SLTMA urges action on Journalist's killing

[TamilNet, Sunday, 29 April 2007, 20:37 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Tamil Media Alliance (SLTMA ) in a communique issued Sunday appealed to the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) to take immediate action to find those involved in the killing of Uthayan journalist Selvarajah Rajivarman in Jaffna Sunday morning, sources in Jaffna said.


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Tamil youth shot dead in Moothoor

[TamilNet, Sunday, 29 April 2007, 10:54 GMT]
Unidentified armed persons shot dead a Tamil civilian in Pattithidal in Moothoor south division in Trincomalee district Saturday night around 10 p.m. A group of armed men had dragged the victim out of his house and fired at him, sources said.
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Air Tigers attack 2 targets in Colombo - LTTE

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 April 2007, 22:33 GMT]
Two oil storages that supply fuel to Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombers were attacked by the Tamileelam Air Force, Tiger Military Spokesman Irasiah Ilanthirayan told TamilNet. Oil and fuel storages in Kolonnawa and Muththuraajawala were attacked by the TAF at 1:50 a.m. Sunday and at 2:05 a.m. after Sri Lanka Air Force bombers attacked a suburb of Kilinochchi town in Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam administered territory, Mr. Ilanthirayan said adding that the Tiger bombers had safely returned to their airbase in Vanni.
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TamilNet introduces computer-friendly transcription

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 April 2007, 21:12 GMT]
Near accurate Tamil pronunciation is a challenge to English news reporting. Tamil words and place names have long been misspelt due to ambiguity in transcription. Conventional transliteration symbols are difficult to compose, store and retrieve. Known transcription systems are unaesthetic to look at and tiresome to compose due to mix-up of lowercase and uppercase characters. The TamilNet aims at presenting a standard transcription system to face the existing challenges and to cater to contemporary social and cyber needs.
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Government officials visit Paduvankarai

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 April 2007, 18:58 GMT]
A team of government officials visited Paduvankarai region in Batticaloa district Friday, for the first time after residents had fled the region due to the offensive by the Sri Lankan armed forces in March, sources in Batticaloa said. The team consisting of officials from the Departments of Education, Health, Electricity, Highways, Irrigation, Cooperatives and Agrarian Services were joined by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) commanders and Senior Superintendent of Police, Batticaloa.
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16 civilians arrested in Colombo

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 April 2007, 17:57 GMT]
Sixteen civilians, majority of them Tamils, were arrested in a four-hour cordon and search operation conducted in Colombo city by Sri Lanka's security forces Saturday. Twelve of them were taken into custody for alleged involvement in terrorist activities, police sources said.
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SLA checks villagers' identities in Thampalakamam

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 April 2007, 12:19 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) ordered families residing in Potkerni and other suburbs in Thampalakamam, a traditional Tamil village in Trincomalee district, to be present at Kulakoddan Tamil Vidiyalayam Saturday morning to check their identities and to explain the purpose of their stay in the location, civil sources said.
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Taraki Sivaram remembered

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 April 2007, 10:14 GMT]
"We once again remember with pride the service rendered to the media by Taraki Sivaram. He exercised his right to freedom of expression without fear. We bear this in our minds as we take it among the people on his second death anniversary," the statement issued by North Sri Lanka Journalists Association (NSLJA) Friday said. Members of NSLJA and Jaffna University Media Research & Training Centre (MRTC) jointly took part in the first event of a programme launched to remember Taraki Sivaram, the well-known, political analyst and senior editor of TamilNet, on the second anniversary of his assassination on 28 April 2005.
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Military clad men rob houses in Eravur

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 April 2007, 03:10 GMT]
Unidentified armed men in military fatigues wearing masks robbed cash, jewels and household things in Thamaraikkerny- Hisbullah village, a Muslim resettlement village situated in the border of Tamil area in Eravur town, in Batticaloa district, around 7:45 p.m. Thursday.
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IDP shot dead in Kaluthavalai

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 April 2007, 02:14 GMT]
Unidentified armed persons wearing masks abducted an Internally Displaced Person (IDP), a father of a child, from his temporary dwelling in Seddipalayam and shot him dead around 8:30 p.m. Thursday at Kaluthavalai, a neighboring village 2 km south, in Kaluwanchchikkudy Police division in Batticaloa district.
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‘Come on you Sri Lankan Lions!’ – UK

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 April 2007, 10:40 GMT]
The British diplomatic mission in Colombo shed diplomatic neutrality on Friday to support Sri Lanka's cricket team in their World Cup final against Australia, AFP reported. "We're hoping for a repeat of the 1996 World Cup final result. Come on you Sri Lankan Lions. Let's hear you roar," a message from the UK High Commission said.


