8 white van abductions in Jaffna in 5 days

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 December 2006, 19:43 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers and collaborating paramilitaries have abducted eight youths, including two students, in the Jaffna district between 20th and 25th December, according to complaints filed by the relatives with the Jaffna Human Rights Commission (HRC), civil society sources in Jaffna said. SLA troops arrive in Buffel armoured cars with paramilitaries in white vans, and abductions take place either on streets in broad day light or at the victims' houses during night, the relatives of those abducted said.
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Two SLA troopers injured by LTTE fire in Vaharai

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 December 2006, 11:25 GMT]
Two Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troopers from the Kadjuwathe SLA camp were seriously injured when the Liberation Tigers retaliated to the intensive mortar and artillery barrage launched by the SLA from its camps at Mankerny, Kadjuwathe and Valaichenai Paper Factory on Vaharai area in the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) held territory, Wednesday from 7:30 a.m until 11:00 a.m, sources from Vaharai said.


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SLAF Jets bomb Vaharai, disrupt tsunami memorial event

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 December 2006, 12:46 GMT]
Sri Lanka Airforce (SLAF) kfir fighter jets bombed Tuesday morning Kathiraveli and Palchenai residential areas in Vaharai in the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) territory, and Sri Lanka Army (SLA) launched artillery and rocket fire from SLA camps in Mankerny, Kadjuwathe, during the second anniversary memorial prayers were being held for the tsunami victims at Vaharai Vigneswara temple around 9:25 a.m Tuesday. Five houses were badly damaged but no one was hurt when shells fell and exploded on residential areas, Vaharai sources said.
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80% tsunami displaced in NorthEast, still in temporary shelters- TRO

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 December 2006, 12:19 GMT]
"Almost 80% of the Tsunami displaced in some districts of the NorthEast of the island, which sustained 65% of the tsunami destruction and deaths, continue to languish in Temporary Shelter Camps or have been displaced once again due to military offensives, bombing, and shelling," said Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) in its two-year tsunami report, issued in Colombo, Tuesday.
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Tsunami survivors carry 'deep scars' - LTTE

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 December 2006, 07:56 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), in a statement issued Monday, marking two year remembrance of the Boxing Day Tsunami disaster, said the assistance to the people devastated by the tsunami has not progressed beyond the temporary shelter-stage in Tamil areas as Colombo scuttled the internationally promoted joint mechanism signed between the parties. Tamils were "deeply hurt" as Colombo continued to find comfort in using the label of a "sovereign" government, the Tigers said.
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Navaratnam's funeral in Montreal, Tuesday

[TamilNet, Monday, 25 December 2006, 20:11 GMT]
Federal Party co-founder V. Navaratnam's remains are kept for public to pay their last respects at Darche Funeral Parlour, 7679 Taschereau boulevard, in Montreal, and the funeral would be held Tuesday morning at 10:30 a.m. His nine grandchildren will carry the casket from the funeral parlour to the site of the burial service, family members said.
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Tamil youths arrested in Galle, Kandy

[TamilNet, Monday, 25 December 2006, 16:10 GMT]
Seven Tamil youths including a woman were arrested in Habaraduwa in Galled district and in Kandy town in two separate cordon and search operations conducted by security forces Sunday evening, sources said.


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Eastern University staff continues boycott

[TamilNet, Monday, 25 December 2006, 14:43 GMT]
The acadamic and non acadamic staff of the Eastern University of Sri Lanka (EUSL) continued their boycott for the 10th concecutive day demanding the release of abducted Vice Chancellor Prof. S. Ravindranath who is believed to be held by the paramilitary Karuna Group in Colombo from 15 December.
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LTTE hands over Jordanian ship's crew to ICRC

[TamilNet, Monday, 25 December 2006, 10:53 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) media spokesman Thaya Master said that the 25 sailors including the Captain of the Jordanian ship, rescued on the LTTE territorial waters off Mullaithivu Saturday, were handed over to ICRC Monday around 10:00 a.m. in Kilinochchi.


