Police arrest Tamil teacher in Maskeliya, 4 Tamils in Kandy

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 February 2007, 18:09 GMT]
A Tamil teacher working in Maskeliya in Nuwara Eliya district in the central province was arrested Tuesday in a search operation by the police. Hatton Magistrate remanded him till March 16 when he was produced in courts Wednesday.
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STF kills 3 youths in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 February 2007, 17:58 GMT]
Special Task force (STF) personnel shot dead three Tamil youths Wednesday around 1:15 a.m near the Kallady camp in Batticaloa, Kathankudy police, said. The Police recovered the bodies and handed them over to Batticaloa Teaching Hospital. The bodies remain unidentified, according to hospital sources.
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TNA urges India not to provide warship to Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 February 2007, 16:04 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has urged the Government of India to desist from providing lethal military assistance to Sri Lanka. Referring to recent media reports that the Indian Government is to either grant or lease a large warship to the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN), the Parliamentary group of the TNA in a press release issued Wednesday observed that these reports have come against the backdrop of repeated assurances given by the Indian leadership, including the Indian Premier Dr. Manmohan Singh, that the India, as a matter of policy, will not provide any lethal weapons to Sri Lanka.
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Prisoners call off protest

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 February 2007, 00:15 GMT]
The Tamil political prisoners at Magazine Prison, Colombo, who started a fast-to-death campaign on 21 February demanding their release, called off their action temporarily on Monday following assurances given by the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Parliamentarians to assist them, sources in Colombo said.
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Sinhalese suspect found dead at Police headquarters

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 February 2007, 17:09 GMT]
A Sinhalese man, arrested at Valaichenai in Batticaloa district on suspicion for working closely with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in November 2006 and held in custody at Police Headquarters in Colombo, was found dead in the toilet Tuesday morning, Colombo police said.


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SLA search, act of reprisal, students say

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 February 2007, 16:32 GMT]
Several student organisations in Jaffna peninsula including Tamil Student Union strongly accused Sri Lanka Army's (SLA) cordoning off and searching Jaffna Hindu College and surrounding areas Tuesday morning as reprisal against the student community and a preplanned measure to disrupt their educational activities.
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LTTE condemns GoSL for endangering the lives of foreign diplomats

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 February 2007, 05:31 GMT]
Military Spokesman of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Irasiah Ilanthirayan, expressing deep regret for the injuries caused to the foreign diplomats who landed in the military airfield of the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) in Batticaloa and the Weber Stadium where 23-3 Brigade Commander's military headquarters is located, condemned the Government of Sri Lanka for having endangered the lives of foreign diplomats bringing them into the artillery launchpads inside the military zone without following diplomatic procedures.
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Arrests of Tamils in upcountry areas escalate

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 February 2007, 00:15 GMT]
Sri Lanka police arrested 11 Tamils in during a search operation at 4:00 a.m Monday at Lunugala Upper Division in Poonagala, Bandarawella, while Karantheniya police arrested 4 youths returning in a lorry from Galle, sources in Bandarawela said. Meanwhile, Koswathe and Karruvakadu police each arrested one plantation Tamil youth Monday, sources said.


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SL anti-terror officials detain Sinhala paper director

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 February 2007, 22:10 GMT]
The Financial Director of the Sinhala language weekly "Mawbima", Dushantha Basnayake, has been detained by the Sri Lankan Terrorism Investigation Division (TID) Monday evening at his workplace in Colombo. Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse, in a televised address, Saturday had charged that the weekly was "pro LTTE." The paper is owned by Tiran Alles, a close confidante of Mangala Samaraweera, the former SL Foreign Minister who was recently sacked by Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse. Mr. Tiran Alles was also removed from Sri Lanka's Civil Aviation Authority this month.
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STF camp attacked in Amparai

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 February 2007, 17:56 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) launched an attack using small arms on Thangavelauthapuram Special Task Force (STF) camp located on the top of Sangermalai, Thirukovil in Amparai district Sunday around 10:30 p.m, sources in Thirukovil said.


