Eight youths arrested in round up

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 June 2000, 10:26 GMT]
Eight youths were arrested when the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers and Police conducted a cordon and search operation in Kokkuvil, a village 4 km. north of Batticaloa this morning.
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Mannar SLA shooting victims identified

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 June 2000, 18:20 GMT]
The Sri Lanka army handed over the bodies of five Tamil youth to the Mannar hospital this morning. The SLA told the hospital that the youth were shot dead in a house in Thalvupaadu, four kilometers west of Mannar town, when it was surrounded by troops around 5 a.m. Friday morning on receipt of information that Liberation Tigers were in the village. However, one of the youth shot dead was identified as K. Pirapaharan, a school teacher, by his sister and another was identified by his brother as Victor Sebamalai who had not returned home after reporting to the military intelligence unit at Mannar for an inquiry on May 31.
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Three Policemen wounded

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 June 2000, 08:19 GMT]
Three military trained Policemen were shot and seriously wounded by gunmen suspected to be members of the Liberation Tigers last night around 9.30 p.m. in the heart of Kattankudy, a predominantly Muslim town, 6 kilometers south of Batticaloa. The gun men had lobbed a grenade near the scene of shooting before getting away on a motorbike, Police in Kattankudy said. The Police imposed restrictions on Tamils living and working in this town on May 30 in a bid to curb the activities of the LTTE in Kattankudy.
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Ratwatte explains SLA activity in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 31 May 2000, 20:10 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Deputy Defence Minister, Gen. Anuruddha Ratwatte, who returned from Jaffna Wednesday after directing military operations there told state run TV that he has ordered the Sri Lanka army not to pull back any further in Jaffna. He said that the Liberation Tigers had shelled Palaly and the army had to counter it. The Minister urged the public to persuade deserters and soldiers who have not reported to duty after going on leave to go back to the front if they happened to see them.
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Passengers say Jaffna situation grim

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 31 May 2000, 11:05 GMT]
Students, government officers and Tamil expatriates from Jaffna who arrived in Trincomalee Wednesday on the passenger ship 'City of Trinco' said that civilians continue to live in fear and uncertainty in the peninsula. A group of university students and officers who spoke to TamilNet this morning said that the Jaffna municipal area is generally deserted and that the curfew imposed by the Sri Lankan army is lifted for only three hours from morning 9 a.m. to 12 noon during the day.
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SLA search in Colombo's business hub

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 May 2000, 19:03 GMT]
The Sri Lankan army cordoned off and searched Sea Street, the island's 'gold market', in the heart of Colombo's business hub Tuesday. More than thousand businessmen and shop assistants in this predominantly Tamil sector of the capital's business district were lined up for identification by 'spotters' who had come with the army. More than thirty youth, including five girls were arrested.
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Police arrest Tamil journalist

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 May 2000, 18:11 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Police today arrested a senior journalist of the state run Tamil daily, Thinakaran. The Tamil journalist, Arul Sathiyanathan, was arrested in his home at Talawakella in the hill country district of Nuwara Eliya. His colleagues at Lake House, the Sri Lankan government's news paper organisation, said that Mr.Sathiyanathan was taken into custody by the Police although he had shown them proof that he was a senior accredited journalist at Thinakaran.
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Shelling thwarts civilian evacuation

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 May 2000, 18:12 GMT]
The evacuation of an estimated 15,000 civilians from the embattled Chavakachcheri sector failed Saturday, as heavy shelling by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) prevented them moving to designated points where UNHCR officials were waiting, following the declaration of a ceasefire by the Liberation Tigers, the LTTE said in a statement. The LTTE urged international governments to "prevail on the Sri Lankan armed forces to desist from using civilians as human shields and subjecting them to indiscriminate artillery and aerial bombardment".
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Ceasefire to evacuate civilians - LTTE

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 May 2000, 17:16 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers will observe a temporary ceasefire between 10am and 10pm Saturday May 27 to facilitate the evacuation of civilians to safe areas from battlezeones of the Thenmarachchi division of the Jaffna peninsula, the LTTE said Friday in a statement from its London offices. The UNHCR is to assist the evacuation, the Tigers said. Over 40 civilians have been killed and 150 wounded by indiscriminate shelling and bombing by the Sri Lankan armed forces, the LTTE statement said, adding that the Sri Lankan military was also preventing civilians from moving to areas of safety.
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Group claims Norway embassy bombing

