Teacher shot dead in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 January 2007, 21:31 GMT]
Unidentified gunmen shot dead a teacher in Thuraineeelavanai in Kaluwanchikkudy Police division in Batticaloa district around 11:00 a.m. Monday, sources in Batticaloa said.
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Trader knifed to death in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 January 2007, 21:23 GMT]
Batticaloa Police recovered the mutilated body of a petty trader with several stab wounds, and tied with a big stone, in the Batticaloa lagoon in Seththukkudah area within the municipal limits, around 10:30 a.m Monday, sources in Batticaloa said.
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Tamil youth shot dead in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 January 2007, 16:09 GMT]
Unidentified armed man shot dead a Tamil youth Monday evening around 6:00 p.m. in the heart of Trincomalee town, sources in the east port town said.
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Unfolding misery

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 January 2007, 09:50 GMT]
More than 72,000 Tamil civilians internally displaced due to the military confrontations in the East, residing in 50 temporary camps in Batticaloa district's LTTE and GoSL controlled areas, are facing serious shortage of food, accommodation, drinking water, sanitation and toilet facilities, according to Batticaloa District Secretariat. Muttur east clashes, followed by battle for Sampoor, and now Vaharai clashes intensifying, the increasing numbers of Internally Displaced (IDPs) in Batticaloa face a dismal future.
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2 masons killed, 1 wounded in Akkaraipattu

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 January 2007, 12:59 GMT]
Four armed men riding in two motorbikes shot and killed two Tamil mason workers at Kannakipuram in Alayadyvembu in Akkaraipattu Sunday around 1:30 p.m., Police said. The victims, former LTTE cadres, had left from Special Task Force camp located 300 meters, after presenting themselves as required by the STF.
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Heavy exchange of artillery fire at Thenmaradchi FDLs

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 January 2007, 11:12 GMT]
Exchange of heavy artillery and rocket fire in the Forward Defence Line (FDL) positions at Muhamalai and other areas in Thenmaradchi between the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) continued from Saturday evening until Sunday early morning, sources in Jaffna said. Small fire arms too were used in the clashes Sunday which lasted for more than an hour. No information on casualties is available.
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Halo Trust employee feared abducted in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 January 2007, 11:11 GMT]
The driver of 'Halo Trust,' a humanitarian de-mining international non-governmental organization in Jaffna peninsula, has been missing since Tuseday 7:30 a.m after he left his house at Kellner Road in Nallur and reported for work at Halo Trust office, sources in Jaffna said. Nine employees from 'Halo Trust' have been either killed or abducted and disappeared in Jaffna Peninsula and the missing driver is the tenth victim.
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Mosque leaders urge Muslim Tamil unity, blame paramilitary for violence

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 January 2007, 08:34 GMT]
Representatives of the Federation of Mosques in Kathankudy, Saturday, in a bid to calm down tension between communities in the border settlements between Kathankudy Muslim and Arayampathy Tamil areas, urged the civilians not to fall prey to the forces seeking to damage Muslim Tamil harmony, after Karuna paramilitary personnel attached to the Sri Lankan counter-insurgency Special Task Force (STF) camp in Arayampathy had attacked Muslim travellers Friday, causing the victims to seek refuge in Kathankudy Mosque. Paramilitary violence and threats posed by armed "Jihad" men against Tamils have ceased and normalcy was reported in the area Sunday.
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More than 250 Tamils arrested in South, taken for questioning

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 January 2007, 19:35 GMT]
Sri Lanka Security forces assisted by Police arrested 209 youths in Gampaha, 36 in Nittambuwa, 22 in Minuwangoda, and 7 in Borelesgamuwa Friday and Saturday during separate cordon and search operations, sources in Colombo said.
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British forensic officers study Raviraj exhibits

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 January 2007, 15:48 GMT]
A team of Britain’s Scotland Yard has left Sri Lanka after ten days of forensic and telephone analysis work with police investigating the assassination of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP Nadarajah Raviraj in November. The British police are taking a number of exhibits back with them for further forensic tests, a statement by the UK High Commission in Colombo said Saturday.
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Jafffna Army Commander orders registration of motorcycles