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2 Police constables shot dead in Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 February 2007, 17:50 GMT]
Unidentified armed men on motorbike shot dead two police constables Monday around 7:40 p.m. at Muthalikkulam in Vavuniya district. The police handed the bodies of the two victims to Vavuniya hospital around 10:00 p.m.


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American Tamils call for Recognition of Tamil Sovereignty for NorthEast Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 February 2007, 11:46 GMT]
Pleading to the international community that "the just aspirations of the Tamils should not be held hostage by fictitious claims of protecting the territorial integrity and sovereignty of a failed state," a consortium of Tamil organizations in the US, in a press release issued Monday, urged the International Community to "recognize the current de-facto Tamil state should their authentic representatives exercise the right to external self-determination," and called upon fellow Americans "to stand with the Tamil Americans in support of the inalienable right of self-determination."
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Youth shot dead in Amparai

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 February 2007, 08:24 GMT]
Unidentified armed men following a youth riding his bicycle to purchase goods shot him dead Sunday around 8:00 p.m at Veeramunai in Sammanthurai police division in Amparai district. Sammanthurai police recovered the dead body Monday morning and handed it over to Sammanthurai hospital for inquest into death.


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Eastern Tamils oppose merger of Universities

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 February 2007, 00:32 GMT]
The initiative of the Deputy Minister of Higher Education, 'Myown' Mustafa to amalgamate the Eastern University of Sri Lanka (EUSL) with the Muslim-dominated South Eastern University, faces stiff resistance from Tamils and Muslims living Batticaloa district, sources in Batticaloa said.
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Tamil youth shot, critically injured in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 February 2007, 10:12 GMT]
A twenty three year old Tamil youth was critically injured when unidentified armed men riding in a motorbike fired at him Saturday evening at Thulasipuram, a suburb about one km off north of Trincomalee town. He was shot while he was walking along the road, police said.
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Three Tamils abducted in Mannar

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 February 2007, 08:00 GMT]
Unidentified persons abducted three Tamils in Mannar in two separate incidents when they were traveling along Mannar-Talaimannar main road, Tuesday afternoon, according to complaints made by their relatives with the regional office of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL).
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Offensive aftermath

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 February 2007, 01:01 GMT]
More than 200 civilians were killed and hundreds of others injured in the five-month long Sri Lanka military offensive carried out in sea, air and land on Vaharai and adjoining coastal hamlets. Nearly 40,000 IDPs stay in 49 temporary shelters and with friends and relatives elsewhere in the military controlled part of Batticaloa district. The Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from Vaharai and neighboring Trincomalee district express resentment over the inequity in reimbursing relief and compensation by Sri Lanka Government authorities.
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SLA intensifies attack on LTTE territory in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 February 2007, 21:35 GMT]
Batticaloa district plunged into darkness due to interruption of electricity supply following a 15 minute heavy artillery and Multi Barrel Rocket Launcher (MBRL) barrage by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) from Batticaloa Brigade camp and Mylambaveli SLA camp on Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) held territories , Saturday from 6:30 p.m., sources in Batticaloa said.
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SLA alleges discovery of arms at Kopay Training College

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 February 2007, 18:28 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) at Palaly announced Saturday that troopers conducting a sudden search in the premises of Kopay Training college on Friday found a T-56 type rifle concealed in the roof of the students hostel. Last week the troops claimed that telecommunication equipment and hand grenades were found in a room in a catholic church near the residence of Bishop of Jaffna. Civil society sources, however, suspect that the claims are without substance, and intended to silence the dissenting voices of the Catholic clergy and the Education officials in Jaffna.
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Three Plantation Tamils arrested

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 February 2007, 16:05 GMT]
Several plantation Tamils were taken into custody in cordon and search operations conducted Friday morning by Sri Lanka security forces in Talawakelle, Pundoloya and Lindula in the central province. All were released after their identities were checked except three Tamils who are being detained in police stations and being questioned, sources said.


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