Four injured in sectarian violence at Kathankudy

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 November 2006, 07:57 GMT]
Unidentified armed men, alleged to be orthodox Muslims, in a white van lobbed hand grenades and opened fire Tuesday around 8:00 p.m on Abdur Rauf Moulawi, the Islamic religious teacher belonging to Sufi sect, and some others standing in front of his office near Kathankudy Bathriya Mosque in Batticaloa district injuring four, said Kathankudy police.


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Artillery duel injures four women, hundreds flee Kudumbimalai

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 November 2006, 02:05 GMT]
Four women were injured when a mortar shell launched from Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) area targeting the Murkodanchenai Sri Lanka Army (SLA) camp fell and exploded on a house near the SLA camp Tuesday around 9:30 a.m., security sources from Batticaloa said. Meanwhile, hundreds of families from LTTE-controlled Kudumbimalai area sought shelter in adjoining jungles seeking safety from SLA fire from Valaichenai Brigade camp Tuesday night, LTTE sources said.
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Governor rejects appeals from trapped Jaffna workers

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 November 2006, 01:07 GMT]
Rear Admiral (Retd) Mohan Wijeyawickrema, Governor of the North East Province (NEP), rejected Tuesday an appeal made by government employees including teachers from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) held areas, now trapped in the Jaffna peninsula with the closure of A9 route since August 11, to let them stay in the peninsula due to unsafe conditions in their places of work, said civil sources from Jaffna.
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TNA calls on Sri Lanka to uphold 1987 merger

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 November 2006, 15:20 GMT]
Saying that the Sri Lankan state’s recognition of the Tamils’ historical existence as a people living in the Northeast of the island was realised in the establishment of the Northeast province in 1987, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), charged Tuesday that it was the duty of President Mahinda Rajapakse’s government to uphold the merger as it constituted a recognition of Tamil grievances. The TNA is expected to pass a resolution as Sri Lankan Prime Minister is reported to have told the Parliament Tuesday that a "future merger" would be dependent on a referendum in the East.
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Mannar women complain of body searches by SLA male soldiers

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 November 2006, 09:36 GMT]
In a complaint made to the Mannar Consortium of Humanitarian Organisations (CHO), Tamil women in Mannar said that Sri Lanka Army (SLA) male soldiers routinely conduct body searches on their way to Chetiyar Kaddai at Adampan, sources said. Body search by opposite sex amounts to rights violation and "sexual assault," said human rights officials in Mannar.


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Lack of Tamil proficiency impedes prompt action by SL police- IGP

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 November 2006, 09:33 GMT]
The Sri Lanka police constables and officials lack proficiency in Tamil language, and therefore, are unable to take prompt and right action on the complaints made by the Tamils regarding abductions, disappearance, killings, and other law and order concerns of Tamils, said Inspector General of Police (IGP), Victor Perera, in a press meet held in Colombo Monday.


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TNA parliamentarians' protest continues

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 November 2006, 08:25 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians continued their sit-in-protest in Sri Lanka's parliament when it resumed its sitting Tuesday. TNA parliamentarians have been demanding the re-opening of the landroute A9 to Jaffna peninsula and protesting against the de-merger of NorthEast province as directed by the Supreme Court.
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Fisherman shot dead in Valaichenai

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 November 2006, 08:07 GMT]
Unidentified armed men took away a fisherman from his home at Kinaiyadi Nagathambiran temple street in Valaichenai police division in Batticaloa and shot him dead Monday around 11:00 p.m, said Valaichenai police.
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SLA censors Heroes' Day coverage

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 November 2006, 21:25 GMT]
"It is an outright violation of the freedom of press by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) 512nd Division high officials to threaten the Editors of the Jaffna peninsula Tamil dailies not to publish any news related to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), and not to publish LTTE leader Pirabakaran's photo or his annual November Heroes' Day message," S. Gajendran, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian for Jaffna district, told TamilNet Monday.
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Three civilians killed in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 November 2006, 16:59 GMT]
Three Tamil civilians including two women were killed in Jaffna peninsula within the 24 hour period between 6:00 p.m Sunday and 6:00 p.m Monday, sources in Jaffna said.
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Critically injured baby awaits ambulance in Vaharai, 5 wounded in SLA shelling

