Tigers condemn Colombo for "disinformation campaign" on civilian killings

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 April 2007, 10:47 GMT]
Liberation Tigers military spokesman Irasiah Ilanthirayan, talking to media from Kilinochchi charged Colombo for carrying out a "planned disinformation campaign," by accusing the Tigers for attacks on civilian targets while encouraging paramilitary elements to carry out such attacks with the "motive of tarnishing the Tiger image."
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10 Tamils arrested in Hambantota

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 April 2007, 10:27 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers and Police arrested ten Tamil civilians during a cordon and search operation carried out in Thankalai area in Hambantota district between midnight Sunday and early morning Monday, sources in hill country said.
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Two Tamil youths arrested in Kinniya

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 April 2007, 09:21 GMT]
Two Tamil youths were taken into custody by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in a cordon and search operations conducted at Eechantivu, a Tamil village in Kinniya division in Trincomalee district Friday nigh.
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Trincomalee Tamil youth succumbs to gunshot injuries

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 April 2007, 09:07 GMT]
Tamil youth injured in the shooting incident that took place on Saturday around 7:00 p.m. in the heart of Trincomalee town had succumbed to injuries Sunday.
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Southern construction workers massacred in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 April 2007, 09:07 GMT]
Six Sinhala construction workers were massacred and one Sinhala and two Tamil workers were seriously wounded when unknown attackers with guns entered a children home under construction and took them 200 meters away and shot the workers, police said. The massacre took place 300 meters from the Sri Lankan counter-insurgency Special Task Force (STF) camp at Mailampaaveli, 8 km north of Batticaloa city around 7:40 p.m. Sunday.
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US responds to LTTE airstrike

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 April 2007, 08:37 GMT]
Asked for the United States’ reaction to the LTTE airstrike on the military airbase at Katunayake last Monday, the US Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Robert O’ Blake said: “The LTTE’s successful deployment of an offensive air capability is a matter of great concern.” He told Sri Lanka’s state-owned Daily News: “We do not believe there can be a military solution to this conflict. Rather, both sides should cease hostilities so talks can take place on a negotiated settlement.” He also said that the US “does not perceive a specific threat to our citizens who intend to travel to the tourist areas.”
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SLA troopers loot houses, shops IDPs left behind

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 April 2007, 16:32 GMT]
"Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troopers, paramilitary members and other local Sinhalese persons have looted the houses, shops, temples and co-operative stores in areas invaded by SLA in the Liberation tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) held territories in Paduvankarai and Kokadicholai," S. Seeralan, Batticaloa district LTTE Political Wing Deputy head said Saturday. The SLA troopers are routinely stealing the live stocks left behind by the people and killing them for meat, he said.
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Speaker to give ruling on "Secret deal" motion

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 April 2007, 16:20 GMT]
Sri Lanka's parliament Speaker W.J.M.Lokkubandara is expected to give a ruling this week whether to include the motion submitted by Sripathi Sooriyarachchi in the parliament order book, parliamentary sources said. Mr. Sooriyarachchi has called the Speaker to appoint a parliamentary select committee to probe the alleged secret deal between some leaders of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), main constituent of the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) during the last presidential election period.
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UNP to hold first rally against HR violations in Colombo

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 April 2007, 11:57 GMT]
The first rally in a series of protest demonstrations to be organized by the main opposition United National Party (UNP) against human rights violations, will be held on April 3 at Grandpass Junction in Colombo, said Mr. Ravi Karunanayake, parliamentarian and UNP Colombo district organizer.


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SLAF attacks civilian lorries at LTTE entry point

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 April 2007, 04:18 GMT]
Fighter helicopters of the Sri Lankan Air Force (SLAF) Saturday night around 11:30 p.m. attacked a Multi Purpose Co-Operative Society (MPCS) lorry and two other lorries belonging to private traders parked near puliyangkulam LTTE checkpoint on A9 road, north of Omanthai Sri Lanka Army entry point in Vavuniya district.
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Katunayake airstrike: human capital, gathered against the odds

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 April 2007, 03:23 GMT]
Asserting that Monday’s airstrike on Katunayake “indicates a quantum leap in the LTTE’s technological base,” Professor Kumar David, an engineering specialist, argues Sunday that “the LTTE’s aviation technology is far behind that of the Sri Lanka Air force..that it has taken the first step is quite telling.” In a op-ed in The Island, he cautions Colombo that the human capital gathered against massive odds by the LTTE renders a military solution unviable. Meanwhile, a columnist in the Tamil Guardian points out the LTTE acquired the know-how and materials for an air force in the harshest international climate for armed movements.
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JVP boycott of APRC helps LTTE- Vitarane

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 April 2007, 00:19 GMT]
Science and Technology Minister Tissa Vitarane, chairman of the All Party Representatives' Committee (APRC) appointed by Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse in June 2006 to work out a political package to find a lasting political solution, said Saturday that the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) is helping the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) by not participating and submitting its political proposals to the APRC to solve the ethnic conflict.