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Tigers confer 'Patriot' title on Navaratnam

[TamilNet, Sunday, 24 December 2006, 22:29 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Sunday posthumously conferred "Naattu Patralar" (Patriot) title on V. Navaratnam, who passed away in Montreal, Canada, Friday at the age of 97.
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STF infiltration repulsed in Amparai

[TamilNet, Sunday, 24 December 2006, 21:42 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) cadres repulsed an attack by the Special Task Force (STF) inside LTTE controlled Kanchikudichcharu area in Amparai district around 10:30 am Sunday, said LTTE sources in Amparai.
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Tamil youth abducted in Colombo

[TamilNet, Sunday, 24 December 2006, 18:13 GMT]
A Tamil youth, identified as Mayuran, working in a telecommunication center along 37th Lane in Wellawatte, Colombo was abducted by unidentified persons Saturday night.
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LTTE repulses SLA attack in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Sunday, 24 December 2006, 11:43 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) combatants successfully repulsed Saturday around 8:30 p.m an attack by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and its collaborating paramilitary group from Black Bridge SLA camp at Chenkalady in Batticaloa on the LTTE held Karadiyanaru area, LTTE Batticaloa district political wing sources said. Three SLA troopers were seriously injured while no one was injured on their side, the sources added.


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Four Tamil youths arrested in Colombo

[TamilNet, Sunday, 24 December 2006, 11:21 GMT]
The Sri Lanka forces arrested four Tamil youths Sunday morning in combined search operation conducted by the Sri Lanka Army and Police in Dehiwala area, suburb in Colombo city. The search operation was conducted between around 3:00 a.m. and 8:00 a.m.
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Drifted ship's Captain talks to Jordanian Ambassador in India

[TamilNet, Sunday, 24 December 2006, 10:49 GMT]
Iraqi Captain of the Jordanian owned cargo ship M.V. FARAH III that drifted and struck the ground in LTTE territorial waters off Mullaithivu Saturday, Ramaz S. Abdul Jabbar, has contacted the Jordanian Ambassador in India Sunday evening, from the Peace Secretariat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Kilinochchi, conveying the message of safety of his crew members. Asked to comment whether there has been any military standoff between the Sri Lanka Navy and the Sea Tigers, the Captain of the ship told TamilNet: "this, I guess is all political. We are all safe and we have good cooperation here."
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Germany wants peace conditions on Sri Lanka aid

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 December 2006, 18:04 GMT]
The international community should make further assistance to Sri Lanka dependent on the resumption of the peace process in the country, German Development Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul was quoted as saying in an interview to be published Sunday.
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Cargo ship caught up in rough seas at LTTE waters

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 December 2006, 07:36 GMT]
Captain of the Cargo ship, drifting towards Mullaithivu shore, with fellow crewmen, is engaged in bringing the ship to operation Saturday afternoon, Sea Tiger officials said. 15 crew members have reached the shore. Earlier, Liberation Tigers Military Spokesman Irasiah Ilanthirayan told media that the cargo ship, caught up in the rough seas, had drifted into LTTE territorial waters off Mullaithivu and that the Sea Tigers were engaged in saving the crew members.
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Navaratnam, the doyen of Federal Party, passes away

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 December 2006, 21:42 GMT]
V. Navaratnam, the only surviving founder member of the Ilankai Thamil Arasu Kadchi (ITAK), the Federal Party, and who turned 97 last October, has passed away in Montreal, Canada at 4:10 p.m. Friday. The doyen of Tamil politics who inked the Bandaranaiyake Chelvanayagam pact and negotiated with the Sri Lanka leaders for sharing state power within a federal framework for almost three decades, came to a conclusion that the Sinhala polity would never compromise or agree on any decision to share state power with Tamils, and left the Federal Party, calling upon the Tamil youth to fight for the establishment of a separate self-governing Tamil State, as early as in 1969.
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Child Protection Authority empowered - LTTE Political Wing

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 December 2006, 11:19 GMT]
The LTTE Political Wing, in a press statement issued on Friday, said the Tiger leadership had taken decisive steps to stop the practice of underage recruitment. The Tigers have strengthened the Child Protection Authority with certain powers to investigate future allegations of underage recruitment and to take immediate action to release them, the statement said. The statement also made reference to Tamileelam Child Protection Act 2006 (Act No. 03 of 2006), which was enacted in October by the Tamileelam legislatature, making education compulsory upto grade 11. The Act has outlawed recruitment of under-17s and participation in combat of under-18s.
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Indian Prime Minister receives TNA leaders

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 December 2006, 07:48 GMT]
Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh Friday received five Tamil National Alliance leaders R. Sampanthan, Mavai Senathiraja, Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, Selvam Adaikalanthan and Suresh Premachandran at his office in New Delhi. TNA MPs told media that the meeting was very cordial and that they had brought focus to the humanitarian crisis in Vaharai and Jaffna where food is used as tool of war by Colombo. Dr. Manmohan Singh emphasized that he had conveyed to Colombo that there could be no military solution to resolve the Tamil national problem and that it should address the political aspirations of the Tamil people through a negotiated settlement.
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