Terrorism conference seeks curbs on financing

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 September 1999, 15:57 GMT]
The 14th symposium on International Terrorism, which concluded today in Colombo decided to support efforts to adopt the International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Financing at the 54th session of the United Nations General Assembly, said a press release by the Sri Lankan government's Information Department.
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Religious leaders allay villagers' fears

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 September 1999, 15:54 GMT]
Catholic and Buddhist priests visited villages in the borders between Tamil and Sinhala areas today to console residents fearful of attack by other communities in revenge for the Puthukukiyiruppu and Konavila incidents, said sources.
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Tigers slam rejection of mediation

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 September 1999, 13:12 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers today condemned the Sri Lankan Foreign Ministers rejection of international mediation to resolve the island's ethnic conflict and said it reflected the "narrow, intransigent and uncompromising attitude" of the government.
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UN, Sri Lankan officials meet

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 September 1999, 16:03 GMT]
United Nations officials in Sri Lanka said in a statement today that they had met senior officials of the Sri Lankan government over the recent deaths of civilians in the island's ethnic conflict. The UN statement follows.
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Mother, daughter killed during ambush

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 September 1999, 14:08 GMT]
Three people, including a mother and her 14 year old daughter were killed yesterday in the coastal fishing hamlet of Kaluwankerni, about 20 km north east of Batticaloa when the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers and cadres from the Razeek group, a paramilitary organisation operating alongside the SLA, opened fire said sources.
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Mine wounds two schoolboys

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 September 1999, 14:05 GMT]
A 15-year old school boy who was abducted by unidentified men on bicycle at Aarukaalmadam in Jaffna was released yesterday, while two others were wounded by a mine, sources said.
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Four SLA soldiers killed in ambush

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 September 1999, 07:37 GMT]
Four Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers were killed when the Liberation Tigers ambushed a route clearing patrol in the eastern Trincomalee district around 7.15 a.m. this morning army sources said.
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Tigers attack SLA at Oddusuddan

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 September 1999, 03:58 GMT]
Three Sri Lankan Army (SLA) soldiers and four members of the Liberation Tigers were killed when the LTTE attacked the forward defence lines (FDL) of the SLA at Oddusuddan, yesterday evening around 7 pm, sources said.
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120 PLOTE cadres face arrest

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 September 1999, 18:39 GMT]
Rupavahini, the Sri Lankan state television, said in its evening news telecast that the Sri Lankan security forces in Vavuniya have taken measures to arrest about 120 armed cadres of the People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam who are suspected to be hiding in the jungle of Aasikulam.
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Trooper wounded

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 September 1999, 18:37 GMT]
A Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldier was wounded when suspected members of the Liberation Tigers hurled a grenade at a sentry point in Thirunelvely, 2 km from Jaffna town this evening.
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Officials appeal for food

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 September 1999, 18:34 GMT]
The Government Agents of Vavuniya, Mullaithivu and Kilinochchi have made a request to Sri Lanka Army (SLA) officials in Vavuniya to make arrangements to dispatch the required quantity of relief food items to the displaced population in the areas held by the LTTE, said sources.
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Damaged merchant vessel towed to port

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 September 1999, 07:35 GMT]
A Chinese merchant vessel, the MV.Yugi which was slightly damaged in the high seas off Mullaithivu was towed to the eastern port of Trincomalee by the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) last night, navy sources said.
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Tigers warn paramilitary groups

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 September 1999, 07:14 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers yesterday called on the cadres and supporters of the Tamil paramilitary groups operating alongside the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) to desist from actions "detrimental to the Tamil people"
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New homeguard units raised

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 September 1999, 07:12 GMT]
Measures to enrol youth to homeguard units in Vavuniya have been taken in order to safeguard Sinhala civilians in the villages bordering Tamil and Sinhala areas, said sources.
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Blast kills one

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 September 1999, 11:56 GMT]
One civilian was killed and 21 were wounded when a bomb exploded in a bus this afternoon around 2.15 p.m near the 2nd mile post in Passara in the Badulla district. Sources said that the bus was on its way to Moneragala.
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Blast wounds 3

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 September 1999, 12:56 GMT]
One Policeman was seriously wounded and two civilians were slightly injured in a bomb explosion in Mannar at 2.50 pm today, said Police sources.
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Attack on MP’s house repulsed

