Road Authority vehicle damaged in DPU claymore attack

[TamilNet, Saturday, 02 December 2006, 12:49 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Deep Penetration Unit (DPU) attackers, exploded a Claymore mine, damaging a Road Development Authority vehicle at Moonru Murippu along Mankulam-Mallavi Road in Liberation Tigers controlled territory in Vanni around 4.00 p.m.
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CSW voices concern over Christians in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Saturday, 02 December 2006, 03:12 GMT]
Citing violence agains Christian worshippers in Gampola, Gampaha, Kandy and Puttalam district, Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), a human rights organisation specialising in religious freedom, expressed concern over the safty of Christians in Sri Lanka. In a news item published in its website, the Organization urged the authorities in Sri Lanka to "ensure that all citizens have the opportunity to practice their chosen religion with out fear of harassment by mobs and urge all faith communities to show tolerance and respect for one another.”
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Court to issue verdict on TRO funds case

[TamilNet, Friday, 01 December 2006, 12:21 GMT]
The Colombo High Court Judge, after receiving the written submissions by the Lawyers representing the Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO), and by the Attorney General representing the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, set 11 December 2006 as the next court date when a decision on the Court’s jurisdiction would be conveyed to the parties, legal sources in Colombo said.
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Three men abducted, shot dead in Thirukovil

[TamilNet, Friday, 01 December 2006, 12:18 GMT]
Three civilians abducted by unidentified armed men from their houses Friday around 1:30 a.m at Vinayagapuram, Thirukovil in Amparai, were found shot to death Friday at 6:00 a.m., sources in Amparai said. The bodies of the victims were found by Vinayagapuram residents at a junction near Vinayagapuram Tamil Maha Vidyalayam around 200 meters from the victims' houses, said Thirukovil police. The bodies have been transferred to the Thirukovil hospital.
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Gotabaya Rajapakse narrowly escapes Bomb blast

[TamilNet, Friday, 01 December 2006, 06:41 GMT]
Gotabaya Rajapakse, the Sri Lankan Secretary of Defence and brother of SL President Mahinda Rajapakse, narrowly escaped a bomb blast in Colombo Friday morning. A security guard providing escort to the convoy was killed in the attack. Seven security commandos were among the 14 wounded in the attack, suspected to be a suicide mission, Police said. Lt. Col. (retd.) Gotabaya Rajapakse, who advocates a military solution to the Tamil national problem, was on his way to a defence meeting with Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse when the attack took place.
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Vaharai supplied for two weeks, 33 trucks blocked

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 November 2006, 18:09 GMT]
Additional Government Agent of Batticaloa District, K. Mahesan told media Thursday that 57 of 90 trucks with humanitarian supplies had reached Vaharai Wednesday. No supplies were sent on Thursday. Vaharai region has been supplied for two weeks, according to UN Office of Resident Co-ordinator in Colombo. A total number of 84 trucks had reached Vaharai, according to the UN office. Both the Additional GA and the UN office said 33 trucks had returned to Batticaloa without delivering supplies. The trucks were blocked at Mankerny entry point by the Sri Lanka Army.
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"Cool reception" in Delhi for Rajapakse

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 November 2006, 15:46 GMT]
President Mahinda Rajapakse’s visit to India this week was overshadowed by Tamil Tiger leader Vellupillai Pirapaharan’s Heroes’ Day address declaring a resumption of the struggle for independence. Sri Lankan and other media have made much of Delhi’s call for negotiations to end Sri Lanka’s protracted civil war, suggesting it was a rebuff for the LTTE’s ‘call for Eelam.’ But experienced political journalists saw India focusing on a different set of concerns – that of the hardline Sri Lankan government’s conduct vis-à-vis the Tamil minority.
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New TNA parliamentarian takes oath

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 November 2006, 11:36 GMT]
K.N.Sri Kantha of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) was sworn in as new parliamentarian of the Jaffna district to fill the vacancy created by the assassination of Mr.Nadarajah Raviraj by unidentified gunmen in the heart of Colombo on 10th November, political sources in Colombo said.
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LTTE officials dismiss conflicting press reports

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 November 2006, 07:01 GMT]
Director of LTTE's Peace Secretariat S. Puleedevan and Military Spokesman of the LTTE, Irasaiah Ilanthirayan Thursday jointly dismissed press reports that cited SLMM officials as saying that the Tigers had conveyed a message to Colombo following the policy address by the LTTE leader. "Our National Leader, in his policy address, has clearly explained everything that was needed to be conveyed to Colombo," Mr. Ilanthirayan said. The LTTE leader, Mr. Velupillai Pirapaharan, in his policy address on Heroes' Day had accused Colombo for having conducted the funeral rites of the Ceasefire Agreement without tearing it apart.
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Norwegian peace envoy arrives in Colombo

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 November 2006, 03:02 GMT]
Jon Hansen Bauer, Norwegian special peace envoy to Sri Lanka, arrived in Colombo Wednesday night around 11:15 p.m. to attempt to revive peace talks between the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).