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Fisheries society member abducted in Valigamam

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 April 2007, 09:21 GMT]
More than ten masked armed men in civil clothes abducted a fisheries society member Wednesday around 10:00 p.m from his house at Kerniyady, Mathagal in Valigamam, according to complaints registered by his wife with the Human Rights Commission (HRC) Jaffna office Thursday.


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Labourer abducted, shot dead in Eravur

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 April 2007, 02:17 GMT]
Unidentified gunmen abducted a young Tamil family man from his residence in Vipulanthapuram, Mylampaveli in Eravur police division in Batticaloa District Wednesday night around 7:00 p.m., and shot him dead, sources in Batticaloa said.
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Civilian killed, 2 injured in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 April 2007, 01:20 GMT]
A Tamil family man was killed and two, including a Sri Lanka Army (SLA) trooper, were injured in an attack Wednesday around 7:10 p.m on a SLA sentry unit posted near a lake at Sithandy, Morokodanchenai in Eravur police division in Batticaloa district, Eravur police said. The attack was launched from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) held area across the lake and the civilians were caught in the attack, the police claimed.
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SLA arrests two Tamil girls in Siththandy

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 April 2007, 00:19 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers arrested a teenage girl and a woman at Siththandy in Eravur Police division in Batticaloa district on Tuesday and Wednesday and handed them to Eravur Police for further inquiries, police sources said. The arrested girls were later produced before Batticaloa District Judge, M. H. M. Ajmeer, who directed the police to hand over the girls to their parents.
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Court releases 8 Tamil youths, orders detention of one woman

[TamilNet, Thursday, 26 April 2007, 21:01 GMT]
Colombo Chief Magistrate Wednesday ordered the release of six Tamil civilians and detention of one Tamil woman to a Rehabilitation Centre in the south. They were arrested in a cordon and search operation in Moratuwa in western province two months ago and detained in the Boosa detention centre in Galle.
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Police powers to military, licence to torture, says Rights Group

[TamilNet, Thursday, 26 April 2007, 08:49 GMT]
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) Thursday warned that Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa's recent declaration of delegating police powers to the Sri Lanka military would pave the way for the re-emergence of torture chambers inside Sri Lankan military camps similar to those of late 1980s when more than 30,000 persons disappeared. "The re-emergence of such a situation should be frightening to the citizens of a country which has seen such a situation in the past. Under the present circumstances the emerging situation can be even worse," the AHRC said.
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Paris Tamils in walking vigil, urge release of Tamil activists

[TamilNet, Thursday, 26 April 2007, 05:28 GMT]
Around 2000 French Tamils marched in Paris Wednesday afternon in a silent walking vigil, organized by French Tamil Students Forum. Demonstrants carrying placards stating "we are not terrorists," gathered at place de la République at 3:00 p.m. and walked towards Place de Bastille where a meeting was held.
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SLA troopers fail to appear for Court trials in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 26 April 2007, 02:19 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) personnel, involved either as the accused or witness in cases of abductions, killings and other such criminal allegations, fail to appear for the scheduled trials in the courts in Jaffna peninsula, causing numerous indefinite postponements of the cases, legal society sources in Jaffna said. The SLA Commander will act in consultation with the Attorney General, in case Magistrates handling such cases resort to punitive measures, SLA legal sources said.
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WTCC representative arrested in New York - U.S. Justice Department

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 April 2007, 20:53 GMT]
A senior U.S. representative of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Karunakaran Kandasamy, was arrested in Queens, New York, according to a news release issued by the U.S. Department of Justice, Wednesday. The arrest was made on a complaint alleging Mr. Karunakaran, as director of the American branch of the Tigers, for having operated within the United States drawing on America’s financial resources and technological advances. The complaint further said that the LTTE relied on sympathetic Tamil expatriates residing in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, France, and several other countries.
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