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 September 1999, 12:54 GMT]
An attack by unidentified gunmen on the Police unit guarding the residence of V.Balachandran MP, for the Vanni district, was repulsed at about 11 pm last night, said Police sources.
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Convoy attack kills 20

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 September 1999, 14:12 GMT]
Twenty Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers were killed and 27 others wounded when the vehicle in which they were traveling was hit by a claymore mine blast around noon today in Batticaloa town. SLA soldiers fired indiscriminately, wounding two civilians, sources said.
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Communal tension before massacre - Bishop

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 September 1999, 10:34 GMT]
The anti- Tamil and Muslim propaganda conducted by the Sinhala Veera Vithane, a Sinhala extremist organisation in the Ampara district could have contributed to inflaming communal tensions ahead of the massacre of civilians in the border villages last weekend, the Bishop of Trincomalee and Batticaloa, Rt.Rev.Kingsley Swampillai said yesterday.
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Protest fast adjourns Parliament

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 September 1999, 10:19 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Parliament was adjourned this morning when a MP began a protest fast on the floor of the house. The MP, Dr.M.Illiyas, was denied permission to speak against Douglas Devananda, the leader of the Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP) for denying him ( Dr.Illiyas) the 2.5 million rupees due to him under the decentralised budget (DCB)fund for development work in his electorate.
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Tamil Bishops urge peace talks

[TamilNet, Thursday, 23 September 1999, 13:27 GMT]
The Bishop of the Batticaloa-Trincomalee diocese Rt.Rev. Kingsley Swampillai who returned yesterday after a visit to the Vanni said that the Liberation Tigers denied reports that they were responsible for the massacre of Sinhala civilians in the Ampara district on September 18. The Bishops of the Tamil dioceses of Sri Lanka, Rt.Rev.Thomas Savundaranayagam (Jaffna), Rt.Rev.Rayappu Joseph (Mannar) and Rt.Rev. Swampillai (Batticaloa-Trincomalee) went to the Vanni on Monday Sept.20.
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Mortar fire follows attack

[TamilNet, Thursday, 23 September 1999, 11:59 GMT]
A police constable was wounded when the Liberation Tigers attacked the police post at Puliyantheivu, bordering the Muttur town at about 12.30pm today, sources said
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Policeman's handwriting scrutinized

[TamilNet, Thursday, 23 September 1999, 10:38 GMT]
The Mannar District Judge M.Thirunavukarasu today ordered the further detention of Sri Lankan police constable Samithamby Sivaganesh till October 11.
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35 arrests in Colombo

[TamilNet, Thursday, 23 September 1999, 10:34 GMT]
35 Tamils were arrested at Pettah area in Colombo this morning in two separate search operations conducted by the Police.
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Catholic leaders visit Vanni

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 September 1999, 11:56 GMT]
The Catholic Bishops of Jaffna, Mannar and Batticaloa who are visiting the Vanni region are planning to meet senior leaders of the Liberation Tigers to discuss the island's ongoing conflict, sources said.
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13 wounded in blasts

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 September 1999, 11:44 GMT]
At least 13 persons were wounded in two separate bomb explosions in Negombo, north of Colombo this evening police sources said.
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Police interrupt attack on refugees

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 September 1999, 13:19 GMT]
Unidentified men armed with clubs and swords tried to attack the residents of Poonthoddam welfare centre about 4 km east of Vavuniya town last night, said sources.
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PLOTE military leader under investigation

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 September 1999, 13:18 GMT]
K.Chanthirakulasingam alias Mohan, former Vice Chairman of the Vavuniya Urban Council has been appointed as the Vavuniya District Organiser for the People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE).
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Missing driver in CSU custody

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 September 1999, 13:16 GMT]
Vallipuram Arunthavarasa (45) alias Raasakutty, a driver of the Peoplised Transport Board (PTB) of Vavuniya has been detained by the Counter Subversive Unit (CSU) of the Sri Lankan police for inquiries, said sources.
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Police post attacked

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 September 1999, 03:51 GMT]
A policeman was wounded when the Liberation Tigers attacked the Uthayapuram police post east of Ampara around 11.45 p.m. yesterday, police sources said.
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Amnesty condemns Amparai killings