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India rejects Rajapakse's call for joint naval patrols - Hindu

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 November 2006, 16:36 GMT]
Indian Press Reports Wednesday said that Indian External Affairs Minister, Pranab Mukherjee, had expressed India's concerns at the continuing civilian deaths in Sri Lanka and had reiterated that there was no military solution to the conflict between the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The proposal for joint naval patrols advanced by the Sri Lankan President was not on the cards, Hindu reported. However, India was prepared to assist the Rajapakse government with "non-lethal" military supplies, according to the report.
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British Tamils appeal to Blair over humanitarian crisis

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 November 2006, 11:55 GMT]
A coalition of over 80 expatriate Tamil community organisations in the United Kingdom this week appealed publicly to the British Prime Minister Tony Blair to intervene diplomatically to end the humanitarian crisis in Sri Lanka's Northeast. The appeal was published in a full page advert placed in The Times newspaper on Monday by the British Tamils' Forum and signed by 88 expatriate Tamil welfare associations, religious societies, cultural and arts societies, sports clubs and rehabilitation organisations.
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Armed men shoot dead Tamil civilian in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 November 2006, 10:12 GMT]
Unidentified persons shot and killed a Tamil civilian and injured two others Tuesday night around 7:00 p.m. at sixth milepost north of east port town along Trincomalee-Nilaveli road in Uppuveli Police division, sources in Trincomalee said.
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81 lorries with supplies reach Vaharai

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 November 2006, 08:00 GMT]
81 lorries of humanitarian supplies from UN aid agency, International NGOs and local NGOs, facilitated and monitored by the ICRC and the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, have crossed the Mankerny Sri Lanka Army (SLA) camp into Liberation Tigers controlled Vaharai region in Batticaloa district, held under siege by the SLA. However, food supplies in more than 44 lorries were blocked by the military alleging a military build up of the Tigers on Forward Defence Line (FDL) using the supply routes of humanitarian delivery. Trincomalee District Political Head of the LTTE, S. Elilan, when contacted by TamilNet, denied the SLA claim and said that the SLMM was provided access to verify such claims.
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US presses GoSL, LTTE on CFA

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 November 2006, 04:28 GMT]
In the United States’ first reaction to the LTTE’s declaration Monday that successive Sinhala regimes’ intransigence in resolving Sri Lanka conflict has compelled Tamils no option but to seek an independent state, a State Department spokesman on Tuesday called on both sides to honour the 2002 Ceasefire Agreement (CFA), describing it as the “foundation” for the finding peace, and also called for a return to dialogue.
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US Judge strikes down provisions of terror act

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 November 2006, 03:58 GMT]
U.S. District Court Judge Audrey Collins, in a 21st November decision, ruled as constitutionally vague provisions in the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) that blocked all the assets of groups or individuals the President named as "specially designated global terrorists" after the 2001 terrorist attacks. The Judge also struck down the provision that allowed Secretary of the Treasury to designate anyone who "assists, sponsors or provides services to" or is "otherwise associated with" a designated group, legal sources said.
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Iceland Foreign Ministry official meets Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 November 2006, 00:15 GMT]
Anna Johannsdottir, Head of Crisis Response Unit of the Iceland ministry of foreign affairs, accompanied by Chief of Staff of Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), Jon Oskar Solnes, and Acting head of the SLMM, Thofinur Omarson, met with LTTE Political Head S. P. Tamilchelvan in the LTTE Peace Secretariat in Kilinochchi Tuesday 11:00 a.m., sources in Kilinochchi said.
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HRW: Sri Lanka military complicit in forced child recruitment

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 November 2006, 12:39 GMT]
Sri Lankan security forces must immediately stop assisting abductions of boys and young men by the Karuna Group and help those abducted return safely to their families, Human Rights Watch said Tuesday. A HRW report to be published next month says the Sri Lankan military and police are complicit and, at times, directly cooperating with the Karuna Group. “We have clear and compelling evidence that government forces are helping Karuna forces abduct boys and young men,” said Jo Becker, children’s rights advocate at HRW.
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Rajapakse dismisses Pirapaharan’s comments

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 November 2006, 11:57 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapakse Tuesday dismissed Tamil Tiger leader Vellupillai Pirapaharan’s declaration Monday that Colombo’s intransigence has compelled Tamils no option but an independent state. Rajapakse, who is visiting India this week said he had not heard the speech. “But I have not taken it seriously. Because he has always been saying these things.” President Rajapakse’s comments come after belligerent and contradictory comments by Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayaka, government defence spokesman Rumbekwella and government Peace Secretariat chief Palitha Kohana.
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SLA shoots dead civilian, arrests youth in Valaichenai

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 November 2006, 11:46 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troopers from the Meeravodai SLA camp lay in ambush and shot dead the father of five children Monday around 8:00 p.m at Meeravodai, a Tamil village in Valaichenai police division in Batticaloa, said Valaichenai police. The Police recovered the dead body and handed it over to Valaichenai Base hospital.
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