STF arrests Tamil youth in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 05 September 2007, 10:41 GMT]
Sri Lanka Special Task Force (STF) arrested a young bicycle mechanic in Batticaloa town for carrying bicycle ball bearings, Tuesday around 4:30 p.m and handed him over to Batticaloa police. The youth was in possession of unusually high number of ball bearings, according to the STF, police said.
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Amnesty calls for impartial, international investigations on escalating Human Rights violations in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 05 September 2007, 08:02 GMT]
"There are grounds to fear a return to a pattern of the security forces involvement in extrajudicial killing of journalists and others," the Amnesty International noted in a public statement issued on Tuesday charging that the national Human Rights monitoring mechanisms, including the Commission of Inquiry (CoI), lacked capacity to launch prompt, impartial and independent investigations. The Amnesty called on the members of the United Nations Human Rights Council, before the sixth session of the Council, scheduled to be held between 10 - 28 September, to exert pressure on Colombo to invite an international monitoring mechanism to independently investigate rights violations in the country.
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Civilian shot, injured in Kokkaddichcholai

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 05 September 2007, 01:04 GMT]
An unknown gunman shot and seriously injured a Tamil civilian riding a bicycle at Kokkaddichcholai in the Paduvaankarai region in Batticaloa district at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday. The gunmen escaped after shooting at the victim.
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6 Tamils reported missing in Verukal area

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 September 2007, 10:36 GMT]
Six Tamil civilians who went to Verukal river basin to collect honey and fishing on August 30 are reported missing, according to a complaint lodged with the Serunuwara police station by a Tamil civilian who is said to have escaped. Seven civilians had gone to the Verukal river basin to collect and honey and fishing.
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SL Parliament to debate on North East situation

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 September 2007, 05:38 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) is to move for a full-day debate on the current political and military situation in the North and East when parliament resumes sessions on Wednesday. Leaders of political parties representing in parliament have agreed to have a debate on a request made by Mr.R.Sampanthan, TNA parliament group leader, parliamentary sources said.


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Ex-Karuna cadre shot dead in internal fight

[TamilNet, Monday, 03 September 2007, 15:19 GMT]
Armed men, alleged to be Karuna group members, shot dead Sunday around 7:30 p.m, a former member of Karuna group at Koththiyaapula in Vavu'natheevu police division. The killers, arriving at the victim's house, had called him out and tried to take him away for interrogation. They shot him dead when he tried to escape.
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4500 civilians displaced from Musali to Naanaaddaan in Mannaar

[TamilNet, Monday, 03 September 2007, 00:54 GMT]
More than 4500 civilians were forced to flee Musali division in Mannnaar district Saturday when Sri Lanka Army (SLA) moved in, without any direct confrontation, into the area located south of Mannaar-Madawachchi Road where Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) were known to have been present in pockets of areas. No Forward Defence Lines (FDLs) were maintained by either warring party in the said areas. The coastal villages located between Mannaar and Puththa'lam. Naanaaddaan MV school and Don Bosco technical college where 1136 IDPs of 327 families were residing have been surrounded by the SLA and the Sri Lankan police.
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Couple shot, injured in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 September 2007, 12:59 GMT]
Unidentified armed men, alleged to be from Karuna group, shot and injured a farmer and his wife Saturday around 7:45 p.m, in an attempt to abduct the farmer from his house at Kannangkudaa area in Batticaloa district, sources in Batticaloa said.
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4 Tamil civilians arrested in Maligaawatte

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 September 2007, 06:18 GMT]
Four Tamil civilians were arrested Sunday morning in a combined cordon and search operation conducted by the Sri Lanka Army and Police at Maligawatte, a suburb in Colombo city. About 1800 houses were searched in the operation that lasted for about four hours, sources said.
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SLA orders government officials to resume census work in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 September 2007, 06:15 GMT]
In a meeting held Saturday within Palaly High Security Zone (HSZ), Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Jaffna Commander Major General G.A.Chandrasri issued strict orders to the Government Agent (GA) of Jaffna and to the District Secretaries (DS) to commence immediately the task of compiling of Census and Statistics of all civilians in the peninsula.
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13 Tamil youths arrested in Gampola