[TamilNet, Monday, 20 September 1999, 21:24 GMT]
Amnesty International Monday condemned the killing of more than 50 Sinhalese civilians in a predawn raid on three villages in the Amparai district. In a statement issued today, Amnesty said the Liberation Tigers might have carried out the attack in retaliation for the deaths of 22 Tamil civilians at Puthukkudiyiruppu, Mullaitivu district, in a bombing raid by the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) on 15 September.
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Massive search operation in Mannar

[TamilNet, Monday, 20 September 1999, 06:47 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Police arrested more than 500 Tamil youth during a massive cordon and search operation in the Mannar town which began around 9 a.m. this morning. The boys and girls were detained for questioning said the Mannar TamilNet correspondent.
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Kalutara prisoners fast continues

[TamilNet, Sunday, 19 September 1999, 16:29 GMT]
The condition of three Tamil political prisoners who are on a protest fast in the Kalutara maximum security prison 43 km. south of Colombo is serious said sources.
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Vehicle accident injures STF women

[TamilNet, Sunday, 19 September 1999, 14:36 GMT]
A truck taking 35 women Special Task Force personnel for special army training met with an accident at Mangalagama in the Ampara district this afternoon. 20 women STF personnel were seriously wounded. Others received minor injuries.
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Mass funeral for Ampara victims

[TamilNet, Sunday, 19 September 1999, 12:45 GMT]
The funeral of 43 Sinhalese villagers killed in Saturday's massacre at Punchi-sigiriya in the Uhana police division - Ampara district, took place today at Konagala cemetery. Over ten thousand people witnessed the event, residents said.
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President's responses to tragedies raise questions

[TamilNet, Saturday, 18 September 1999, 18:09 GMT]
Tamil United Liberation Front MP Mr. Joseph Pararajasigham criticised the Sri Lankan President for racial discrimination in her reactions to the killing of Sinhalese in Ampara today for whom she offered compensation and funerals at state expense and to the deaths of Tamil civilians bombed by the Sri Lanka Air Force in Mullaithivu on Wednesday.
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ICRC alarmed at rising civilian casualties

[TamilNet, Saturday, 18 September 1999, 16:58 GMT]
The International Committee of the Red Cross ( ICRC) in Geneva issued today a press release expressing deep concern at the recent outburst of violence in the conflict in Sri Lanka.
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Kalutara prisoners protest

[TamilNet, Saturday, 18 September 1999, 11:54 GMT]
Twenty five Tamil political prisoners got on the roof of the Kalutara maximum security prison this morning in support of twelve of their colleagues who have been on a protest fast from September 14. The condition of three is serious said prison authorities.
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President orders compensation

[TamilNet, Saturday, 18 September 1999, 11:51 GMT]
The Sri Lankan President announced this afternoon that the government will give compensation to the immediate relatives of the victims of today’s massacre in the Ampara district in which 51 villagers were killed. She expressed her condolences to the bereaved families.
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Gunmen kill 56 border villagers

[TamilNet, Saturday, 18 September 1999, 03:11 GMT]
More than 56 villagers were killed by gunmen who attacked three border villages in the Ampara district in southeastern Sri Lanka in the early hours of the morning today. Houses were also set on fire by the attackers, Police sources in Ampara said.
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Murder suspect returns with refugees

[TamilNet, Saturday, 18 September 1999, 02:56 GMT]
Ten Sri Lankan Tamil refugees arrived by boat in Talaimannar last evening, after setting out early morning on Wednesday from the southern coast of Tamil Nadu, said sources. Investigations revealed that one of the returnees, Krishnapillai Rajagopal of Vavuniya, was wanted in connection with the murder of man identified as Selvarajah in 1995.
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Security measures blamed for student desertions

[TamilNet, Saturday, 18 September 1999, 02:55 GMT]
Students attending Tellipallai Mahajana College, which began functioning in its own buildings this Wednesday after nine years, have been subjected to severe body checking, said sources. The school is in the security zone.
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Intact skeleton unearthed at Chemmani

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 September 1999, 15:57 GMT]
Investigators today dug a place pointed out by the key witness, ex-corporal Somaratna Rajapaksha, west of the Kottukinattady Pillaiyar shrine in Chemmani. A complete skeleton was found here.
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Opposition blames govt for latest army losses