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 November 2006, 14:38 GMT]
A six-month-old baby girl, critically injured in indiscriminate Sri Lanka Army artillery shelling that targeted a transit camp of Internally Displaced Persons in Palchenai School in Vaharai region Monday, is waiting for ambulance transportation from Vaharai hospital to Batticaloa, medical sources in Vaharai said. The only ambulance of the hospital is yet to return from Batticaloa after a trip Sunday and the shelling was continuing, the sources added. Five civilians were wounded in SLA shelling, three of them, including the baby were criticially injured.
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Court allows investigation of Sinhalese suspected of spying for LTTE

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 November 2006, 13:41 GMT]
The Colombo Magistrate Court granted permission to the Sri Lanka forces on Monday to commence extensive inquiries into the activities of two Sinhala civilians arrested on suspicion of passing information to the Intelligence Division of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE ).The Sri Lanka forces allege that they have been collecting information about the movements of the Tamil minister Douglas Devananda, sources in Colombo said.
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Tamils forced to leave homes at Habarana

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 November 2006, 13:22 GMT]
Many Tamils, living in the Habarana area where more than 100 Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) troopers were killed in a blast of a pickup truck loaded with explosives on October 16, are moving out of their homes as many Tamils are being arrested in the frequent cordon and search operations held in the area by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and the police.
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Northeast de-merger issue to dominate parliament sitting

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 November 2006, 13:00 GMT]
Sri Lanka's parliament is to resume sitting Tuesday morning amid speculation in political circles that the government is likely to bring a motion soliciting the position of the parliamentarians from all parties on the Supreme Court ruling that rendered invalid North East merger, parliamentary sources said.
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Tamil officers removed from SL President's security detail

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 November 2006, 12:50 GMT]
Twenty Tamil Sri Lanka police security officers accompanying Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapakse to a public function at Veerahetiya, an upcountry town, Sunday were sent back to their stations on suspicion raised on the bonafides of the officers by the Veerahetiya Sinhala residents, sources from Hatton said.
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SLAF bombs Vaharai, IDPs flee SLA shelling

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 November 2006, 11:42 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) launched artillery attacks from Valaichenai SLA camp and Karadikulam SLA camp towards Vaharai intensified since Sunday night amid troop deployment at Gajuwatte SLA camp. LTTE's Military Spokesman Irasiah Ilanthirayan Monday said Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) carried out 2 sorties of aerial bombardment in Paalchenai and Vammivedduvan in Vaharai region in Batticaloa district Monday noon. "All communication and transportation facilities towards Vaharai has been cut off. Even the small amount of humanitarian supplies reaching the region twice a week, has been blocked by the Sri Lankan military," Mr. Ilanthirayan told TamilNet.
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Jaffna University to admit only Tamil students

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 November 2006, 03:02 GMT]
Sinhalese and Muslim students will not be admitted to the University of Jaffna for the Academic Year 2006-2007 due to prevailing unstable security situation, and only Tamil students will be admitted , University Grant Commission sources said Monday.


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Vaharai residents face severe food shortage- MP

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 November 2006, 01:14 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troops of Mankerni Camp have refused permission to transport food items beyond their check point into LTTE- controlled Vaharai Region for more than a week, resulting in 43,000 civilians of the area facing acute shortage of essential food items, P.Ariyanenthiran, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Member of Parliament, Batticaloa District said in a communiqué issued to the press on Sunday.
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Ex-PLOTE cadre shot dead in Kayts

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 November 2006, 16:39 GMT]
A former senior member of the paramilitary Peoples Liberation Organization of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE) was abducted from his home in Puliyankudal, Kayts Friday and his body was found with gunshot wounds Saturday, sources in Jaffna said. Kumaravelu Suthaharan, alias Appan, 33, left PLOTE less than 5 years ago, got married and was living in Puliyankudal in the Jaffna islet when he was killed.
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SLA blocks Vaharai students from taking Scholarship test

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 November 2006, 22:12 GMT]
Despite arrangements made with the help of UNICEF for the students to sit the Fifth year State Scholarship Examination. SLA troopers at Mankerny and Cadjuwatte SLA camps stopped the teachers taking question papers and the students from proceeding to Vaharai, Batticaloa Education officials said Saturday.
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