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 January 2007, 00:14 GMT]
In a special announcement made on Friday, the Head office of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) command in the North issued strict orders directing residents to register all motor cycles and scooters including the light vehicles used by women in Jaffna peninsula, before Saturday at the SLA camps in their areas, and to obtain permits to operate the vehicles. Failure to register these vehicles will result in the arrest of the owner and confiscation of their vehicle, the announcement warned.
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Tamil suspects detained at Boosa camp

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 January 2007, 23:08 GMT]
Tamil civilians arrested by the Sri Lanka's forces under the newly introduced Prevention of Terrorism (PTA) Act are now sent to Boosa detention camp located in Galle in the south of the island due to lack of space in Colombo jails. About sixty Tamils taken into custody in Colombo recently are likely to be sent to Boosa detention camp shortly, sources in Colombo said.
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Media watchdog condemns paramilitary ban on papers

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 January 2007, 11:52 GMT]
Free Media Movement, a Colombo based media watchdog, Friday said it noted with deep concern the alleged ban imposed by the Karuna paramilitary group on the sale of Colombo Tamil dailies Virakesari, Thinakkural and Sudar Oli in the East. The paramilitary group, operated by the Sri Lanka Army, had banned the sale of the Tamil papers, except the EPDP paramilitary owned Thinamurasu and the Sri Lanka Government owned Thinakaran in Sri Lanka Army controlled areas of Batticaloa district. The group has issued death threats to news agents in Trincomalee in an attempt to block the distribution of independent Tamil papers in the district.
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10 Tamils abducted in 5 days in Colombo, Puttalam

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 January 2007, 08:27 GMT]
Eight Tamils have been abuducted in Colombo and two in Puttalam within the last five days. The abductors had released one of the victims after keeping him blindfolded for a full day. Nine of the victims are still reported missing, Civil Monitoring Commission reported Friday. The fate of Professor S. Raveendranath, the Vice Chancellor of Eastern University, abucted in Colombo's High Security area, is not known for almost a month since December 15.
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NorthEast demerger, breach of International Treaty- Sampanthan

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 January 2007, 06:53 GMT]
“Not only the Tamil speaking people but also the International Community are unhappy with the de-merger of NorthEastern province. Though the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka told that former President J. R. Jayewardene’s step was defective and invalid, the Sri Lanka's President Mr. Rajapakse who wants to share no powers with Tamils, seized the opportunity quickly and declared the de-merger amidst the opposition from many of his own cabinet ministers and Members of parliament. Mr Rajapakse has not only betrayed the Tamil people, but also breached an international treaty, R. Sampanthan told in the Sri Lankan Parliament Wednesday.
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Muthur Tamil youth released

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 January 2007, 16:57 GMT]
Muthur Magistrate Manickavasagar Ganesharajah Thursday discharged a Tamil youth who was accused of having links with LTTE for lack of evidence, legal sources in Trincomalee said. The prosecuting police officer told court that he has no evidence that implicates him on the alleged offense.
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Supreme Court setting policy of SL Government- Kiriyella

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 January 2007, 12:02 GMT]
"Tamils did not demand a separate state in 1956. They only demanded their language rights but we denied their rights then. The Sri Lankan governments since independence in 1948 have not seriously attempted to solving this problem," Laxman Kiriyella, the United National Party (UNP) parliamentarian for Kandy district, said in Parliament Wednesday, speaking on the present state of affairs in the Northeast, parliamentary sources from Colombo said. "This government is reluctant to express its stand in important policy matters but uses the supreme court as a cover. Effectively, the Supreme Court is determining the policy of the government," he added.
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Three SLA troopers injured by rocket fire in Vavunativu

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 January 2007, 11:52 GMT]
Three Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troopers from Vavunativu camp were seriously injured in rocket fire launched by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on Vavunativu area in Batticaloa Wednesday around 7:00 p.m, SLA sources said. The attack continued through Wednesday night.
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Vaharai tragedy

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 January 2007, 02:05 GMT]
Following Sri Lanka's Military Commander Lt.Gen Sarath Fonseka's assertion that Sri Lankan Forces will evict Liberation Tigers from the East withn the next two months, Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has intensified shelling and artillery attacks into Vaharai.
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"White van" squad abducts two Tamil youths in Puttalam

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 January 2007, 01:14 GMT]
Six unidentified armed men in a white van abducted two Tamil youths Tuesday around 8:45 p.m from the house their house at Kampawathe area in Puthalam, according to a complaint made with the Puthalam police.


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