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 September 1999, 14:23 GMT]
Gamini Atukorala MP, the Gen. Secretary of the United National Party, said today that the Sri Lankan Government is not telling the truth about the losses suffered by the army in Operation Rana Gossa 5.
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Passenger ferry to transport troops

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 September 1999, 12:30 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Police has restricted the number of passengers travelling in the ferry, Mahaweli, plying between Trincomalee and Muttur to 60 from 100 as of yesterday, residents said.
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New PLOTE military leader held

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 September 1999, 12:19 GMT]
Hari Babu, the leader of the military wing of the People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE) was arrested by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) yesterday evening. He has been handed over to the Terrorist Investigation Department (TID), said sources.
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Amnesty questions Puthukkudiyiruppu bombing raid

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 September 1999, 10:39 GMT]
Amnesty International said today that the explanation proffered by the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) for the bombing of the Puthukkudiyiruppu market on Wednesday "does not absolve it from its responsibility under international humanitarian law to take all possible precautions to avoid harming civilians"
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More skeletons unearthed

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 September 1999, 18:18 GMT]
Fourteen human skeletons have so far been dug up in the Chemmani area by investigators, according to officials in Jaffna. Three skeletons were found near the Kottukkinattady Pillaiyar temple today.
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Fishermen warned over lights

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 September 1999, 18:16 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) at Maamunai and Nagar Kovil ordered representatives of fishermen's organisations on Jaffna's southeastern coast today not to light lamps on the beach between 7 p.m. and 5 a.m.
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Jets hit correct targets - military

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 September 1999, 12:49 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) spokesman, Brigadier Sunil Tennekoon, said at the weekly cabinet press briefing in Colombo this morning that Air Force jets had correctly hit their targets in Puthukkudiyiruppu on Wednesday. He was responding to questions from journalists about the bombing of a busy market place in northern Sri Lanka yesterday.
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Tiger ambush kills 12

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 September 1999, 04:45 GMT]
Ten Sri Lankan Army(SLA) soldiers were killed and twenty wounded in an attack by the Liberation Tigers in Thatchanaamaruthamadu in Mannar this morning around 7.30 a.m. The soldiers were from the SLA's Sinha Regiment, sources said.
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Red Cross confirms Puthukkudiyiruppu massacre

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 September 1999, 04:33 GMT]
A spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said that sixteen civilians were killed on the spot and six who were seriously wounded died in the hospital when Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) jets bombed a busy market place in the morning yesterday in northern Sri Lanka.
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21 civilians killed in SLAF attack

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 September 1999, 13:11 GMT]
(Adds names) More than twenty one civilians, including school children and women were killed and more than forty seriously wounded when two Kfir jets of the Sri Lanka Air Force bombed a crowded public place in Puthukkudiyiruppu in the Mullaithivu district this morning around 10 a.m.
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Police fire injures school boy

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 September 1999, 11:50 GMT]
An eight year old school boy at the Government Tamil Mixed School (GTMS) in Sungaankerni, 33 km. north of Batticaloa, was seriously wounded in his classroom this morning in indiscriminate firing by a Police patrol. The military trained Police was on a patrol in the area near the school.
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Protest shuts Akkaraipattu down

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 September 1999, 06:36 GMT]
Shops were closed and traffic came to a standstill today in the eastern town of Akkaraipattu to protest against the shooting last night in which thirteen Muslim youth were wounded.
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Police fire injures Muslim youth

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 September 1999, 01:46 GMT]
Thirteen Muslim youth were wounded last night when Policemen providing security to Sri Lanka's Minister of Port and Shipping, M.H.M Ashraff, opened fire on a jeering crowd around 11.30 p.m. last night in the eastern town of Akkaraipattu.
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Tamil Media Alliance files case

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 September 1999, 20:15 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Tamil Media Alliance filed a fundamental rights case in the Supreme Court today on behalf of Chinnaiah Ganeshan, a staff reporter of the Thinakaran daily newspaper. The case was filed against the unlawful arrest and detention of the journalist by the Chilaw Police on August 16.
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Fifty-five thousand died in Sri Lanka's civil war -UNDP

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 September 1999, 15:40 GMT]
"Around fifty five thousand people have died so far in the civil war in Sri Lanka" far more than those killed political and communal violence in Pakistan (since 1995) and India (1954-94) says a UN report released today. The report 'Human Development in South Asia 1999' was prepared and released by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).
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Artillery fire repulsed SLA offensive - Tigers

