Tigers locate 6 SLA bodies, seize weapons, heavy fighting in Mannaar

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 May 2008, 05:35 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) on Sunday thwarted a ground movement launched by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) from Irungka'ndalku'lam towards Va'n'naaku'lam in Mannaar claiming that at least 26 SLA soldiers were killed in the fighting and that more than 50 SLA soldiers were wounded. The Tigers have located 6 dead bodies of the SLA soldiers in the clearing mission. Two Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG) launchers and six T-56 assault rifles were among the weapons seized by the Tigers. Three Tiger fighters were killed in action, according to the LTTE officials in Vanni.
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No CFA in future, says Sri Lanka's PM

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 13 May 2008, 18:50 GMT]
The Sri Lankan government would not sign any ceasefire agreement (CFA) with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) at any stage as the time has come to wipe out terrorism from Sri Lanka completely, said Ratnasiri Wickremanayake, Sri Lanka's Prime Minister, at an event held Tuesday in Colombo.
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Student feared abducted by SLA in Vadamaraadchi

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 13 May 2008, 09:45 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers who had demanded a student in Karaveddi East, Vadamaraadchi, to hand over his brother, who they claimed was a Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) combatant, abducted the said youth, according to complaints made to Human Rights Commission (HRC) Jaffna, by his parents.
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House burnt in Jaffna after clash between SLA, armed men

[TamilNet, Monday, 12 May 2008, 16:01 GMT]
Tension prevailed in Thirunelveali area in Jaffna Sunday night as a clash erupted between a group of armed men and the soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) inside the premises of a vacated house that belongs to a popular businessman in Jaffna. The house was burnt down allegedly by the SLA, after the exchange of gunfire, according to the residents in the area. The SLA troops stationed along the Palaali road near Thirunelveali junction opened fire indiscriminately in support of their soldiers who engaged in the clash with the armed men around 7:00 p.m. Casualty details were not available.
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Geopolitics shape Sri Lanka’s conflict - study

[TamilNet, Monday, 12 May 2008, 06:12 GMT]
Politics between powerful states have always been integral to the dynamics of war and peace in Sri Lanka, several contributors to a collected volume exploring the international dimensions of the island’s protracted conflict say. The study by the Centre for Just Peace and Democracy (CJPD) published this year comprises papers presented by academics and analysts at a conference held in Switzerland last June along with extracts of the subsequent discussions.
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30 SLA killed, 7 bodies recovered, arms seized in Mannaar - LTTE

[TamilNet, Friday, 09 May 2008, 07:53 GMT]
30 Sri Lanka Army soldiers were killed, seven dead bodies of SLA troops were recovered after heavy fighting at Ka'rukkaaykku'lam Friday morning, LTTE officials told media. Five bodies were recovered Friday morning, LTTE spokesman Irasiah Ilanthirayan said. Two more bodies were recovered Friday night, according to latest updates by the LTTE officials. Two PK Light Machine Guns, three AK LMGs, five T-56 assault rifles and military hardware including ammunitions were seized by the Tigers. The SLA, while pulling back was towing an Armoured Personnel Carrier that had caught fire, the Tigers said. Ka'rukkaaykku'lam is located 2 km east of Adampan.
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Sri Lanka military seeks funds from Sinhala Diaspora

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 May 2008, 17:49 GMT]
The Sri Lankan government has launched a fundraising drive amongst Sinhala expatriates in support of its military. The initiative was formally launched Tuesday at the Sri Lankan High Commission in London and is to be continued in other capitals with Sinhala Diaspora. Several businessmen came forward to contribute towards the UK target of GBP 100,000, press reports said. The Sri Lankan High Commissioner in London, Mrs. Kshenuka Seniwiratne, bought the first ticket in a raffle for the project.
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Rs.60m transit camp for security forces in Habarana

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 May 2008, 17:50 GMT]
A transit camp constructed at a cost of 61 million rupees in Habarana along Trincomalee-Kandy road by the Industrial development Ministry ensuring safety stay for soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army and Sri Lanka Navy traveling to and from eastern province to other areas in the south was handed over to the Defense Ministry last week. 102 sailors of the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) died in a suicide bomb attack on 16th October 2006 when large numbers of SLA and SLN troopers working in east were staying at a site in Habarana to change buses to travel to their villages
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Intense fighting in Mannaar - LTTE

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 May 2008, 18:55 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army units launched an attempt to move its troops from Thirukkeatheesvaram towards Veaddaiyaamu'rippu in Mannaar Tuesday morning from 5:30 a.m. till noon with artillery barrage, but sustained heavy casualties, LTTE offiicals in Vanni said. Meanwhile, on another front where SLA attempted to move from Ka'rukkaaykku'lam targeting Vaddakka'ndal was confronted by the Tigers from 8:15 a.m. An Armoured Personnel Carrier was destroyed in LTTE mine, killing at least 9 SLA soldiers and wounding many, according to the LTTE.
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8 SLA killed, 20 wounded in Mukamaalai FDL clash - LTTE

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 May 2008, 08:54 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) on Monday said they defeated a fresh attempt by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) to break into the LTTE Forward Defence Line, killing 8 SLA soldiers and recovering a dead body of one SLA soldier in Mukamaalai Monday around 10:00 a.m. The LTTE has seized a Light Machine Gun from the SLA in the confrontation where more than 20 SLA soldiers were wounded, the Tigers said.
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2 SLA soldiers die in accident

