government of India is fully backing the war efforts of the government of Sri Lanka aiming for a military solution to the ethnic crisis in the island.
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Thousands pay homage to slain LTTE political cadres in Vanni

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 November 2007, 09:43 GMT]
Thousands of Kilinochchi residents, and LTTE officials and cadres gathered at Ki'linochchi Cultural Hall Saturday morning to pay their last respects to the five political cadres slain along with Brigadier S. P. Tamilchelvan, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Political Head, in the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) aerial bombing on ki'linochchi Friay. Tamileelam Police Chief P. Nadesan and Senior Commander Col. Balraj paid homage at the event, sources in Ki'linochchi said.
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27 civilians arrested in Pussellawa

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 November 2007, 09:00 GMT]
27 civilians were taken into custody at Pussellawa, a town in the Nuwara Eliya district in the upcountry in a cordon and search operation conducted by the Sri Lanka Army Saturday from 4 a.m. till 11 a.m. Majority of them are Tamils and residents of northeast province, civil sources said.
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Erik Solheim concerned for consequences

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 November 2007, 07:01 GMT]
Erik Solheim, the Norwegian International Development Minister and facilitator for the peace process in Sri Lanka, who was apparently uneasy over the killing of Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) Political Head S. P. Thamilchelvan, has said that he was deeply concerned about the consequences of the present escalation of war in Sri Lanka, the NTB news agency of Norway reported Friday. Characterizing the death a big loss, Mr. Erik Solheim further said that Mr. Thamilchelvan was an important contact point between the LTTE and Norway in the facilitation of the peace process.
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LTTE leader pays respects to slain political head

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 November 2007, 18:37 GMT]
Velupillai Pirapaharan, the leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE), paid his respects to slain Political Head and Chief Negotiator, Brigadier S. P. Thamilchelvan Friday evening.
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56 girls arrested at Galkissa

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 November 2007, 17:45 GMT]
56 girls, majority of them Tamils, were taken into custody in a combined cordon and search operation conducted by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) Friday morning till noon at Galkissa, a town in the Colombo district. Majority of them are residents of northeast province. Some of them are working in businesses establishments, civil sources said.
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Nadesan appointed new Political Head of the LTTE

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 November 2007, 16:10 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) leader V. Pirapaharan has appointed B. Nadesan as the new Political Head following the demise of Brigadier S.P. Thamilchelvan, according to Irasiah Ilanthiryan, LTTE's military spokesman.
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Jubilant Sri Lanka threatens to wipe Tigers out

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 November 2007, 13:27 GMT]
Hailing the Air Force bombing raid Friday which killed the Tamil Tigers chief negotiator and Political Wing head, Mr. S. P. Thamilchelvan and five other LTTE officials, Sri Lankan Defence Secretary, Gotabaya Rajapaksa said his government would kill other LTTE leaders ‘one by one’. Sources said he made his comments, quoted by Reuters, at a celebratory meeting at Temple Trees, the official residence of President Mahinda Rajapakse, who is also Mr. Gotabaya’s brother. Meanwhile, the Colombo stock market soared on news of the deaths.
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'Targeted killing of LTTE Chief Negotiator shatters hopes for peace' - TNA

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 November 2007, 11:11 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s largest Tamil political party, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Friday expressed its shock at the killing in a government airstrike of Mr S. P. Thamilchelvan the LTTE’s Chief Negotiator and head of its Political Wing and five other LTTE officials. The TNA said the targeted killing of the LTTE’s Chief Negotiator underlined President Mahinda Rajapakse’s insincerity towards a negotiated solution, the TNA also said.
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Thamilchelvan killed in SLAF air attack

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 November 2007, 07:27 GMT]
S.P. Thamilchelvan, Liberation Tigers Political Head was killed in Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) aerial bombardment Friday morning in Ki'linochchi. The Head Quarters of the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) in a press communique said it was conveying the loss of Brigadier Thamilchelvan with profound sadness to the people of Tamil Eelam, the Tamil Diaspora and the Global Community. The Sri Lanka Air Force attack has specifically targeted the residence of the members of the Political Division.
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Tamil detainee files FR petition in Supreme Court