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 September 1999, 15:39 GMT]
More than 75 Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers were killed in heavy fighting in the Mannar district on Sunday, the Liberation Tigers said today in a statement issued from their London offices. The LTTE said the SLA "suffered a serious military debacle" when the Tigers used artillery and mortar fire on advancing troops.
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Trincomalee declared 'city of peace'

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 September 1999, 13:15 GMT]
The eastern port town of Trincomalee has been declared a city for peace in Sri Lanka at a ceremony held this morning at Trincomalee St. Mary's College auditorium. The UNESCO had proposed the idea in collaboration with the United Nations' International Day of Peace.
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Rajapaksha recalled to identify more graves

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 September 1999, 12:59 GMT]
The key witness in the investigation in to the Chemmani mass grave, ex-corporal Somaratna Rajapaksha, will have to be flown to Jaffna again to identify graves there, legal sources in Jaffna said today.
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LTTE ambush kills one

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 September 1999, 10:03 GMT]
A soldier was killed and another wounded when the Liberation Tigers ambushed a Sri Lanka Army (SLA) patrol at Kathiraveli, 79 km. north of Batticaloa around 6.30 p.m. yesterday said sources.
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Tigers hand over 15 SLA bodies

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 September 1999, 09:41 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) this morning 15bodies of the Sri Lankan Army (SLA) soldiers killed in the fighting on Sunday.
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27 Tiger casualties - radio

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 September 1999, 09:12 GMT]
The Voice of Tigers (VoT) radio said this morning that 27 Liberation Tigers, including 12 women fighters, died during the fierce fighting in the western coastal area of Mannar on Sunday.
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SLA bodies to be handed over

[TamilNet, Monday, 13 September 1999, 19:13 GMT]
The state run radio said in its night broadcast today that about 650 Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers were wounded in the counter attack by the Libertarian Tigers on Operation Rana Gossa 5. Independent sources in Colombo said that the figure could be much higher- more than seven hundred.
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Third transformer blast in Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Monday, 13 September 1999, 18:14 GMT]
A third transformer was blasted today in Pandaarikulam, about 3 km. south west of Vavuniya town, at around 8.40 p.m. this evening, said sources.
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Friendly fire kills 3 SLA soldiers

[TamilNet, Monday, 13 September 1999, 18:03 GMT]
Three Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers were killed in the sea by their own colleagues on Jaffna's southeastern coast last night. SLA troops on the Thalaiyadi coast in Vadamaradchi east had mistaken a speed boat coming from the Vettilaikkerni army camp for a Sea Tiger craft and had opened fire.
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Transformer blasted in Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Monday, 13 September 1999, 11:29 GMT]
An electricity transformer by a Sri Lankan Police checkpoint blew up in the heart of Vavuniya town this afternoon around 3 p.m. There is another Police post opposite the transformer at the Sri Lanka Telecom office building. A time device fixed inside the transformer may have set off the explosionsources said.
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Investigators find another skeleton

[TamilNet, Monday, 13 September 1999, 10:01 GMT]
Investigators found a finger bone and a red hat while removing the upper soil at a depth of 1.5 feet in the general area near the Chemmani junction Sri Lanka Army checkpoint today. The skeleton of a man was found when the spot was dug further.
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Casualties mount in Mannar fighting

[TamilNet, Monday, 13 September 1999, 06:59 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army Head Quarters sources said this morning 49 soldiers, including a lieutenant, were killed and over 400 wounded in the fierce fighting around Pallamadhu area yesterday. Ninety-two soldiers were seriously injured they added.
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Four SLA soldiers wounded in ambush

[TamilNet, Monday, 13 September 1999, 06:36 GMT]
Four soldier were wounded when the Liberation Tigers attacked Sri Lanka Army (SLA) route clearing patrol at Puthuvelipaalam in Kaavathamunai, about 34 km. northwest of Batticaloa this morning around 8.30 a.m.
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Tigers overrun Police detachment

