‘There is no ceasefire agreement with LTTE’ - Gothabaya

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 April 2007, 17:02 GMT]
There is no ceasefire between the Liberation Tigers and the Sri Lankan government and the 2002 agreement was only being left in place to satisfy the international community, Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse said Tuesday. "There is no cease-fire agreement. There is no meaning in that," said Rajapakse, who is the brother and a close-confidant of President Mahinda Rajapakse told the Associated Press. He vowed to attack the LTTE’s northern strongholds, saying “it’s not good for the military to have relaxed periods.”
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7 Sinhala civilians shot and killed in Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 April 2007, 13:42 GMT]
Seven Sinhala villagers, including a boy and 6 women, all civilians, were shot and killed by unknown gunmen at Awaranthalawa, located 13 km southwest of Vavuniya around 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Police said.
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Tigers hand over 7 SLA bodies to ICRC

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 April 2007, 12:42 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Liason officer for the NGOs, Thiyagarajah, handed over seven bodies of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troopers to ICRC Kilinochchi Head Official Katja Loren, Thursday around 2:00 p.m. The eight SLA troopers were killed in the LTTE counter attack against the SLA's attempt to penetrate into LTTE territory through Mullikulam, Mannar. One of the dead bodies was in decomposed state.


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Tamil trader, his salesman, abducted in Wellawaya

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 April 2007, 08:09 GMT]
Unidentified persons in a white van, posing as officials of Criminal Investigation Department, abducted a Tamil trader and his salesman Sunday night in Wellawaya, in southern province, according to complaints lodged with Wellawaya police.


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Three Tamil civilians shot dead in Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 11 April 2007, 21:16 GMT]
A group of armed men, alleged to be paramilitary cadres working for the Sri Lanka Army, shot dead three persons, a 20-year-old boy, a 48-year-old man and 68-year-old woman, and injured two at Kumankulam in Vavuniya Wednesday evening around 5:45. There have been at least five similar killings where 10 persons have been killed in the villages surrounding Veppankulam military camp.
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Stop alienating elected representatives from their constituents - TNA

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 11 April 2007, 20:52 GMT]
"Tamil National Alliance (TNA) strongly condemns the sudden postponement of the Batticaloa District Development Committee (DDC) meeting scheduled for Wednesday at parliamentary complex, Colombo, by the President of DDC, Minister Ameer Ali, without informing Batticaloa district parliamentarians," a statement released by TNA Wednesday in Colombo said.
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Colombo court releases two Tamil youths

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 11 April 2007, 05:59 GMT]
Two Tamil youths from Jaffna, arrested and detained in Colombo on suspicion that they were members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), were released Tuesday on the instruction of Colombo Chief Magistrate Sarojini Kusala Weerawardene.
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Four Tamil youths in Udappu detained under PTA

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 11 April 2007, 05:51 GMT]
Four Tamil youths arrested along with eight others in combined cordon and search operations conducted by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and Police in Tamil villages of Udappu and Munthal, in Chilaw district in north-western province from midnight of Friday till Saturday dawn have been detained under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and are subjected to further interrogations, Police said.
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Rajapakse disregards disappearances - Civil Monitoring Committee

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 April 2007, 19:54 GMT]
"The President of Sri Lanka has chosen to dismiss the present disappearances as not worthy of local and international attention," said a resolution passed by Civil Monitoring Commission (CMC), which is engaged in monitoring involuntary disappearances, abduction, extra judicial killings and arbitrary arrests and detentions in Sri Lanka. This resolution was passed in an event organized by it in Colombo Monday, where family and friends of the disappeared gathered to express their grief.
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Missing person in Mannar allegedly murdered by fellow fishermen

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 April 2007, 19:36 GMT]
Talaimannar Police arrested a person in connection with the disappearance of a fisherman few days ago in Talaimannar Sea and produced him before the Mannar Magistrate's court Tuesday. Additional Magistrate T.J.Pirapaharan ordered remand for the suspect till April 19. The police made the arrest following a complaint by parents of the missing person that he had been murdered by fellow fishermen and not due to navy firing.
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SLA, police, arrest 6 Tamils in Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 April 2007, 14:51 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and police took away six Tamils in a search conducted Tuesday from morning till evening in 4th, 5th and 6th Unit areas in Pavatkulam in Vavuniya district, in which all males in the areas were transported to Varikuttiyoor junction on Poovarasankulam-Chettikulam road, where they were produced before a person whose face and head were hooded, sources in Pavatkulam said. The hooded person identified five local males and one internally displaced person by nodding his head and the SLA and police brought the six civilians to Vavuniya, relatives of those arrested said.


