SLA readies for Manalaru offensive, Tigers warn of bloodbath

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 March 2007, 12:07 GMT]
"We are aware that the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has amassed military hardware close to Manalaru in preparation for a major offensive towards Mullaitivu area. Consequence of this offensive will be a catastrophic bloodbath across Sri Lanka," said Mr. Thamilchelvan, Head of LTTE Political Wing, speaking to TamilNet after meeting the Norwegian Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Hans Brattskar and Norwegian Embassy official Erik Nuremberg, in Kilinochchi Monday.


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VoT begins satellite transmission using Eurostar

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 March 2007, 16:47 GMT]
Voice of Tigers, the official radio broadcast of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), began satellite broadcast to South Asian countries from Vanni starting from today, LTTE sources from Kilinochchi said. "We are holding the inauguration ceremony on the 69th birthday of late Anton Balasingham as a mark of respect for his contribution to the progress of Tamil media. I also wish to thank all the staff at VoT for making the station a voice of Tamils," said Head of LTTE's Political Wing, S.P. Thamilchelvan speaking at the event.
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Acrimony flares, US says diplomats not LTTE’s target

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 March 2007, 00:13 GMT]
Amid growing acrimony within the Sri Lankan government over the LTTE mortar attack Tuesday on military helicopters carrying foreign ambassadors and UN officials to Batticaloa district, the American ambassador to Sri Lanka, Robert O. Blake, contradicted Colombo’s assertion that the Tigers had tried to assassinate the diplomats. Meanwhile Sri Lanka’s Defence Secretary says the diplomats should share the blame for the near-disaster for asking to visit Batticaloa. He slammed as “interference” attempts by foreign dignitaries and NGOs to visit the war torn Northeast.


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Appeal to MPs, ICRC, GA to bring murdered student’s body home

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 March 2007, 10:51 GMT]
Eight Tamil parliamentarians have written to Sri Lanka’s Defence Secretary, Gothebaya Rajapakse, on behalf the family of a murdered Jaffna University student, who are pleading for permission for his body to be taken to their home in Viswamadu in Tamil-Tiger controlled Vanni. The family has also requested the University authorities and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) office in Kilinochchi to also help, relatives said.
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Mannar Education Officer succumbs to injuries

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 March 2007, 12:39 GMT]
Divisional Education Officer in Mannar, Christian Rajakone, 47, succumbed to injuries early morning Thursday at the Kilinochchi hospital, hospital sources said. Rajakone sustained in the claymore mine attack by the Deep Penetration Unit (DPU) of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) on Tuesday in the LTTE held area in Mannar district.
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Civilian vehicle escapes DPU Claymore in Vanni

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 March 2007, 07:33 GMT]
A van carrying civilians from Nedunkeni to Mankulam Thursday morning escaped a Claymore attack at Olumadu in Nedunkeni in Vanni by the Deep Penetration Unit of the Sri Lanka Army, initial reports from Kilinochchi said.
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Police arrest Tamil teacher in Maskeliya, 4 Tamils in Kandy

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 February 2007, 18:09 GMT]
A Tamil teacher working in Maskeliya in Nuwara Eliya district in the central province was arrested Tuesday in a search operation by the police. Hatton Magistrate remanded him till March 16 when he was produced in courts Wednesday.
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DPU ambush kills School Principal in LTTE territory

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 February 2007, 12:43 GMT]
A newly appointed principal who was on his way to Vilathikulam from the Zonal Education Office in Madhu was killed, and an Divisional Education Officer was wounded and rushed to Kilinochchi hospital for treatment Tuesday morning following a Claymore ambush by the Deep Penetration Unit (DPU) of the Sri Lanka Army, said N. Selvy, Liberation Tigers Human Rights Spokesperson.
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LTTE condemns GoSL for endangering the lives of foreign diplomats

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 February 2007, 05:31 GMT]
Military Spokesman of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Irasiah Ilanthirayan, expressing deep regret for the injuries caused to the foreign diplomats who landed in the military airfield of the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) in Batticaloa and the Weber Stadium where 23-3 Brigade Commander's military headquarters is located, condemned the Government of Sri Lanka for having endangered the lives of foreign diplomats bringing them into the artillery launchpads inside the military zone without following diplomatic procedures.
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20 Tamil detainees on fast unto death campaign in Colombo

