Tamil youth shot dead in Valaichchenai

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 August 2006, 04:52 GMT]
Unknown gunmen Sunday night around 8:45 p.m. shot and killed a Tamil youth, Subramaniam Chelvakumar, 18, a day before his wedding was scheduled to take place, Police said.
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SLA directs artillery fire towards Batticaloa LTTE-areas

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 August 2006, 04:46 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Saturday night around 8:30 p.m. directed artillery and mortar bombs from its military installations in Vavunativu, Kommathurai, Kiran, Pulipainthakal and Meeravodai towards border areas held by Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Batticaloa district. The attack continued for about one and a half hours, residents said.
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Sivamaharajah assassinated

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 August 2006, 03:48 GMT]
Managing Director of Jaffna Tamil daily "Namathu Eelanadu" and the veteran chairman of Multi-Purpose Co-operative Society (MPCS) in Tellippalai, Jaffna, Sinnathamby Sivamaharajah, 68, was shot and killed at his temporary residence inside the High Security Zone of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Tellippalai Sunday night around 7:20 p.m. Mr. Sivamaharajah is a former parliamentarian (TULF) and a senior member of Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK), the main constituent party of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA).
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Eachchilampathu IDPs face dire shortage of food

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 August 2006, 03:18 GMT]
About 12 thousand internally displaced Tamils from 2956 families trapped in LTTE held villages in Eachchilampathu division in the Trincomalee district following continuous aerial bombardment and artillery fire directed by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) from its military installations in east port town and its suburbs have been facing starvation as food and essential materials are not supplied by non-governmental organizations and the government agencies since the fighting broke out, civil sources said.
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EU ban on LTTE hurt peace efforts – Hanssen-Bauer

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 August 2006, 22:15 GMT]
Norwegian Special Envoy John Hanssen-Bauer has questioned the European Union's decision, taken last May, to classify Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers as terrorists, the BBC reported Sunday. Mr. Hanssen-Bauer told the BBC that the EU move had damaged the chances of renewed talks, aimed at ending the recent upsurge in violence.
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"Let civilians flee, allow relief through" - UNHCR

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 August 2006, 13:36 GMT]
"Some 15,000 to 20,000 people are now displaced in the Killinochchi area as a result of repeated [Sri Lankan] artillery shelling and air strikes," the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said this week. Calling on the Colombo government and the Liberation Tigers "to urgently allow aid workers free access to all parts of the island so that vital supplies can reach those cut off by fighting," UNHCR appealed for them "to permit freedom of movement to all civilians displaced by their conflict." Since April UNHCR says 162,000 people have become internally displaced, while 7,439 have become refugees in Tamil Nadu.
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Mannar Tamil girls arrested in Negombo

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 August 2006, 13:14 GMT]
Ten Tamil girls who are residents of Mannar district working in a garment factory located in Negombo in the Western Province were arrested by Peliyagoda Police Wednesday. They had been residing in a house when they were taken into custody by the police on suspicion.
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SL Navy arrests Tamils fleeing to Tamil Nadu, Indian trawler seized

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 August 2006, 13:08 GMT]
Sri Lanka Navy Saturday night arrested about 85 Tamil civilians including men, women and children fleeing in an Indian fishing trawler to seek refuge in Tamilnadu in India. The SLN sailors seized the Indian trawler with its three member crew all are Indian nationals in mid sea from the coast of Mannar.
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Uyilankulam, Madhu check points' closure affects Tamil civilians

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 August 2006, 13:06 GMT]
Since the closure of Uyilankulam and Madhu checkpoints in Mannar district by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) from August 11 acute shortage for food, fuel and medicine is prevailing in LTTE held villages located in the divisions of Manthai West and Madhu as transport of such items is not allowed through these checkpoints.
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53 Division bears brunt of war

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 August 2006, 12:10 GMT]
Amid continuing heavy fighting in the northern Jaffna peninsula, hundreds of wounded Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers have been brought to hospitals in and around Colombo, with hundreds more awaiting transfer from Anuradhapura, medical sources in the capital said Saturday. While the government officially says 106 soldiers have been killed in a week of fighting, defence sources in Colombo said Friday the bodies of more than 400 soldiers had been brought to the south. They said the majority of the casualties have been borne by the SLA’s elite 53 Division.
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19 detainees released