[TamilNet, Monday, 13 September 1999, 02:39 GMT]
Fourteen military trained Sri Lankan Policemen were wounded and at least four killed when the Liberation Tigers overran the Saafinagar Police detachment on the outskirts Mutur town, south of Trincomalee in the early hours of the morning today around 12.45 a.m.
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Tigers strike in Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Sunday, 12 September 1999, 23:05 GMT]
A group of unidentified armeden who entered the Vavuniya main bus depot in the heavily defended area opposite the Vanni Sri Lankan security forces headquarters (the JOSSOP base) around 12.30 a.m. lobbed grenades at the parked vehicles damaging two.
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SLA advance thwarted - VoT

[TamilNet, Sunday, 12 September 1999, 18:14 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers have blocked a three pronged advance by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA), backed by air cover and artillery fire, towards Pallamadu, Periyamadu and Siraddikulam in the western sector of the Vanni said the Voice of Tigers Radio (VoT) today.
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SLA begins Rana Gosa V

[TamilNet, Sunday, 12 September 1999, 11:55 GMT]
Eighteen Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers were killed and 142 were wounded, 42 seriously, in fierce fighting with Liberation Tigers near Pallamadu, north of Mannar on the highway to Pooneryn today, SLA sources said.
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Fighting erupts in Mannar

[TamilNet, Sunday, 12 September 1999, 10:05 GMT]
Heavy fighting has been reported between the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and the Liberation Tigers in the north-western Vidaththalthivu, 24 km. north of Mannar since this morning.
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Chemmani: Skeleton of woman found

[TamilNet, Saturday, 11 September 1999, 19:12 GMT]
A skeleton believed to be of a woman was found by the investigators at Chemmani mass grave site in the Jaffna peninsula today. The skeleton was found at a site behind a Sri Lanka Army (SLA) sentry near the Chemmani junction, identified by the key witness, ex-coporal Somaratna Rajapaksha.
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Youth arrested in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 11 September 1999, 19:05 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers arrested a youth, Kanthalingam Pratheepan, at Naayanmaarkaddu in Jaffna this morning. The SLA has not issued any receipt for his arrest said sources.
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Sri Lankan President makes statement on days of tranquillity

[TamilNet, Saturday, 11 September 1999, 00:00 GMT]
The Sri Lankan President welcomed the announcement by Velupillai Pirabaharan, the leader of the Liberation Tigers, that his organisation would observe four days of tranquillity for a UNICEF vaccination program.
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Jaffna APLMs mostly Chinese and Pakistan made

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 September 1999, 19:56 GMT]
Ninety nine percent of the anti-personnel land mines detected and removed by the UNDP so far in Jaffna were made in Pakistan and China said sources in the north today.
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LTTE Lt. Col died in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 September 1999, 19:54 GMT]
The Voice of Tigers (VoT) in night news broadcast today said that the youth who bit a cyanide capsule and committed suicide in Nallur in Jaffna on September 5 was Lt.Col Senthamil or Senthamilchelvan (Sivapakkiyanathan Prabhaharan, Jaffna).
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Amnesty slams Police torture

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 September 1999, 16:47 GMT]
(FOCUS) Three young Tamil men have been severely tortured in police custody in the capital, Colombo and all three may be in urgent need of medical attention, said Amnesty International, the London based human rights group today.
Full story >>

Chaos follows mobile service

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 September 1999, 16:44 GMT]
The Northeastern Provincial Governor's mobile service in Batticaloa turned into a fiasco before it could start this morning in the eastern town government officials in the eastern town said.
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Policeman killed in Mannar

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 September 1999, 09:04 GMT]
A reserve Police constable was killed when the Liberation Tigers opened fire on the tractor in which he was travelling with a group of his colleagues this morning around 6.30 a.m. in Murunkan, south-west of Mannar.
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Police pocketing gains from forced labour?

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 September 1999, 01:09 GMT]
The people of an impoverished Tamil village on the island's east coast yesterday was forced to build a brick sentry point as a replacement for a thatched shelter which was burnt down on Monday, 6th of September, by unidentified persons suspected to be members of the Liberation Tigers, sources said.
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Intervention in East Timor urged

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 September 1999, 23:01 GMT]
Tamil organizations in Australia and Britain today expressed solidarity with the people of East Timor and condemned the violence unleashed by pro-Indonesia militia after the East Timorese voted for independence from Indonesian rule. The Australian Federation of Tamil Associations (AFTA) and the London-based Tamil Information Centre (TIC) today issued press statements urging international intervention in the region.
Full story >>

