Buffel APC destroyed in LTTE ambush in Amparai

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 April 2007, 20:52 GMT]
A Buffel Armoured Personnel Carrier used by the Sri Lankan Special Task Force in Amparai was destroyed in a combined ambush Wednesday around 9:00 a.m., LTTE military spokesman Irasiah Ilanthirayan told media. The Buffel APC, on its way from Pannalagama to Bakmitiyawa, was rushing to the site of a Claymore attack on a STF Road Patrol, where at least two personnell were killed and 3 wounded, according to the casualty figures provided by the Sri Lankan Police.
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SLA suffers casualties in fresh offensive in Madu

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 April 2007, 12:38 GMT]
Twelve Sri Lanka Army soldiers were killed and 33 wounded when a special unit of the SLA launched a fresh offensive amid artillery barrage towards Mullikkulam, 12 km northesat of Madu Church in Iranai Illuppaikulam GS division, Mannar, Wednesday evening according to initial reports from the area. 26 wounded soldiers were admitted to Anurdhapura public hospital and 7 more were rushed to military hospital, according to medical sources.


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Sooriyarachchi refused bail for third time

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 April 2007, 11:43 GMT]
The Kaduwela Magistrate Tuesday refused the bail application submitted on behalf of Mr.Sripathi Sooriyarachchi for the third time and ordered further two weeks' remand, legal sources in Colombo said. Mr.Sooriayarachchi was sacked from the non-cabinet minister post. He is a parliamentarian from the Sri Lanka Freedom party (SLFP), main constituent of the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government.


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GoSL denies air transport to Batticaloa MPs

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 April 2007, 02:02 GMT]
The Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) refused to provide helicopter transport to the four Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Parliamentarian of Batticaloa district, from Colombo to Batticaloa, to attend the District Development Council (DDC) meeting held at Batticaloa Kachcheri Tuesday, TNA sources said. The MPs requested transport help following death threats from Karuna Group. The meeting was organized to explore solutions to the IDP problems and to endorse the other development activities planned for the current year.
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Britain’s Liberal Democrats back Amnesty’s Sri Lanka campaign

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 April 2007, 01:38 GMT]
Britain’s third largest political party, the Liberal Democrats, came out strongly Tuesday in support of Amnesty International’s campaign to promote independent human rights monitors in Sri Lanka and called on all sides to respect international human rights and humanitarian law. The party said one of its MEPs, Saj Karim, Liberal Democrat Member of the Human Rights Committee, has tabled a key amendment to the annual European Parliament report into Human Rights.
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Tamil fisherman abducted in Mannar

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 24 April 2007, 17:09 GMT]
Unidentified armed men abducted a fisherman at gun point from his house Tuesday around 3:00 p.m at Pesalai in Mannar district, according to complaints lodged by his relatives with Talaimannar police. The armed men who spoke fluent Tamil and Sinhalese had said they were police officials, according to the complaint.


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Barrage of gunfire as Tiger aircrafts complete bombing raid, woman wounded

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 24 April 2007, 13:26 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troopers in camps across Jaffna Peninsula emptied bullets in the air in a barrage of gunfire after Tamileelam Air Force (TAF) attacked SLA's main base complex in the Jaffna peninsula in the early hours of Tuesday morning, residents in the peninsula said. A woman was wounded in Eezhaalai, 5 km southwest of Palaali when Sri Lanka Army soldiers opened fire from their positions as the Tiger aircrafts, that completed their mission inside the High Security Zone of the Palaali garrison, flew at low altitude on their way back to Vanni.
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4 civilians killed, 37 injured in claymore attack on bus in Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 24 April 2007, 05:11 GMT]
Four civilians including a women were killed and 37 wounded when the civilian bus carrying Tamil and Muslim passengers from Mannar to Colombo was hit by a Claymore mine around 11:30 p.m. Monday at Andiyapuliayankulam along Mannar-Madawachiya road in Vavuniya. Relatives of the victims have blamed the Sri Lanka Army for the attack on the civilian bus.
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Tamil businessman abducted in Colombo

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 24 April 2007, 01:31 GMT]
A leading Tamil businessman in Colombo was abducted by unidentified armed persons in a white van at Perera Lane junction along Galle road in Wellawatte while he was walking along the road around 8:30 p.m. Monday, his relatives lodged complaint at Wellawatte Police, sources in Colombo said.


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CID searches TNA MP's residence in Colombo

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 24 April 2007, 00:53 GMT]
Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of Sri Lanka police conducted an intensive search in Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian N. Sri Kantha's official residence in Mathivela, Colombo Monday around 5:30 p.m. TNA parliamentarian Mavai Senathirajah's secretary Selvarajah Samuel who was at the residence during the search was interrogated for nearly three hours, according to sources in Colombo.
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Tiger aircrafts bomb Palaali military base

