Youth shot dead in Vadamaradchy

[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 December 2006, 12:25 GMT]
Two unidentified men riding a motorbike shot dead a youth near the 4th Cross street in Thumpalai Road, Point Pedro at 12:00 noon Thursday, sources in Vadamaradchy said. Meanwhile, the officials of the Human Rights Council (HRC) in Jaffna said that they have received several complaints of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) confiscating National ID cards of young men and women during cordon and search operations, and refusing to return them.
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Two SLA soldiers killed in Murunkan claymore attack

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 December 2006, 06:38 GMT]
Two soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army were killed and one soldier and an elderly woman were injured when a claymore mine was detonated targeting SLA soldiers Tuesday around 10:00 a.m. at Sirukandal in Murunkan area in Mannar district.
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SLA seeks ICRC assistance in locating missing soldiers

[TamilNet, Monday, 11 December 2006, 15:41 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has sought the assistance of the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) to trace and bring back the bodies of four soldiers reported missing in the fighting in Vaharai in Batticaloa district. ICRC sources confirmed that it had received such request from the SLA, media sources in Colombo said.
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Two SLA troopers injured in claymore attack in Karaveddy

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 December 2006, 15:10 GMT]
Two Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers were injured when unidentified gunmen triggered a claymore mine in Yaakeru, Kevalai area in Karaveddy East, Vadamaradchy, at 7:30 a.m. Sunday, sources said. The injured troopers were first taken to Manthikai Hospital and later transferred to Palaly Military Hospital in a helicopter.
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Students, teachers wounded in artillery fire in Kallar

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 December 2006, 11:02 GMT]
11 students and two teachers were wounded when artillery shells hit Somadevi Sinhala School around 11:30 a.m. Thursday. Sri Lankan military sources said the Tigers were targeting the Mahindapura SLA camp with artillery fire, but the shells had missed the target. Three soldiers were wounded, an hour later when the shells hit the SLA camp, according to the SLA.
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Two SLA troopers killed in claymore attack, a civilian shot dead in Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 December 2006, 10:49 GMT]
Unidentified persons triggered a claymore device Wednesday around 7:45 p.m on the Chettikulam-Madavadchi road in Vavuniya killing two Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troopers on the spot and in a separate incident on the same night around 7:30 p.m, unidentified armed men shot dead a civilian at Sasthrikoolankulam in Vavuniya, the police in Vavuniya said.


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Imperiled livelihood

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 December 2006, 02:46 GMT]
Jaffna's 'fisheries belt' which accounted for 37 percent of the island’s total catch two decades ago, today lies inside the Sri Lanka Army’s (SLA's) largest high security zone in the northeast. The peninsula's sea coasts, including the southern coastal waters of Jaffna lagoon, except Jaffna Islets, remain off-limits for fishing under a Sri Lanka Military enforced ban. In this scenario, the Sunday announcement by SLA that fishing ban in Vadamarachchy North is relaxed for fishing within 50 meters from the shore, is unlikely to lend succor to the fisher families struggling in dire poverty without a means of livelihood.
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Vavuniya identification parade postponed

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 December 2006, 02:22 GMT]
Manickavasagar Ilancheliyan, Vavuniya District Magistrate, postponed the identification parade related to the killing of five students of Thandikulam School of Agriculture originally scheduled to be held Tuesday, to December 19, legal sources in Vavuniya said.
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More youths surrender to Rights Group in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 December 2006, 01:21 GMT]
The number of youths surrendering to the Human Rights Commission (HRC), Jaffna branch out of fear being abducted and killed by the Sri Lankan Forces, are increasing, human rights activists in Jaffna Peninsula said Tuesday.
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SLA abducts 2 youths, 1 adult in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 04 December 2006, 13:09 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers and collaborating paramilitaries abducted a 52-year old man from his home in Tellipallai Monday, sources in Jaffna said. Meanwhile, two youths were abducted Friday evening from Mallakam area in Jaffna. Relatives of the victims have registered the three cases at the Human Rights Commission in Jaffna.
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Widen focus beyond child soldiers to humanitarian issues, Rock tells UN

[TamilNet, Sunday, 03 December 2006, 03:47 GMT]
In the wake of his visit to Sri Lanka in November, the Special Envoy of the UN Under Secretary General for Children and Armed Conflicts, Ambassador Allan Rock, has recommended that the United Nations widen its focus from only recruitment and use of child soldiers at present to include the killing of children and the denial of humanitarian access for children. As part of his visit, Ambassador Rock observed the situation facing children in areas under embargo by the Sri Lankan security forces.
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SLA trooper killed in Vadmaradchi, woman injured in Kayts