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 May 2000, 17:17 GMT]
A group calling itself as National Front Against Tigers (NFAT) claimed responsibility for the grenades attack on the well guarded Norwegian mission in Colombo on Wednesday. The group in a statement faxed to the newspaper offices in Colombo said that the Norwegian government is the "international agent" of the Liberation Tigers. The same group claimed responsibility for the outspoken Tamil politician Kumar Ponnambalam on 5 January.
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Tear gas breaks demonstration

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 May 2000, 09:15 GMT]
Sri Lankan police fired teargas and used water cannon Thursday to disperse demonstrators protesting against the government's emergency regulations which civic rights activists say are draconian. A large number of people gathered outside the Colombo town hall in the afternoon, defying the government's ban on demonstrations, sources said.
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Tigers advance on Meesalai

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 May 2000, 16:25 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers resumed their offensive in the Jaffna peninsula Wednesday and are advancing towards Meesalai on the A9 highway, the LTTE said in a statement from its London offices. The crew of a Sri Lankan Air Force helicopter gunship were killed when it was shot down, the Tigers said. Meanwhile the town of Chavacachcheri had come under "a continuous barrage of indiscriminate artillery shelling" from the Sri Lanka armed forces, the LTTE said. The Tigers took control of the town in an offensive last week.
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Hartal in Batticaloa to protest killings

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 May 2000, 13:00 GMT]
Shops and schools were closed, few reported for work in government offices and roads were generally deserted Wednesday in Batticaloa, Valaichenai and other towns in the eastern district. This hartal was in response to a call by a student organisation to protest against the indiscriminate shooting by Sri Lankan security forces on May 17 in which scores of civilians were killed and wounded. The Police failed in the morning to compel shops in Batticaloa town to open up for business.
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Call in Vanni against military intervention

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 May 2000, 06:37 GMT]
The voice of Tigers (VoT) said in its morning news broadcast today that a mass rally and meeting were held in Mallavi Monday evening to protest against the Sri Lankan government's embargo on food and medicine to the Vanni and against international military intervention in the Sri Lankan conflict.
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ICRC ship cancelled

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 May 2000, 14:11 GMT]
Mr. Harasha Gunawardene, the spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Colombo told TamilNet that his organisation's weekly ship service between Trincomalee and Jaffna was cancelled Monday due to security reasons. The ICRC ship was to sail from the eastern port town of Trincomalee to Kankesanthurai (KKS) harbour.
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Sunday Leader closed down

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 May 2000, 13:29 GMT]
The Sunday Leader, one of Sri Lanka's main newspapers was closed down by the government Monday, media sources told TamilNet by telephone. No reason had been given the sources said. The sources quoted Sunday Leader staff as speculating the move was linked to an article by the paper's defence correspondent published in its latest issue.
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Chavakachcheri captured - LTTE

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 May 2000, 14:41 GMT]
Chavakachcheri, the second largest town on the Jaffna peninsula, fell to the Liberation Tigers Saturday, after 12 hours of heavy fighting, the LTTE said in a press release from its London offices. The troops of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) were fleeing towards Kodigamam, the last SLA-held position in the Thenmarachchi sector, the Tigers said.
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Tigers urge SLA surrender

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 May 2000, 17:44 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers Friday appealed to the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers in the Jaffna peninsula to surrender "to avoid a bloodbath." The LTTE said in a statement from its London offices that soldiers who lay down their arms "will be treated with dignity and honour" and handed over to the custody of the International Committee of the Red Cross "within 24 hours".
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Artillery fire closes Jaffna air, sea ports - LTTE

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 May 2000, 16:03 GMT]
The Sri Lankan military has suspended operations in Jaffna's lone sea port and cancelled flights from the single airstrip on the peninsula after both came under direct artillery fire, the Liberation Tigers said Friday. The LTTE said in a statement from its London offices that its guns had hit the runway at Palali airbase and military installations at Kankesanthurai sea port. Meanwhile, advancing columns of LTTE troops captured the areas of Madduvil and Sarasali today, the organization said, adding that fighting was raging at the strategic Sarasali junction.
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ICRC monitoring condition of Jaffna displaced

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 May 2000, 13:09 GMT]
Aid agency sources in the north said that the Sri Lanka Army lifted the curfew in the Jaffna municipality area today from 9 a.m to 12.30 p.m. The town was generally quiet they said. The ICRC spokesman Harasha Gunawardena told Tamilnet that his organisation visited three camps for the displaced in Manipay today. He said that ICRC, along with Sri Lanka Red Cross Society (Jaffna), continues to monitor and assess the humanitarian needs of the displaced population in Jaffna.
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