Two SLA soldiers, policeman killed in Claymore attack in Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 May 2006, 07:22 GMT]
Two Sri Lanka Army troopers and a policeman riding in a tractor were killed in a Claymore explosion at Thandikulam, 4 km northwest of Vavuniya town, around 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, Police said.
Full story >>

Kohona: paramilitary link with "lowest rank" of SL forces

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 May 2006, 16:50 GMT]
Amidst increasing accusations against Colombo of Sri Lankan troopers alleged involvement in extra-judicial killings and the terror-campaign let loose on Jaffna islets, Dr. Palitha Kohona, the Head of Sri Lanka Peace Secretariat, on Tuesday said that he suspects there might be contacts with the paramilitary cadres and the lower rank Sri Lankan troops.
Full story >>

SLA soldier shot dead at Omanthai FDL

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 May 2006, 10:54 GMT]
A Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldier deployed at the Omanthai, Vavuniya Forward Defence Line (FDL) on security duty was shot and gravely injured at 4:00 a.m., Tuesday, sources in Vavuniya said. He died in the intensive care unit at the Vavuniya Hospital, according to sources.
Full story >>

White Pigeon donates tri-wheeler bikes with UNICEF help

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 May 2006, 09:51 GMT]
White Pigeon Prosthesis Institute, with the financial assistance of UNICEF, has donated tri-wheeler bikes to 10 disabled persons in Killinochchi Monday.
Full story >>

UN, US condemn attacks on humanitarian workers

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 May 2006, 14:07 GMT]
United Nations Resident Co-ordinator Colombo, and the Embassy of the United States in separate press releases issued Monday, condemned the grenade attack on international non-governmental organizations in Muttur, Trincomalee that resulted in injuries to local and international staffers.
Full story >>

LTTE Senior Commander Ramanan assassinated

[TamilNet, Sunday, 21 May 2006, 17:04 GMT]
A Senior Commander of the Liberation Tigers in the East, Commander Ramanan, the Deputy Head of the LTTE Military wing of the Batticaloa district, was assassinated by a Sri Lanka Army (SLA) sniper at Vavunathivu Forward Defence Line (FDL), 5 km southwest of Batticaloa, Sunday around 5:30 p.m., sources in Batticaloa said.
Full story >>

SLA soldier killed, one wounded in pressure mine explosion

[TamilNet, Sunday, 21 May 2006, 08:18 GMT]
A Sri Lanka Army (SLA) trooper was killed instantly Sunday morning when the soldiers hit a pressure mine at Iranai Iluppaikulam, 20 km northwest of Vavuniya, Vavuniya Police said.
Full story >>

Senior PLOTE operative 'Farook' talks to media in Vanni

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 May 2006, 16:01 GMT]
A senior People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE) operative, Sinnathamby Ganeshalingam, alias Farook, who was reported missing in December last year in Vavuniya, talked to the media this week in an undisclosed remote village in Vanni. Ganeshalingam claimed that he has begun a settled peaceful life in Liberation Tigers controlled Vanni with his wife Shantha, and refuted earlier reports that he was abducted by the Tigers. He said he left the paramilitary group after PLOTE leadership began to develop close relationships with the hardline elements in Sri Lankan military and extreme nationalist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP).
Full story >>

20 local authorities go to polls Saturday

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 May 2006, 19:02 GMT]
Four Municipal Councils, Colombo and Gampaha in the Western Province, Galle in Southern Province and Kalmunai in the Eastern Province along with three urban councils and thirteen Pradesiya Saba in the country, altogether twenty local government institutions, will go to polls Saturday. About 1.1 million voters are qualified to cast their franchise in this poll to elect 312 councilors, election department sources said.
Full story >>

Stop violence, enter talks, Anti-war group tells GoSL, LTTE

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 May 2006, 11:29 GMT]
Condemning the increasing levels of violence committed by Liberation Tigers and by the "armed groups and forces within and outside" Sri Lanka's Military, Kumar Rupesinghe, chairman of National Anti War Front, in a press release issued Thursday in Colombo urged the LTTE and the Government of Sri Lanka to "implement the agreements reached in the High Table in Geneva," and to "immediately resume the talks which were initiated in Geneva."
Full story >>

2 LTTE posts in Muhamalai, SLA post in Vavuniya attacked

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 May 2006, 04:12 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troopers Wednesday night moved into the no-go zone in Muhamalai close to A9 Road and attacked two Forward Defenece Line (FDL) posts of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), sources in Kilinochchi said. No casualties were reported. The Tigers said they repulsed the attacking Lankan troopers. Meanwhile, sources in Vavuniya said an SLA FDL post in Mamadu, 8 km northeast of Vavuniya was attacked and destroyed Wednesday evening.
Full story >>

