Stranded Jaffna residents provided transport from Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Monday, 25 September 2006, 08:05 GMT]
Nearly half of the two thousand stranded Jaffna residents in Vavuniya were taken in buses to Trincomalee harbour and from there they will taken in a ship to Jaffna, said Ms. Charles, Additional Government Agent (GA) Vavuniya Sunday evening, briefing the press at the Vavuniya Government Secretariat. Transport arrangements to the remaining will also be made soon, she added.
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Sri Lanka Navy, Sea Tigers clash off Pulmoddai

[TamilNet, Monday, 25 September 2006, 07:50 GMT]
Heavy fighting was reported in the seas off Pulmoddai, 41 km southeast of Mullaithivu, Sunday night. Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) claimed that the sea battle was fierce, lasted for five hours, and the SLN had inflicted heavy casualties to the Sea Tiger fleet.
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Tamil South Africans hold interfaith prayer for peace

[TamilNet, Monday, 25 September 2006, 00:31 GMT]
Tamil Co-ordinating Committee in Durban South Africa held an interfaith prayer meeting for peace Sunday at the Arutpa Kazhagam, remembering the 51 school children and 4 staff members killed in Vallipunam during an air-raid by Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) on 14 August.
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TNA "reassured" by India’s thinking on Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Sunday, 24 September 2006, 09:50 GMT]
Following its first official visit to India last week, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) is "reassured" by Delhi’s thinking on the Tamil question in Sri Lanka, party sources said Sunday. A delegation led Parliamentary Group leader R. Sampanthan held "cordial, comprehensive and productive" meetings with top Indian officials, including National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan, Minister of State for External Affairs E. Ahamed and Foreign Secretary-designate Shivshankar Menon, the sources said. The TNA leadership hoped to meet with India’s Premier in future, but was pleased Dr. Manmohan Singh "is taking a personal interest in the Tamil question," a member of the TNA delegation said.
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"White van" squad kills TNA MP's bodyguard

[TamilNet, Sunday, 24 September 2006, 09:21 GMT]
Amparai District Tamil National Alliance Parliamentarian K. Pathmanathan's security official was shot and killed Sunday morning by gunmen riding in a white van at Vinayagapuram in Thirukkovil in Amparai District, Police said. Sri Lankan counter-insurgency Special Task Force (STF) checkpost is located 100 meters from the site where the bodyguard was slain, according to civilian sources at Vinayakapuaram.
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‘Talk to Tigers,’ Rice tells Samaraweera

[TamilNet, Sunday, 24 September 2006, 00:19 GMT]
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister, Mangala Samaraweera, to make a concerted effort in planned peace talks with the Tamil Tigers, AFP quoted a senior US official as saying Saturday.
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Jaffna terrorized, held hostage by fear- TNA

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 September 2006, 18:22 GMT]
150,000 school children, 7,000 University students and 3,000 Technical College students remain unable to attend schools, campuses for more than 40 days in the Jaffna peninsula where the residents are "terrorized and held hostage by fear," said Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Parliamentarian of Jaffna District, N. Raviraj, at a press conference held in Renuka Hotel Colombo at 10:30 a.m. Saturday. TNA MPs from five districts addressed the press.
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Anuradhapura Magistrate to hold Muthur massacre inquiry in Kantalai

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 September 2006, 11:51 GMT]
The magisterial inquiry into the 16 Tamil and a Muslim aid workers' massacre is to commence from October 4 in the Kantalai Magistrate' Court. Sri Lanka's Judicial Services Commission (JSC) has appointed Anuradhapura Magistrate Wasantha Jinadasa to conduct the inquiry, legal sources said. Earlier, on August 08, a Sinhalese Judicial Medical Officer (JMO) was brought from Anuradhapura to conduct the post-mortem examinations on the the orders of the Sri Lankan authorities. Later, Colombo transfered the NGO massacre investigation to Anuradhapura. Now the JSC has chosen to conduct the investigations at Kantalai courts. However, Anuradhapura magistrate is to hold the investigations.
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Elections to 42 local bodies in NE postponed

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 September 2006, 11:48 GMT]
The elections to forty two local bodies in the NorthEast fixed for September 30 this year have been put off for June next year due to the unsettled situation in the province, Department of Elections in Colombo said.
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Grenade attack injures three workers in Amparai