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 September 2007, 05:16 GMT]
121 persons including 13 Tamil youths were taken into custody in a combined cordon and search operation conducted by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and police in eleven police divisions in Gampola district Sunday from morning till dusk.
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Hope amid tragedy

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 September 2007, 19:40 GMT]
Antony, a six year old boy lost his leg, his 4-year old brother Reginathan was killed, his mother and 6-month old brother were injured, and his father Jegan lost his leg during 02 January attack by Kfir fast attack aircrafts of the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) at the coastal hamlet of Padakuththu’rai in Iluppaikadavai, Mannar town. Jegan lost four of his siblings. Amidst this tragedy, Antony showed remarkable resilience and a unique enthusiasm for his school work when TamilNet visited the family for an interview this week.
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SLA uses Muslim villagers as human shields in Mannaar

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 September 2007, 12:33 GMT]
Around fifty Muslim families in the Muslim villages in Musali division in Mannnar are being used as human shields by the Sri Lanka Army that entered the area Saturday morning. Meanwhile, the Tamil civilians in Mu'l'likku'lam village, are moving to LTTE controlled area, sources in Achchangku'lam in Naanaaddaan division said. The area concerned is accessible to both LTTE and SLA but there has been no resistance from the LTTE, the sources added.
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DPU Claymore kills 9 fleeing civilians in Mannaar

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 September 2007, 07:09 GMT]
Nine civilians fleeing from a Sri Lanka Army offensive towards Chilaavaththu'rai in Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) controlled territory in Musali, Mannaar, were killed and six including children wounded in a Claymore attack carried out by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Deep Penetration Unit (DPU) Saturday at 8:35 a.m. Two ambulances sent from Mannaar hospital to transport the wounded were blocked at Chi'rukka'ndal SLA camp. It has taken more than 6 hours to transport the wounded towards Mannaar hospital through a separate route via Achchangku'lam, medical sources said.
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Tamil woman abducted in Aalankerni

[TamilNet, Friday, 31 August 2007, 17:49 GMT]
A Tamil woman was abducted by unidentified armed men who came in a white van at Aalankerni, a traditional Tamil village in Kinniya division in Trincomalee district, Wednesday morning around 7.30 a.m.
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Census in East after civilian displacement

[TamilNet, Friday, 31 August 2007, 13:02 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Parliamentarian blamed the Government of Sri Lanka Thursday, for conducting a census in Batticaloa district after Tamil people were driven out of the district due to the military offensives, said R. Sampanthan, MP, the Parliamentary Group Leader of TNA, Batticaloa district members of Parliament, T. Kanagasabai, S. Jeyananthamoorthy, Miss. K. Thangeswary and P. Ariyaneththiran, Amparai district MP, K. Pathmanathan and Jaffna district MP Suresh Premachchandran, in a joint press communiqué issued Thursday.


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Tamil trader shot dead in Kanthalaai

[TamilNet, Friday, 31 August 2007, 12:09 GMT]
A Tamil trader was shot dead by unidentified men at Kanthalaai, located about 39 km off Trincomalee town along Trincomalee Kandy highway on Wednesday night around 8.30 p.m. inside his shop. The armed men entered his shop located along Janatha Mawatte, dragged him out and fired at him. The attackers then drove off in a white colored van.
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3 youths abducted in Mannaar town

[TamilNet, Friday, 31 August 2007, 11:27 GMT]
Two Muslims and a Tamil man were abducted by unidentified armed men who came in a white coloured van Friday at 12:00 noon in bazaar area in Mannaar town. Two of them were auto-rickshaw drivesrs and were were abducted near a bus-stop, and the third, an employee at a shop, was abducted from his business premises.
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LTTE areas in Mannaar come under SLA artillery fire

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 August 2007, 02:51 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army Wednesday evening around 4:00 p.m. launched artillery attack from Thallaady base and Senath bar base on areas controlled by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in the Mannaar district.
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Veerapuram residents threatened by Sinhalese Mob

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 August 2007, 00:47 GMT]
Tamil civilians in the neighbouring village of Veerapuram have received death threats from a group of Sinhalese after the shooting death of four home guards and a bus driver in U'lukku'lam in Vavuniyaa on 20 August by unidentified gunmen, sources said. The group has vowed to kill three times the number killed in U'lukku'lam in Vavuniyaa.
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