Senior SLA Commander killed in bomb blast

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 June 2006, 02:59 GMT]
A senior top official of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA), Major General Parami Kulatunga, who holds the third position in the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) high command was killed in Pannipitiya, 15 km southeast of Colombo, in Homagama police division in Western Province, in a suicide bomb attack around 7:45 a.m. Monday, Police said. Maj. Gen. Kulatunga, Deputy Chief of Staff, has served as SLA Commander for Vanni High Command of the Sri Lanka Army.


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SL police, civilian injured in Mannar gunfire

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 June 2006, 00:36 GMT]
One police constable was seriously injured when unidentified persons fired at the combined Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and police sentry located in the Mannar public playground Sunday night at about 8.30 p.m. One of the two Tamil civilians in a three-wheeler were injured in the retaliatory fire by the security forces and the other was arrested by the Police, civil sources said.
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Tamil expatriate shot dead in Valaichenai

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 June 2006, 15:41 GMT]
An expatriate Tamil from Switzerland who was in Valaichenai, visiting his family on a 2-weeks vacation, was shot and killed by unidentified gunmen Sunday evening around 3:15 p.m. at Kannankiramam, Police said.
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Rajapakse will disarm Karuna if LTTE accepts direct peace deal- paper

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 June 2006, 12:50 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse has intimated to the editor of Jaffna daily Uthayan, N. Vithyatharan, to exchange messages with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to strike a deal for starting direct talks with the LTTE, with the intention of bypassing the facilitation of Royal Government of Norway, a leading broadsheet in Colombo, Sunday Leader said in its latest edition. Mr Rajapakse had said that he will disarm Karuna Group if his proposed two week peace-deal is accepted by the LTTE, the paper said.
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War unavoidable if Norway suspends monitoring function - Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 June 2006, 10:52 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers Political Head S.P.Thamilchelvan, when asked what LTTE's reaction would be, if Norway, on 29 June, chose to suspend the monitoring role, responded that a such decision would signal an end to the already fragile ceasefire and plunge the island into war. Mr. Thamilchelvan further said that the Tigers responding to the questions posed by the facilitator Norway, had replied that they were fully prepared to continue providing diplomatic immunity to the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) as a mission coordinated, facilitated and led by the Royal Norwegian Government.
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PLOTE cadre shot dead in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 June 2006, 09:35 GMT]
A Senior member of Peoples Liberation Organization of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE) was shot dead by unknown gunmen in front of Jaffna Teaching Hospital, in the bicycle park located at Hospital Road Jaffna, at 12:35 p.m. Sunday, sources in Jaffna said. Mohammed Bazeer, 42, with nom de guerre "Simon," was originally from White Sand area of Trincomallee joined PLOTE ten years ago and has been working in Jaffna district, sources said.
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RAW aiding paramilitary recruitment in India - report

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 June 2006, 01:15 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s Army-backed Tamil paramilitaries are seeking recruits amongst Tamil refugees in Tamil Nadu, offering hefty salaries, an Indian news agency reported this week. The Eelam National Democratic Liberation Front (ENDLF), an India-based paramilitary group now operating in an anti-LTTE grouping under the Karuna Group, is seeking recruits from refugee camps and orphanages in southern India, an Indian website reported, citing local press reports. The recruitment is being conducted with the knowledge of India’s external intelligence agency, RAW (Research and Analysis Wing), the report added.
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Muttur East students need educational facilities, LTTE tells UNICEF

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 June 2006, 18:09 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has appealed to the UNICEF to make arrangement for displaced students due to recent military attacks by the Sri Lankan State armed forces on Muttur east villages to attend classes in schools located near their temporary shelters. Elilan, Trincomalee district political head of the LTTE, made this request to the UNICEF Trincomalee head when the latter met him at Sampoor LTTE political secretariat Friday evening, sources said.
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Hartal observed in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 June 2006, 17:37 GMT]
Hartal was observed throughout Jaffna district Saturday following a call to traders and residents in Jaffna by the Tamil National Resurgence Movement (TNRM) to condemn Sri Lankan armed forces for their desecration of Kopay National Heroes Cemetery, and for destroying the Thileepan memorial stone near the Nallur temple in Jaffna, sources in Jaffna said.
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Durban Tamils protest against Sri Lanka's Rights violations

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 June 2006, 11:34 GMT]
Representatives of the Tamil Co-ordinating Committee of South Africa (TCC), members of organizations supporting human rights in South Africa, and expatriate Tamils staged a peaceful march and placard demonstration in front of the Durban City Hall, South Africa Friday 23rd June 2006. More than 200 people protested the human rights violations of the Sri Lanka Government against Tamil civilians and European Union’s proscription of the LTTE, organizers of the event said.
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Tamil journalist detained by Mt.Lavania Police

