Armed men destroy NGO office in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 August 2006, 09:10 GMT]
A group of armed persons, believed to be paramilitary men working with Sri Lanka Army (SLA), entered the Jaffna District Secretariat of the NGO, Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO), located on Temple Road, smashed the computers and accessories and set-fire to the building, destroying tools and data inside the office Wednesday night during the curfew hours. The TRO Jaffna office, opposite the UN officials' residence and close to many UN offices including UNHCR, UNICEF and UNDP, and several international organizations, is located 200 meters away from the SLA checkposts at Kailayapillayar temple.
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Claymore mine explosion in Pesalai

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 August 2006, 08:12 GMT]
A claymore mine explosion took place Thursday morning around 11.15 a.m.targetting a group of soldiers of the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) on patrol duty along Talaimannar road near the office of the Ceylon Fisheries Corporation (CFC) in Pesalai in Mannar district. Four SLN soldiers were also on duty at the site.
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LTTE confers Maamanithar award on Sivamaharaja

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 August 2006, 06:31 GMT]
Leader of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eeelam, V. Pirapaharan, Tuesday, posthumously conferred Mamanithar (Great human being) award, the highest national honour granted by the LTTE, to Sinnathamby Sivamaharaja. He was the Managing Director of Jaffna Tamil daily "Namathu Eelanadu" until his death on Sunday when he was shot and killed at his residence located inside the High Security Zone (HSZ) in Tellippallai.


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Auto-rickshaw driver shot dead in Trinco town

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 August 2006, 05:11 GMT]
Unidentified armed person shot dead a Tamil civilian, along Beach Road in Trincomalee town, around 3.30 p.m., Wednesday, police said. . He was identified as Shanmugarajah Suthakar of Bharathipuram, a suburb located along Trincomalee-Kanniya road.
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RSF condemns Sivamaharajah assassination

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 August 2006, 20:32 GMT]
"The journalists and employees of Tamil news media continue to be eliminated at a horrific pace," said the France based media watchdog Reporters Sans Frontiers (RSF). The organisation condemned the slaying of Sinnathamby Sivamaharajah, the managing director of the Tamil-language daily Namathu Eelanadu Sunday night in Tellippalai.
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Woman shot dead in Vadamaradchchi

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 August 2006, 12:11 GMT]
Unidentified armed men shot dead a forty year old woman Manoharan Rajini, mother of four children Tuesday morning around 7.30 a.m. in front of the welfare centre at Sakkotai in Vadamaradchchi division in Jaffna district where she had been residing on being displaced from Palaly which is located in the high security zone.
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Cowardly act, says Vallipunam survivor

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 August 2006, 07:54 GMT]
Paranthan Hindu Mahavidyalam student, Mary Arulappan Juliet, 18, a survivor of the August 14 Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) Kfir jet attack which killed 51 girls and four staff at Sencholai children's home campus in Vallipunam in Mullaithivu district, in an interview to TamilNet Tuesday, said the attack was a "cowardly act," and appealed to the International Community to unreservedly condemn the Sri Lanka Government for the attack on school girls.
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Swiss TRO sends fund for IDPs in Vaharai, Eachchilampathu

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 August 2006, 07:05 GMT]
Swiss Tamil Rehabilitation Organization TRO) has donated a sum of Rupees Eight Hundred and Fifty Thousand as a first phase to provide urgent food and essential items to hundreds of thousands of internally displaced Tamil civilians now sheltered in temporary structures in LTTE held Eachchilampathu division in Trincomalee district and Vaharai division in Batticaloa district, TRO sources said.
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SL parliament to debate North East situation

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 August 2006, 06:50 GMT]
A special debate on the volatile situation in the North East province is to be held in Sri Lanka's Parliament Wednesday. Leaders of political parties represented in parliament Tuesday agreed to the request by Mr.R.Sampanthan, parliamentary group leader of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), parliamentary sources said.
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Three persons shot dead in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 August 2006, 16:04 GMT]
Three persons were shot dead by unidentified men Tuesday in separate incidents in Trincomalee. One Tamil civilian was shot dead Tuesday afternoon around 2 p.m. at Murugapuri , a suburb in Uppuveli police division, about five km off north of east port town. He was identified as one Balachchandran, a three-wheeler by profession.
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Civilians cross open lines-ICRC