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Sooriyarachchi further remanded

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 April 2007, 13:40 GMT]
Sripathi Sooriyarachchi, sacked minister and a parliamentarian of the ruling party United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) was ordered further remand till April 24 by Kaduwela Magistrate Tuesday. He was produced in court under heavy security. He has been in remand on allegation that he had misused a state vehicle after being dismissed the UPFA cabinet, legal sources said.
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SLA suffers heavy casualties in shelling duel

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 April 2007, 13:28 GMT]
A triangular area covering East Ariyaalai, Naavatkuzhi and Kaeratheevu in Jaffna was targeted by Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) artillery guns Monday morning when exchange of artillery fire was reported along the FDLs in Jaffna and Vavuniya. Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has suffered heavy casualties in artillery shelling by the Tigers. Meanwhile, in Vavuniya, one SLA soldier was killed and three others wounded near Omanthai entry - exit point around 7:45 a.m. Omanthai entry point remains closed.
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Basil Rajapakse excludes TNA MPs from development conference on East

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 April 2007, 11:53 GMT]
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse's brother and his senior political advisor, Basil Rajapakse, excluded Eastern province Tamil National parliamentarians representing the districts of Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Amparai, from a development conference held in the Sri Lankan Presidential Secretariat to discuss the development activities in the East. Ministers, Deputy Ministers and Trincomalee district Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) parliamentarian Jayantha Wijesekara were invited to the conference attended by Eastern Provincial Governor and district government officials.
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UNP leader slams Rajapakse regime for "notorious Human Rights record"

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 April 2007, 10:58 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Opposition Leader Ranil Wickramasinghe, who attended a confluence of the relatives and friends of the missing persons, held in Colombo Monday, charged that the ruling United Peoples' Freedom Alliance (UPFA) regime was responsible for the bad reputation of the Sri Lankan state's Human Rights record. 88 persons have been either abducted or gone missing since August 2006 up to now, according to the records of the Civil Monitoring Committee (CMC), an ongoing initiative by a few involved politicians.
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LTTE urges sports boycott of Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 April 2007, 09:11 GMT]
The Tamil Tigers Tuesday backed an Amnesty International awareness campaign that has embarrassed Sri Lanka's government during the cricket World Cup and urged a full sporting boycott of the country, AFP reported. Amnesty’s campaign to build support for international human rights monitoring in Sri Lanka, using the topical theme of cricket, has drawn the fury of the Colombo government as well as the main opposition Sinhala parties.
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Thousands of Tamils defy Paris protest bar

[TamilNet, Monday, 09 April 2007, 22:37 GMT]
Over 2,000 Tamil expatriates gathered in front of the Eiffel Tower Monday, despite the authorities’ cancellation of a planned protest rally to condemn the arrests by French police of several Tamil activists for raising funds for the LTTE. The protestors gathered in nearby public places, blocking traffic. Although the protest’s cancellation had been publicised on Tamil radio and television by the rally’s organisers who told expatriates that permission would be sought anew, several thousand people converged on the city centre, defying orders to disperse, to condemn the arrests on April 1, a week after the LTTE airstrike on Katunayake.
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Torrential rain adds to Batticaloa IDPs woes

[TamilNet, Monday, 09 April 2007, 18:04 GMT]
Nearly 150,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) staying in 93 temporary camps in different Divisional Secretary areas in Batticaloa are undergoing immense difficulties due incessent rain and flooding in the east, sources in Batticaloa said. A 66.6 mm rainfall was recorded for the last 24 hours on Monday 8:00 p.m by Batticaloa Weather Observation Centre, sources added.


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Karuna threats prevent Batticaloa MPs from visiting electorates

[TamilNet, Monday, 09 April 2007, 11:57 GMT]
"Due to death threats from Sri Lanka Army (SLA) backed Karuna group in Batticaloa district, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians representing constituencies in the district have not been able to go to their electorates for the last six months, affected parliamentarians said. Batticaloa MPs have been unable to even participate in high level planning meetings where the district's urgent needs are discussed and decisions taken,TNA parliamentarians told media Sunday.
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Mannar district under tight security

[TamilNet, Monday, 09 April 2007, 10:34 GMT]
Security in Mannar district has been tightened and more police personnel and soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) have been deployed for patrollling of key roads, civil sources in Mannar said. Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) and Police have set up additional roadblocks along Pallimunai-Mannar Road and along Talaimannar-Thalvupadu Road, and are thoroughly checking all vehicles.
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