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 February 2007, 14:29 GMT]
Twenty Tamil detainees, taken into custody by the Sri Lankan police and military since 2003 and detained in the Magazine prison in Colombo, are on a fast-unto-death campaign for the fourth day Saturday, urging the Sri Lankan authorities to expedite the investigations against them or release them if there were no charges against them. The health condition of five of the fasting detainees has worsened, according to Tamil National Alliance parliamentarians who visited the prison Saturday.
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Oxfam funds construction of rice-mills in Mullaitivu, Kilinochchi

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 February 2007, 03:59 GMT]
Two small scale rice-mills funded by Oxfam were opened for operation in Sevanagar in Mullaitivu, and Selvapuram in Kilinochchi during the first half of February. The Economic Consultancy House (TECH), an NGO registered with the Government of Sri Lanka, and operating in the NorthEast, is the implementing agency for the mills, TECH officials said.
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JHU tells JVP: CFA already dead, meaningless to demand abrogation

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 February 2007, 12:42 GMT]
The ceasefire agreement CFA) signed by Ranil Wickremasinghe, the then Prime Minister and Velupillai Pirapaharan, leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) five years ago on 22 February 2002 had already dead with the capture of Mavilaru by the Sri Lankan security forces last year. "Hence there is no point in demanding the government to abrogate the CFA,"said Venerable Omalpe Sobitha Thera, general secretary of the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU).
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Fisherman's body washed ashore in Mullaithivu, one missing

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 February 2007, 14:49 GMT]
The dead body of a fisherman who was reported missing with another fisherman in Mullathivu since Saturday, washed ashore at Koriyadi in Vetrilaikeni in Vadamaradchi east Monday morning.. Sri Lanka Navy gunboats had fired at the fishermen around 2:30 a.m. Saturday in the seas off Mullaithivu.
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SLA intensifies shelling from Muhamalai, Manalaru

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 February 2007, 15:22 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) stepped up its artillery barrage on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) held areas in two separate Front Line positions Friday evening, one from SLA Northern Front Defence Line (FDL) towards Muhamalai, Kilali and Vadamaradchi east and the other from Manalaru SLA camp in Mullaitivu district towards LTTE held areas, sources from Kilinochchi said.


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LTTE appoints Human Rights spokesperson

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 February 2007, 08:27 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Friday appointed a spokesperson for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs. Ms. N. Selvy, who earlier served as a Peace Secretariat official has been appointed to the post, LTTE officials in Kilinochchi said.
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LTTE responds to UN report on Children and Armed Conflict

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 14 February 2007, 11:34 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), in a report issued by the Peace Secretariat in Kilinochchi, Wednesday stated that the LTTE which runs a civil administration with "extensive civil services," in which it's members take part, was entitled as a "functioning defacto-state" to recruit those above the age of 17. The Tigers were prepared to observe the minimum age of 18 when this practice has been accepted as an international standard by all the states, the LTTE statement said. The statement is the LTTE's response to the report made following the mission of Allan Rock, Special Adviser to the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict on Sri Lanka.
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11 Tamil civilians arrested in Chilaw

[TamilNet, Friday, 09 February 2007, 12:00 GMT]
Sri Lanka Government security forces arrested eleven Tamil civilians during cordon and search operations in Munthal, Uddapu and Munneswaram areas in Chilaw district located in the northwestern province Friday. The arrested are being held in Chilaw police station and are being interrogated, sources said.
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Phone service to Jaffna reactivated

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 February 2007, 10:32 GMT]
More than 6,000 telephone land-line connections to the Jaffna peninsula and to Vanni which had been severed for more than a week began functioning from 5:00 p.m Monday, sources from Jaffna said. Calls from Jaffna peninsula to Kilinochchi using 228 area-code also resumed functioning.
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TE Law College releases book on 'Family Law'

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 February 2007, 02:25 GMT]
"We are very proud that even after the Tamil community has been subjected to unprecedented hardships, people have held onto their strong cultural values. In the last 12 to 13 years only 154 families have sought separation or divorce in Vanni region. It is a remarkable statistic in a society that has been struggling for social changes for many years," K. V. Balakumaran, senior member of Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) said Wednesday.
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Telephone link to Vanni, most of peninsula, cut off

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 31 January 2007, 20:36 GMT]
Telephone lines to Vanni and most of Jaffna have remained cut for more than four days since Saturday 10:55 p.m. Financial transactions in many branches of the banks have been paralyzed, fundamental services such as hospital ambulances, civil services and media, dependent on telephone communication have been severely affected. Vanni, without celluar link, remains completely cut off for communication. A group of Sri Lanka Army soldiers who visited Vavuniya Telecom Saturday evening had instructed the technicians to accompany them towards the communication exchange at Madukanda, 4 km southeast of Vavuniya town, and shut down the telephone link to Vanni.
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