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 June 2006, 20:21 GMT]
K Kumarathasan, 35, a news editor at Jaffna based Tamil daily Uthayan, was arrested by Sri Lanka Police at 10:00 a.m. Friday in Moratuwa at a sentry point in Galle Road, and held at the Mt.Lavania police station for more than 10 hours before he was released, sources in Colombo said. Kumarathas's wife, two children, and the driver of the van he was travelling, were also held in custody with Mr Kumarathas, sources added.
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SLN soldiers falsely implicate Mannar fisherman

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 June 2006, 15:59 GMT]
Mr.Anthony Balashankar, 35, Tamil fisherman and a father of five children, was arrested Thursday evening by the Sri Lanka Navy falsely implicating him that he was in possession of a grenade. The fisherman was produced in Mannar court Friday evening on a report that he was carrying a grenade with him at the time of arrest by the SLN soldiers. Additional Magistrate Mr.T.J.Pirapaharan remanded him till July 28, legal sources said.
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Sri Lankan forces cordon, search Batticaloa town market

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 June 2006, 08:38 GMT]
Sri Lanka Police, Special Task Force (STF) and the SriLanka Army (SLA) troopers, with paramilitary cadres, cordoned off and searched Batticaloa town market area, located near Batticaloa Police station, Friday from 5:30 a.m. till 10:30 a.m. No arrests were made during the search operation, Police said.
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Mannar SLN Commander ordered to appear in Court

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 June 2006, 06:10 GMT]
"Within few minutes after the fire fight between the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was over in Mannar Sea on June 17th morning, four navy soldiers who returned from the shore in motorbikes lobbed grenades through the windows into the Church of Our Lady of Victory in Pesalai and fired at random on the church doors," said five witnesses giving evidence before the Mannar Additional Magistrate Mr.T.J.Pirapaharan Thursday. The Talaimannar Police led the evidence of the witnesses, legal sources said.
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Tamil businessman shot dead in Negombo

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 June 2006, 03:05 GMT]
Two unidentified gunmen riding motor bikes shot and killed Sivarathnam Sasikumar, a businessman, Wednesday at 10:15 p.m. in Negombo. Sasikumar was going home with a friend when he was shot in the head and chest police said.


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Two civilians shot dead in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 June 2006, 17:44 GMT]
Two separately abducted Batticaloa residents, Kanthasamy Thavarajah, 20, and Shanmugam Jeyaratnam, 39, were shot and killed by their abductors, in two different locations at Santhiveli, 19 km north of Batticaloa Town, and Vinayagapuram, 32 km north of Batticaloa town, on Thursday police sources said.
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STF cordons, searches Amparai villages

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 June 2006, 11:00 GMT]
Special Task Force (STF) soldiers of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) cordoned off and searched Akkaraipattu, Aalaiyadi Vembu, Vaachikuda, Naavatkuda and Kolavil areas of Amparai district from 4:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. Thursday, security sources said. Soldiers had in their possession a target list of names and registration numbers of motorbikes, local residents said.
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Mannar SLN rampage causes $5m damage to property

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 June 2006, 10:35 GMT]
Outboard engines, fibre glass boats, fishing nets and other related accessories belonging to fishermen of Pesalai, and Vankalaipadu in Mannar districts costing nearly US$5m were burnt and destroyed in the arson following the fire fight between the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Mannar Sea last week, according to preliminary reports submitted by the Mannar Divisional Secretary to the District Secretariat Wednesday, civil sources said.
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Aerial bombardment tantamounts to undeclared war, says Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 June 2006, 10:17 GMT]
S. P. Thamilchelvan, the political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on Wednesday said the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) was yet to respond to LTTE's warning that the provocative air attacks, if continued, would be retaliated. "Aerial bombardment is interpreted as undeclared war on the Tamil nation," he told media after concluding a meeting with the Norwegian Ambassador Hans Brattskar, clarifying the LTTE's response to Norway's five questions. "Colombo, obsessed with going to war with the Tamil Nation, has already begun to impose economic blockade on the Tamil homeland," LTTE's Political Head told media.
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SL parliament observes one-minute silence to Tamil civilians

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 June 2006, 10:08 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Parliament Wednesday observed a one minute silence for those Tamil civilians killed by State armed forces and paramilitary groups working with them. Parliamentarians of all political parties including the Sinhala Nationalist Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and the all monks party Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) stood for one minute and observed silence, parliamentary sources said.
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