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 May 2008, 18:00 GMT]
Two soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) were killed on the spot when the motor bike they were traveling crashed against a truck Sunday afternoon at Santhiveli in Eraa'vur police division in Batticaloa district, media sources quoted Eastern Deputy Inspector General of Police H.M.D.Herat as saying.
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2,000 Sri Lankan soldiers killed last year – Fonseka

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 May 2008, 01:46 GMT]
Over two thousand Sri Lankan Army (SLA) soldiers were killed and four thousand wounded in the battles of 2007, the commander of the SLA, Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka told a conference at Army Headquarters last week, the Sunday Times reported. He claimed over five thousand Tamil Tigers were also killed last year. Meanwhile, the Sri Lankan government has forbidden military officials from giving interviews and launched a hunt for those leaking details to the media. The government has instructed ambulances transporting wounded soldiers from Ratmalana airport to hospitals in Colombo not to use their sirens, the paper said.
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Northern Front impregnable, say NTT panelists

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 May 2008, 10:49 GMT]
Colombo was forced into staging Mukamaalai offensive to ensure safety to troops in Jaffna which had fallen within the range of artillery, panelists said during a Political Analysis segment of National Television of Tamileelam (NTT), participated by LTTE military spokesperson, Irasiah Ilanthiraiyan, and Chief-Editor of Viduthalaip Pulika'l, LTTE's official organ, S. Ravi, in the programme moderated by K. Veera, this week. Panelists added that Colombo's assertion that LTTE is moving troops between different Northern fronts is a figment of their imagination, and refuted the claim that the Sri Lanka Air Force has caused detrimental impact to LTTE's war machinery.
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Two SLA soldiers killed in Ampaa'rai - LTTE

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 May 2008, 18:18 GMT]
Liberation Tigers officials in Ampaa'rai told media Thursday that two Sri Lanka Army soldiers, including a Sergeant, were killed in a booby trap explosion in Kagnchikudichcha-aa'ru in Ampaa'rai Wednesday around 8:00 p.m. and two soldiers sustained serious injuries when they approached an LTTE position in the jungle.
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SLA occupation of Madu, triggers fears of renewed Sinhalicisation

[TamilNet, Sunday, 27 April 2008, 17:42 GMT]
The Madu Road junction located on Mannaar-Madawachchi Road, which branches off the main route to Madu shrine, situated in the middle of traditional Tamil area, became the center of a Sinhala settlement in the 1970s. The Sri Lanka Government had the agenda of transforming the area into a full-fledged Sinhala colony, by using the lands of a cashew farm between the Madu Shrine and the junction. However, the settlement was later abandoned, fearing repercussions following large-scale massacre and arson committed by the Sri Lanka Army in December 1984 after a landmine blast. The spectre of a Sinhalicised Madu area has now become a dangerous new reality with SLA's occupation of Madu shrine.
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SLA killed, 4 soldiers lose legs in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Sunday, 27 April 2008, 16:54 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) defensive units confronted the Sri Lanka Army in Paalamoaddai and Naavatku'lam in Vavuniyaa district on Sunday. At Paalamoaddai one SLA soldier was killed at 12:30 p.m. when the SLA attempted to advance, the Tigers said. Three SLA soldiers were wounded, two of them lost their legs. At Naavatku'lam Tigers seized a T-56 assault rifle, the Tigers said.
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Mannaar Bishop demands open declaration of Madu as Peace Zone

[TamilNet, Sunday, 27 April 2008, 09:09 GMT]
Bishop of Mannaar, Rev. Dr. Rayappu Joseph, on Saturday told media that the warring parties should openly declare the Madu Shrine and its environs as Peace Zone in order to bring back Our Lady of Madu statue to the Holy Shrine. Meanwhile Sri Lankan Defence ministry in its official news on Sunday quoted Sri Lanka Army Commander Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka as saying: "those who were in charge of the statue have the responsibility of bringing it back". The SL defence ministry added that Madu "would be declared as a security zone," without specifying what it meant with the term, 'security zone.' Vicar General Rev. A. Victor Soosai on Saturday visited the Shrine for an inspection.
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Search operation at Katunayake, 10 arrested

[TamilNet, Sunday, 27 April 2008, 02:16 GMT]
Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) and Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Sunday early morning launched a cordon and search operation in areas surrounding the Katunayake airbase and arrested 10 civilians, majority of them Tamils. Police sources said they are being detained at police station and being interrogated as they failed to prove their identity and justify their stay in the location.
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Colombo bars journalists access to wounded soldiers

[TamilNet, Friday, 25 April 2008, 07:04 GMT]
Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) officials have barred photographers from entering hospitals in Colombo where Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers injured in battle are being treated according to complaints received from four journalists, said Colombo based media watchdog Free Media Movement on Friday. Stating that only some foreign wire services and few news websites operating from Colombo reported the battle front casualties independent of government press releases, the FMM said the right of the public to know information and news related to the on going war is severely undermined by the restrictions placed on journalists.
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Army bars Gen. Janaka Perera for criticizing war

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 April 2008, 18:56 GMT]
The Sri Lankan government this week ordered the Army to bar a celebrated former general from henceforth setting foot into its camps. The move comes after Maj. Gen. Janaka Perera criticized the Rajapaksa government’s conduct of the war against the Tamil Tigers. Saying that the government’s self-imposed deadlines “were not realistic”, Gen. Perera last month questioned the wisdom of waging protracted war against the LTTE and warned that battle fatigue would set in and sap the military’s will to fight.
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