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 November 2007, 02:06 GMT]
A Tamil resident of Wattala in Colombo district has filed a fundamental rights (FR) violation petition in the Sri Lanka' Supreme Court to declare that his arrest and detention under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) is illegal and to order his release. The petitioner Rajendran Yogaraj, 49, has cited the Director of the Terrorist Intelligence Division of the Sri Lanka Police, Defence Ministry Secretary and Attorney General as respondents.
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Supreme Court dismisses FR petitions filed by 2 Tamil women

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 November 2007, 01:35 GMT]
Three-member bench of the Sri Lanka's Supreme Court Tuesday rejected the Fundamental Rights Violation applications filed by two Tamil women being detained in remand prison since their arrest three months earlier, legal sources in Colombo said.
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Court releases four Tamil youths from Boosa camp

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 November 2007, 00:33 GMT]
The Colombo Chief Magistrate Tuesday ordered the release of four Tamil youths who had been kept in detention in Boosa camp. S.Sujevanendra and J.N.Jeyanesan were released unconditionally. Nadaraja Kamalraj and Devadas Prakash of Jaffna were released on bail with a warning that they should appear in court whenever the Court serves notices, legal sources in Colombo said.
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Pirapaharan decorates LTTE heroes of Anuradhapura

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 November 2007, 19:45 GMT]
Velupillai Pirapaharan, the leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE), on Thursday conferred Awards of Valour for Tiger cadres who excelled in their performance in the Anuradhapura operation against the Sri Lankan airbase. Four categories of awards, instituted for the first time, were bestowed on this occasion at a special venue organized in Vanni, in the presence of Tiger commanders and cadres, LTTE officials told TamilNet.
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Anuradhapura Magistrate orders remand for 11 Tamil civilians

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 November 2007, 19:24 GMT]
Eleven Tamil civilians including a woman arrested soon after the aerial and land attack of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on Anuradhapura airbase are being held in remand in Anuradhapura prison under heavy security. They are residents of Moothoor, Palaiyootu, Gandhi Nagar, Trincomalee and Vavuniya in the northeast provinces.
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25 SLA killed in Mannaar clashes - LTTE

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 November 2007, 15:26 GMT]
At least 25 Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers were killed and more than 60 wounded when Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) confronted the ground troops of the SLA on two fronts, at Paalaikkuzhi and at the bund of Kaddukkarai Ku'lam Thursday morning from 5:30 a.m. till 12:30 p.m., field officials of the Tigers told media in Vanni Thursday evening. Tigers said they lost seven cadres in the fighting in Mannaar. Arrangements were underway to hand over a dead body of a SLA trooper, recovered by the Tigers, after thwarting the SLA movement. The LTTE has seized four automatic rifles and ammunitions in the clearing mission, they said.
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Paramilitary members abducts youth in Ea'raavoor

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 31 October 2007, 19:08 GMT]
More than ten paramilitary members of Karuna group, arriving in a white van at the house of a Tamil youth, Tuesday around 9:30 p.m at Aiyangkearni in Ea'raavoor police division in Batticaloa district, forcibly abducted him, according to a complaint made with Ea'raavoor police.
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Irish Tamil citizen files HC application in SL Court

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 31 October 2007, 09:30 GMT]
A Habeas Corpus application has been filed in the Sri Lanka's Court of Appeal seeking the release of a Sri Lankan Tamil who is currently a citizen of Ireland and a resident of Singapore. The Terrorist Intelligence Division (TID) of the Sri Lanka Police arrested Mr.Gunasundaram Jayasundaram on September 4 this year at Katunayake International Airport (KIA) when he arrived from Singapore on a business trip to Colombo. Since then he is being detained in the remand on the orders of the Defence Ministry Secretary.
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