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TNA MP interrogated for 10 hours by SL Terrorism Division

[TamilNet, Saturday, 31 March 2007, 17:22 GMT]
M.K. Sivajilingam, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian for Jaffna district, was interrogated by Sri Lanka's Terrorism Investigation Division (TID) for nearly 10 hours starting from 10:00 a.m. Friday in Colombo for alleged links with the Liberation Tigers , TNA sources said.
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Woman, youth injured in Trincomalee shooting incident

[TamilNet, Saturday, 31 March 2007, 16:50 GMT]
Unidentified men shot and injured two Tamil persons including a woman in the heart of Trincomalee town Saturday evening around 7 p.m. along Old Moor Road in the town, sources said.
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Thanthai Chelva's 109th anniversary commemorated

[TamilNet, Saturday, 31 March 2007, 16:04 GMT]
Mr. S.J.V.Chelva- nayakam, founder of the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchchi (ITAK) and fondly called by Tamils as "Thanthai" (father) was remembered on his 109th birthday as Jaffna Bishop of South Indian Diocese Rt Rev.Jebanesan, Thanthai Chelva Trustee, garlanded the statue of late leader Mr.Chelvanayakam located near the Duraiappah stadium in Jaffna within the High Security Zone (HSZ) at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, sources in Jaffna said.
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LTTE confers Maamanithar award to Jeyakumar

[TamilNet, Saturday, 31 March 2007, 11:31 GMT]
Leader of Liberation Tigers, Velupillai Pirapaharan, conferred Maamaniathar (Great Humanbeing) award to Thillainadarajah Jeyakumar, 54, who died suddenly in Melbourne Australia on 29 March. Praised as the leading force behind the Australian Tamils Co-ordinating Committee for the last two decades, Jeyakumar is credited with uniting Australian Tamils towards supporting Tamil Eelam struggle and for his unwavering committment to help the Tamil people. Jeyakumar is from Vannarpannai in Jaffna, is married, and has one son.
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Sri Lanka's security to be tightened

[TamilNet, Saturday, 31 March 2007, 11:12 GMT]
The Sri Lanka government has drawn up a new security plan that will put into operation with effect from 1 April Sunday across Sri Lanka. Cordon and search operations will be conducted without prior notice throughout the island, and vehicles will be subjected to severe checks, a private electronic media reported quoting Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Jayantha Wickremaratne.
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HC applications filed on behalf detained Tamil fishermen

[TamilNet, Saturday, 31 March 2007, 11:03 GMT]
Habeas Corpus (HC) applications have been filed in Sri Lanka's Court of Appeal on behalf of five Tamil fishermen of eastern province arrested in Mannar Sea on 21 March 2006 by Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) for allegedly straying into the high security zone (HSZ), legal sources said. The fishermen are currently being kept in detention under the Emergency Regulations (ER) without being charged in court of law since their arrest.
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Eleven Tamil civilians arrested in Kohuwela

[TamilNet, Saturday, 31 March 2007, 10:55 GMT]
The Dehiwala Police took eleven Tamil civilians including two women into custody in a sudden cordon and search operation conducted Friday night at Kohuwela area, a suburb of Colombo. All of the arrested are natives of NorthEast, and had been staying with relatives and friends, sources said.
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Launch all-out war on LTTE, PNM tells Rajapakse

[TamilNet, Saturday, 31 March 2007, 02:59 GMT]
The National Patriotic Movement (NPM) urged the President Mahinda Rajapakse to conduct an all-out war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), sources in Colombo said. before it l "We should attack before the LTTE launches an air strike on Temple Trees residence in Colombo. No country has condemned the air strike by LTTE on country's main military air base in Katunayake," said NPM leader Venerable Dambara Amila Thera addressing a press briefing held Thursday in Sri Lanka Foundation Institute hall.
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