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 September 2006, 01:44 GMT]
Three Sinhala masonry workers from Monaragala in the South, who work in a post-tsunami construction project in the Kaluwela area in Komaari in Amparai district, were injured, two of them seriously, when an unidentified assailant hurled a hand grenade at them around 9.00 p.m. Thursday, sources said.
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TNA parliamentarian protests against human rights violations by SLA

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 September 2006, 21:06 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian and the M P for Vavuniya, Sivanathan Kishore registered strong protest with the Vanni Military Commanding Officer Major. Gen. Edrisinge on Friday for not issuing ‘arrest receipts’ for persons arrested by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Vavuniya, said sources. He added in his protest that the SLA which conducted massive cordon and search operations in Vavuniya in the recent past, has failed to notify the relatives of the persons arrested by them during these search operations and condemned the practice of releasing abducted residents, blind folded on to the streets, as serious violations of human rights, added the sources.
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India-bound refugees detained

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 September 2006, 17:36 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) detained three boats with 40 Tamil civilians, including women and children, in Mannar sea, while fleeing to Tamilnadu in South India, Thursday evening. Navy fired warning shots to stop the boats when the boatmen failed to obey the orders of the SLN patrol craft.
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Tigers respond positively for Co-Chairs' call for talks

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 September 2006, 09:32 GMT]
Liberation Tigers officials at the LTTE's Peace Secretariat in Kilinochchi Friday said that the Tigers had responded positively for the International Community's call for talks in Oslo to Norwegian Ambassador Hans Brattskar, in a meeting Friday where LTTE's Political Head S. P. Thamilchelvan discussed the ground situation and the recent statement from the Co-Chairs, who represent the donor community to Sri Lanka.
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Protest march held in Killinochchi condemning SL government

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 September 2006, 21:59 GMT]
Hindu and Christian religious dignitaries of the Vanni district organised a peaceful protest march Thursday around 3.30 p.m condemning the Sri Lanka Government's (GoSL) for the closure of the A-9 route to Jaffna peninsula pushing its people to the brink of starvation and calling for the release of Rev. Jim Brown, catholic priest and his assistant who were reported disappeared after last being seen at the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) check point at Allaipiddy one month ago, said sources from Killinochchi.
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Tamil woman shot dead in Valaichchenai

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 September 2006, 21:14 GMT]
A Tamil women was shot dead by unidentified men at Pillayar Kovil Junction in Peththalai, about 32 km. north of Batticaloa, around 4:30 p.m., Thursday.
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SLN arrests Trinco Tamil civilians in Mannar coast

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 September 2006, 12:23 GMT]
34 Tamil civilians, all are residents of coastal villages in Trincomalee district waiting for a boat in the Mannar coast to flee to South India to seek refuge were arrested by the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) Wednesday evening. Later they were handed over to the Talaimannar Police.
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Clashes erupt at Nagarkovil, SLAF bombs Palai

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 September 2006, 09:12 GMT]
Artillery attacks from Sri Lanka Army (SLA) positions towards Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Forward Defence Line in Vadamaradchi East intensified Thursday noon after exchange of mortar and gunfire in Nagarkovil. Earlier, around 10:0 a.m., Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) Kfir bombers dropped at least 9 bombs in Pachchilaippalli village in Pallai in Thenmaradchi, destroying at least five civilian houses. Meanwhile, informed military circles in Colombo said some SLA coastal sentries near Nagarkovil camp were destroyed by the Sea Tigers in the fighting that ensued.
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Masked men abduct, kill IDP youth in Valaichenai

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 September 2006, 06:44 GMT]
Valaichenai Police Thursday morning located the dead body of a 23-year-old youth who was abducted by masked men at gun point Wednesday night from his relative's house at Kannankiramam in Valaichenai, 28 km northwest of Batticaloa. The victim, Mylvaganam Kohulan, 23, was an internally displaced person from Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) controlled Vellayadimadu in Vaharai.
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Youth shot dead in Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 September 2006, 16:19 GMT]
A Tamil youth was shot dead by unidentified persons near terminal for private bus services in Vavuniya, around 08:25 p.m., police said.
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TNA MP condemns Pottuvil massacre

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 September 2006, 12:31 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance parliamentarian K. Pathmanathan, Wednesday condemned the massacre of 10 Muslim youths alleged to have been carried out by the counter-insurgency Special Task Force (STF) stationed close to the site of massacre at Rattal Kulam.
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