Monitors confirm deep penetration, extrajudicial killings charges

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 May 2006, 23:35 GMT]
International truce monitors this week said they believed reports Sri Lanka Army troops were conducting Deep Penetration raids into Tamil Tiger controlled areas, killing several civilians. Their comments came as the LTTE said its frontlines to the north and south of Vanni were attacked by infiltrating SLA soldiers. Meanwhile, the international monitors also said Sri Lankan security forces are responsible for extrajudicial killings with the troops so unconcerned as to the consequences as to not even provide plausible denials.
Full story >>

Vavuniya UC, PS elections postponed

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 May 2006, 17:38 GMT]
The Commissioner of Elections Tuesday at a conference announced that elections to two local bodies, Vavuniya Urban Council (UC) and Vavuniya South Pradesiya Sabah (PS-Sinhala division) have been postponed for a period of four months, as the current security situation in the Vavuniya district is not conducive to hold such poll, sources said.
Full story >>

One LTTE cadre killed, 2 LTTE, 4 SLA troopers wounded

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 May 2006, 13:01 GMT]
A Liberation Tigers woman cadre, Yalisai, was killed when Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers who moved beyond the no-man zone at Palamodai, north of Vavuniya, attacked an LTTE Forward Defence Line (FDL) around 2:30 p.m. Tuesday. Later, two LTTE cadres were wounded in Jaffna district when SLA soldiers attacked the FDL of the Tigers at Kandalkadu, located near Eluthumadduval between Nagarkovil and Muhamalai in Jaffna district, around 5:45 p.m., according to LTTE sources in Kilinochchi. Direct clash between the SLA troops and the Tigers erupted after the incident. Four SLA soldiers were wounded, according to SLA sources in Jaffna.
Full story >>

UPFA, SLMC supporters clash, grenade lobbed in Oddamavady

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 May 2006, 06:46 GMT]
The house of a Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) supporter and a former Provincial Council member, Sinnalebbe Mohammed Hanifa, was attacked with grenade Tuesday early morning around 3:30 a.m., Valaichenai Police said. A quarrel between SLMC supporters and the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) Muslim supporters engaged in local election campaign, ended in clash where the chief candidate of the UPFA alliance, M.H. Lebbe Hajjiar and two others were wounded Monday evening.
Full story >>

Paramilitary cadres shot at Batticaloa Hospital, one dead

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 May 2006, 13:09 GMT]
Unidentified gunmen who entered the Batticaloa Hospital at 4:40 p.m. Monday shot two paramilitary Karuna Group cadres, one of them undergoing treatment for his wounds sustained on April 30 in the Tiger commando attack in Welikanda. A paramilitary cadre guarding the wounded cadre, was killed and the wounded cadre was seriously injured in the gunfire and transferred to Colombo Hospital, medial sources said. Liberation Tigers elite commando unit launched an attack on paramilitary camps located in Sri Lanka Army protected Kasankulam, close to Thibulana, located 7 km east of Welikanda in Polannaruwa - Batticaloa border.
Full story >>

2 civilians wounded in Claymore attack in LTTE controlled Vavuniya North

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 May 2006, 09:12 GMT]
Sri Lankan troopers who penetrated into LTTE contolled area in Semamadu, north of Vavuniya, exploded a Claymore mine towards a tractor with two youths. Two youths were wounded in the attack, one was seriously injured, Tamileelam Police sources said. The attack has taken place around 9:30 a.m. Monday.
Full story >>

SLA soldier arraigned on friendly fire killing released on bail

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 May 2006, 18:46 GMT]
"I heard sounds of some one hiding behind bushes in front of my sentry point. I thought a LTTE cadre was hiding to attack us. I fired four times at the bush due to security reasons. But later I found the dead was my fellow soldier who had gone to bring food for me," said Lance Corporal Nimal Heart of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) at the magisterial inquest held Friday in Vavuniya Magistrate's Court into the killing of Lance Corporal Gamini Wasantha Dassanayake, legal sources said.
Full story >>

Direct negotiations necessary to contain violence - Akashi

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 May 2006, 15:21 GMT]
"It is important to have direct negotiations to de-escalate violence which have come very far", Japan's peace envoy to Sri Lanka Yasushi Akashi said Wednesday, speaking to journalists in Colombo before leaving to New Delhi. Meanwhile the Liberation Tigers have told the Japanese envoy that Colombo should cease all extra-judicial killings and stop deliberately creating obstacles to conduct a safe travel of their Eastern commanders.
Full story >>

Student travelling abroad reported missing in Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 May 2006, 19:18 GMT]
A Jaffna student, on his way abroad, was reported missing together with his driver and the vehicle after reaching Omanthai Sri Lanka Army (SLA) checkpost on 06th May. The disappearance has taken place around 2:30 p.m., parents of the missing persons has complained to the authorities and Human Rights bodies in Vavuniya.
Full story >>