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 August 2006, 10:18 GMT]
Nineteen Tamil youths who were arrested by Sri Lanka Army soldiers during a search operation in Chavakachcheri on Friday were relesed Saturday, Human Rights Commission officials said.
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LTTE Commander Sornam's brother killed in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 August 2006, 07:20 GMT]
Unidentified gunmen Sunday morning shot and killed Joseph Vasthiampillai Sebarajah, the brother of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam Special Commander Col. Sornam in Trincomalee. Mr. Vasthiampillai, also known as Arul, aged about 40, is the eldest brother of Col. Sornam, was a trader, running a video centre and a bookshop in Trincomalee town. The killing took place around 11:00 a.m. in the Grand Bazaar area in Trincomalee town Sunday.
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Uthayan newspaper warehouse burnt down in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 August 2006, 17:10 GMT]
Warehouse of the Uthayan, Tamil daily published from Jaffna district was burnt down by four unidentified armed men, Friday night, while curfew was in force. The warehouse is located along Rasa Veethi in Kopay.
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Colombo aggravates humanitarian crisis in NorthEast – NGO forum head

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 August 2006, 15:32 GMT]
Head of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) forum in Kilinochchi, Mr Ganesapillai, speaking at a press conference Wednesday accused the Sri Lankan government of deliberately blocking food and other supplies to civilians living in Vanni and Jaffna. "The Sri Lankan Army (SLA) is not allowing supply vehicles to pass through the check posts located at the entry points to the Vanni region. Governments agents for Jaffna, Kilinochchi, and Mullaitivu have requested the GOSL to instruct the SLA to open the roads so that all supplies can pass through to civilians in Vanni and Jaffna but the Colombo Government has been withholding issueing such directive," said Mr.Ganesapillai.
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GoSL's aid delivery, inequitable - Rev. Dr. Jeyanesan

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 August 2006, 13:34 GMT]
Sri Lankan government does not treat alike the people of all communities, affected in war and Tsunami, in connection with relief distribution, and the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) is deliberately creating barriers to effective functioning of Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in delivering relief to the affected, said Rev. Dr. Jeyanesan, the Coordinator of South Indian Missionary for Batticaloa District.
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Paduvankarai faces misery

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 August 2006, 12:20 GMT]
Tamil people living in LTTE controlled Paduvankarai area in Batticaloa District face starvation and danger of health hazards due to the closure of all the entry points to the LTTE controlled area from Military controlled Eluvankarai area by the Sri Lankan Army (SLA) from 12 August, local residents said. "This act of collective punishment by the SLA has affected mostly the poorest civilians in the LTTE-controlled areas in Batticaloa," civil society sources in Batticaloa said.
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Valaichenai civilian shot dead, body of youth found in Kallady

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 August 2006, 07:58 GMT]
Unidentified gunmen Friday night around 8.45 p.m. shot dead a Tamil civilian at Vinayagapuram in Valaichchenai police division about 32 km off north of Batticaloa town. The victim has been identified as Poopalapillai Koneswaran, 45, a father of four children. Meanwhile, a multilated body with stab wounds in the neck and abdomen was found in near clock tower Saturday at 6:00 a.m in Kallady, Batticaloa by kattankudy police division, police sources said.
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Tamil youth shot dead in Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 August 2006, 07:56 GMT]
Unidentified gunmen shot and killed a Tamil youth Saturday morning around 7 a.m at Ellapar Maruthankulam in Vavuniya police division, police sources said. The dead youth was identified as Karuneeswaran Kandeepan, 23, from Asikulam area in Vavuniya.
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Vallipunam organisors urge UNICEF to ensure safe learning environment

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 August 2006, 06:13 GMT]
General Secretaries of Principals Association in Mullaithivu District and Kandavalai (Kilinochchi), representing the organisors of the Vallipunam residential training for schoolgirls, handed over an appeal on Friday to Ms. Penny Brune, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) representative in Kilinochchi, urging the International Community to take immediate steps to stop Sri Lankan armed forces attacks on Tamil educational institutions.
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Thousand civilians enter LTTE held Vanni region

[TamilNet, Friday, 18 August 2006, 15:48 GMT]
Stranded Tamil civilians in Vavuniya town for about six days were allowed to travel through Omanthai check point to the LTTE held districts of Killinochchi, Mullaitivu and Vavuniya North division in the Vavuniya district Friday. The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) reopened the Vavuniya-Omanthai check point Friday afternoon around 2.30 p.m for limited hours due to combined effort taken by Mr.Kishore Sivanathan, Vanni district parliamentarian and officials of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) and Vavuniya district secretariat.
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