[TamilNet, Saturday, 02 December 2006, 13:29 GMT]
Unidentified men triggered a claymore device hidden along the Udupiddy-Valvettithurai road Friday around 5:00 a.m killing a trooper of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) unit returning to Valvettithurai SLA camp after constructing sentry posts near Ellankulam Heroes Resting Home, sources in Jaffna said. In a separate incident, a young Kayts woman was injured Friday by a stray bullet fired during the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) combat training at the Kayts SLN base. She was rushed to Jaffna Teaching Hospital.
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Ten SLA soldiers injured in Kantalai traffic accident

[TamilNet, Saturday, 02 December 2006, 13:23 GMT]
Ten soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) were injured when two buses carrying troopers collided near Kantalai, along Habarana Kantalai road Thursday afternoon, sources said. Kantalai is located 24 miles off southwest of Trincomalee town.
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SLA truck collides with train at crossing, 5 killed

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 November 2006, 06:41 GMT]
Three policemen, including a woman police constable, and two army troopers were killed and four wounded when a SLA truck packed with soldiers collided with a train as it crossed a railway crossing in Enderamulla, located 12 km northeast of Colombo, in Gampaha district Thursday morning around 6:30, Wattala Police said.
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Heroes Day celebrations held across Jaffna as jubilation triumphs fear

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 November 2006, 12:22 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troopers remained inside their camps in the villages in Vadamaradchy, Valikamam, Thenmaradchi sectors and the outskirts of Jaffna city following posters that warned soldiers to stay inside their camps Sunday. Villages that have remained gripped with fear due to forced disappearances and killings for many weeks, were decorated with red and yellow flags, and youths wearing tiger-striped uniforms were seen in many places in Vadamaradchy, residents said. Meanwhile, SLA soldiers in Jaffna town and the surroundings of University of Jaffna and Parameswara Junction on Palay Road conducted search operations.
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Two Police constables injured in Vavuniya claymore attack

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 November 2006, 12:00 GMT]
Two Sri Lanka Police constables were injured, one of them seriously, when unknown assailants triggered a claymore mine targetted at a Police road patrol in Poovarasankulam along Vavuniya-Mannar road at 7:40 a.m. Saturday, Vavuniya Police said.
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Heroes day celebrations continue amid SLA sabotage

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 November 2006, 16:17 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers have desecrated Heroes cemetaries located in Kopay, Ellankulam in Udupiddy and in Kodikamam as part of a wide spread attempt at sabotaging the Heroes day celebrations and muzzling the emotional support of the residents of Jaffna district in paying homage to those who died in the Tamil national struggle, civil society sources in Jaffna said.
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SLA soldier arrested on Farm school killings

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 November 2006, 15:23 GMT]
Police Officers from Criminal Investigation Department (CID) arrested a Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldier Friday on suspicion of involvement in the killing of five students of School of Agriculture in Thandikulam, Vavuniya last Saturday and detained him. The soldier, together with the police officer arrested earlier on Wednesday for alleged involvement in the massacre, are to be produced before Vavuniya district judge Mr Manickavasagar, Ilancheliyan on 5 December for an identification parade.
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Police officer detained on killings at Vavuniya Farm school

[TamilNet, Thursday, 23 November 2006, 14:08 GMT]
Criminal Investigation Department (CID) officers in Vavuniya have arrested and brought before Vavuniya Judge, a police officer Wednesday on alleged suspicion of involvement in the massacre of five Farm School students and indiscriminate fire on students inside the school premises last Saturday. The police officer, attached to a Police post in Thirunavatkulam, 250 meters west of the Farm School, was alleged to have rushed to the school and joined the Sri Lanka Army troopers from a nearby checkpost, when they fired indiscriminately at the students inside the school premises, legal sources in Vavuniya said.
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Foreign envoys meet IDPs, medical, fisheries officials in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 23 November 2006, 01:13 GMT]
Dr. C. Kathiravetpillai, Medical Officer at the Manthikai Base Hospital in Point. Pedro, Vadamaradchi raised the current acute shortage of essential food provisions, medical supplies and the malnutrition and starvation in the Jaffna peninsula caused by the closure A9 land route, with the Foreign envoys of Switzerland, Australia and United Kingdom when they visited the hospital Wednesday, sources in Point Pedro said.
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