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 August 2006, 13:21 GMT]
Since Monday, the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) facilitated a convoy of civilians going from Killinochchi to Vavuniya. The convoy consisted 243 persons, including 61 foreign citizens and 182 Sri Lankan nationals, said the press release of the ICRC Tuesday
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Catholic priest reported missing in Allaipiddy, Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 August 2006, 13:17 GMT]
Rev.Fr. Thiruchelvam Nihal Jim Brown, Age 34, Parish Priest Allaippiddy, Jaffna is reported missing since 20 August 2006, according to a news release issued by the NorthEast Secretariat of Human Rights.
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Bodies of two women washed ashore in Pungudutivu

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 August 2006, 10:51 GMT]
Bodies of two women washed ashore along 29th Road of Ward No: 2 in Pungudutivu in Jaffna district were handed over to the mortuary of the Jaffna Teaching Hospital on Monday around 9.30 p.m.
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Sampoor threatens Trinco Harbour - Rajapakse

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 August 2006, 09:20 GMT]
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse on Monday told the representatives of the Co-Chairs of Tokyo Donors’ Conference for the Sri Lankan Peace Process, that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) controlled Sampoor posed a threat to Trincomalee Harbour and justified the Sri Lankan armed forces offensive as "preventing" or "responding" to Tigers. However, informed sources in Colombo said the humanitarian crisis escalated by the Maavilaru offensive, initiated by Colombo and the targeting of civilians in air-strikes and the slaying of NGO workers in Muthur, were discussed at the meeting between the Sri Lankan President and the diplomats representing the Co-Chairs.
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Eight on LTTE-related charges in US

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 August 2006, 07:18 GMT]
US authorities Monday charged eight men with providing material support to the Tamil Tigers the US Justice Department said. Amongst the charges are conspiring to buy surface to air missiles for the Tamil Tigers and bribing US officials to have the LTTE removed from a list of terrorist organizations and to obtain classified intelligence, a statement said. The evidence include consensual recordings of telephone conversations and meetings with US officials, it added. The Tigers deny any involvement in the activities of the arrested individuals whilst Sri Lanka hailed the move.
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SLMM regroups in Colombo

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 August 2006, 07:07 GMT]
The Norwegian Foreign Ministry Monday announced that the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) overseeing the Ceasefire between the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was regrouping it's Scandinavian monitors in Colombo temporarily. 39 of SLMM's 57 members, from Nordic EU Member States, Sweden, Finland and Denmark, were being called home as the Tigers viewed the EU proscription affecting impartiality required from the CFA monitors from the formal engagement of Ceasefire Monitoring between them and the GoSL.
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Limited SLAF flights to Palaly

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 August 2006, 06:40 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) has resumed limited flights between Ratmalana air base in Colombo and the Palaly airbase on the Jaffna peninsula, military sources in Colombo said. Taking off and landing at Palaly is restricted to late evening or night and the number of trips has been limited to two.
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SLA bans Colombo bound heavy vehicles from east

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 August 2006, 19:40 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has imposed a total ban on heavy vehicles transporting cargo such as fish, and other perishable goods from the districts of Amparai and Batticaloa to Colombo. These vehicles are stopped at Welikanda and Ottamavadi and sent back to Batticaloa and Amparai. The ban has come into effect since Saturday, civil sources said.
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SL Navy arrests more Tamil civilians fleeing to Tamilnadu

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 August 2006, 12:23 GMT]
Sri Lanka Navy Sunday night arrested another batch of 76 Tamil civilians in Mannar mid sea when they were fleeing to Tamilnadu in two fibre glass boats. Eleven boatmen were taken into custody by SLN personnel with the two fibre glass boats. All civilians were residents of Pesalai and Vankalai in Mannar district and, Thirukadaloor and Salli in Trincomalee district.
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Jaffna bound civilians stranded in Vavuniya for 11 days

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 August 2006, 09:31 GMT]
More than five hundred Tamil civilians bound for Jaffna district stranded in Vavuniya for the last eleven days Monday morning gathered in the Vavuniya district secretariat urging the civil authorities to take steps to send them to the peninsula.
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