[TamilNet, Monday, 23 April 2007, 22:09 GMT]
Two attack aircraft of the Liberation Tigers bombed the Sri Lankan military’s main base complex in the Jaffna peninsula in the early hours of Tuesday morning, inflicting heavy damage and casualties, LTTE military spokesman Irasiah Ilanthirayan told TamilNet. Tamileelam Air Force bombers had hit an Engineering Unit of the complex and a military storage, the Tigers spokesman claimed. Meanwhile sources said continuous explosions were heard from inside the High Security Zone for five hours after the air raid. Military sources in Colombo confirmed that at least 6 of their personnel were killed. Informed military sources said more than 30 troopers were wounded the attack inside the HSZ.
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Canadian Tamil concludes fast, urges Canada to exert pressure on Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Monday, 23 April 2007, 13:41 GMT]
A Canadian Tamil peace activist in Toronto, Dr. Sri Skanda Rajah, on Saturday concluded a six day Ghandian fast, he undertook to sympathize with the victims in NorthEast Sri Lanka. Urging the Canadian Government to exert pressure on the Sri Lankan Government to help "stop the carnage, starvation and the human rights abuses perpetrated by the Sri Lankan armed forces," Dr. Sri Skanda Rajah said the fast was a spiritual exercise that transcended partisan politics and asked those who attended not to make political capital of the endavour.
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Colombo declines security assurance to Norwegian delegation

[TamilNet, Monday, 23 April 2007, 10:23 GMT]
A Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry official who contacted the Norwegian Ambassador Hans Brattskar in Colombo Sunday declined to recommend necessary security assurance for the Norwegian delegation to undertake a scheduled diplomatic visit to Kilinochchi Monday to meet with the political leadership of the Liberation Tigers of Tamileealm, Norwegian press reported Monday citing the Ambassador.
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2 fishermen feared drowned in SLA mortar fire

[TamilNet, Sunday, 22 April 2007, 14:14 GMT]
Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) launched mortar fire on fishermen fishing in Uduthurai seas in Vadamaradchy east Sunday around 4:00 a.m. in which two fishermen are missing and their fishing boat burnt, sources in Vadamaradchy said. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka Army (SLA) launched heavy artillery barrage from the Varani artillery base on civilian settlements in Uduthurai, Vettilaikerny, Vatharayan and Maruthankulam in Vadamaradchy east, from Saturday 10:00 p.m to Sunday 4:00 a.m, damaging six houses, the sources added.
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LTTE: Sri Lanka’s accusations of credit card fraud is ‘attempt to distract from rights abuses’

[TamilNet, Sunday, 22 April 2007, 09:08 GMT]
Liberation Tigers Political Head, S. P. Thamilchelvan, responding to allegations by the Sri Lankan Embassy in London that the Liberation Tigers were involved in organised crime in Britain involving the cloning of credit cards, dismissed the accusations and slammed them as an attempt by the Colombo government to distract international attention from widespread human rights abuses by its armed forces. Mr. Thamilchelvan said Sri Lanka's accusations which sought to implicate the hardworking and law-abiding Tamil Diaspora, stemmed from the "same chauvinism that caused the island’s protracted ethnic war."
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Tamil youth abducted, shot dead in Valaichenai

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 April 2007, 23:31 GMT]
Unidentified armed men abducted Friday a Tamil youth from his residence in School road, Peththalai, took him to Valaichenai, the nearby town 2 km away, and shot him dead around 11.00 p.m. along Vipulanantha Road in Valaichenai police division in Batticaloa district, police said.
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Sri Lanka steps up air strikes on Vanni

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 April 2007, 13:33 GMT]
Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) has stepped up bombardment on Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) territory in Mullaitheevu and Kilinochchi districts during the past week. A civilian was wounded Friday, when Sri Lanka Air Force bombers hit Puthukudiyiruppu 9th Division twice Friday. SLAF MiG and Kfir bombers were observed over Kilinochchi Saturday.
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SLA asks court to transfer Chemmani case to Anuradhapura

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 April 2007, 00:42 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Commander, Wednesday and Thursday filed two petitions in the Sri Lanka's Court of Appeal asking not to allow the inquiry into the Chemmani graveyard massacre and other related Habeas Corpus applications to be held in Jaffna Magistrate's Court and to transfer those cases to Anuradhapura court for further hearing, legal sources in Jaffna said.


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GoSL must pay compensation to Batticaloa IDPs- MP

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 April 2007, 04:24 GMT]
One third of the Batticaloa Tamil population has been made refugees and, as a result, the educational, social and economical resources and growth of the Tamil people have suffered grave setback, P. Ariyaneththiran, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Member of Parliament for Batticaloa district said in a press communiqué Thursday. He urged the Sri Lanka Government authorities to take steps to pay compensation to those who suffered economic loss due to displacement.
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Norway dismisses lone activist’s agitation

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 April 2007, 15:23 GMT]
A Norwegian speaker at a symposium organised by Sinhala nationalists as a “public awareness programme on how terrorism is being promoted in Sri Lanka” was dismissed by his government as a lone agitator making wild accusations. The Norwegian, Falk Rune Rovik, who alleges that Norway is financing the LTTE, was a murder convict and has been engaged by Sinhala ultra nationalists and promoted by Sri Lankan government ministries in anti-Norwegian and anti-LTTE propaganda. The activities of Mr. Rovik, who is scheduled to address a conference in Colombo Friday, has antogonized the Norwegian Foreign Ministry, according to Norwegian press reports.
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