Air strike kills two civilians -VoT

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 September 1999, 16:41 GMT]
Two civilians were killed in a Sri Lankan Air Force (SLAF) bombing raid in the residential areas of Vaddakachchi in the Vanni around 11.45 a.m. this morning said the Voice of Tigers Radio (VoT) in its night news bulletin.
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Chemmani: alleged rape victim's body found

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 September 1999, 14:15 GMT]
Three human skeletons, including one suspected to be that of a woman allegedly raped and beaten to death by a Sri Lanka Army (SLA) officer, were found today in a grave pointed out by ex-corporal Somaratna Rajapaksha, the key witness in the investigation into the mass graves at Chemmani and Ariyalai near Jaffna.
Full story >>

Youth escapes PLOTE custody

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 September 1999, 13:24 GMT]
A youth who had been detained at the PLOTE's 'Malar Maalihai' (Flower Palace) detention camp at Rambaikulama in Vavuniya escaped last night and surrendered to the Police at a nearby sentry point said sources.
Full story >>

Uproar in Parliament after editor's slaying

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 September 1999, 12:34 GMT]
(Adds Photo) The murder of a Sinhala journalist in Colombo caused uproar in Parliament today when the opposition raised the issue. The Speaker was forced to suspend the sittings of the house twice. Mr.Rohana Kumara, Editor of Satana, was killed on Tuesday night.
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Protests against Sarath's Chief Justice appointment

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 September 1999, 12:26 GMT]
Demonstrators protested today in front of the Supreme Court complex in Colombo against a proposed move by the government to appoint the present Attorney General Sarath N.Silva as the Chief Justice from September 15.
Full story >>

SLA, Tigers to observe days of tranquillity

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 September 1999, 12:05 GMT]
The UNICEF in Colombo said today that the Sri Lanka Army and the Liberation Tigers have agreed to observe "days of tranquillity" on September 10-11 and October 15-16 to facilitate the national immunization program.
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UNP youth wing protest

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 September 1999, 09:26 GMT]
(Adds Photo) Members of the main opposition, United National Party's Youth Wing demonstrated today at Lipton Circus and in front of the University Grants Commission in Colombo, protesting against the Educational Reforms introduced by the Government.
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Investigators find human skull

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 September 1999, 06:53 GMT]
A human skull was dug by investigators up around noon today from a pit in the general area identified near the Chemmani Sri Lankan army checkpoint last week by the key witness into the alleged mass graves of Tamils in Jaffna.
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Mother succumbs after forced home delivery

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 September 1999, 03:43 GMT]
A young mother died of complications after giving birth to a child in Kumaraveliyar, a hamlet in the Chenkalady Division in Batticaloa Sunday night, after the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers denied her family members to take her to the hospital.
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Equal education opportunity lacking

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 September 1999, 20:03 GMT]
An acute shortage of Tamil medium teachers prevails in schools in the areas controlled by the Liberation Tigers, said Ceylon Tamil Teachers' Union (CTTU). According to the union, the ratio is one teacher for 70 students in these areas while in rest of the island there is one teacher for 22 children.
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ACML urges action on Neethai settlers

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 September 1999, 20:01 GMT]
The lands allocated to villagers in the Neethai area in the south-eastern Ampara district for sugarcane cultivation have been taken over by Sinhalese settlers and authorities should act promptly to evict these encroaches, said the youth front of the Ampara District Federation of the All Ceylon Muslim League (ACML).
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Two skeletons found at Chemmani

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 September 1999, 11:03 GMT]
(Corrected) Investigators digging the alleged graves of civilians killed and buried by Sri Lankan security forces at Chemmani found two human skeletons this afternoon at a spot in which Forensic expert Prof. Chandrasiri Niriella, had earlier found evidence of human remains.
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SLA woos Ampan villagers

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 September 1999, 03:38 GMT]
Officers at the Sri Lankan Army (SLA) camp in Ampan, Vadamaradchy East, requested the local villagers' help in providing the SLA with information about Liberation Tigers, after giving the villagers free rice, lentils, sugar, wheat flour and dried chillies, source said.
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Shells fired at Chavakachcheri SLA camp

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 September 1999, 21:01 GMT]
Liberation Tigers fired shells at Sri Lanka Army (SLA) camp in the Chavakachcheri area in the Thenmaradchi Division from their positions in Pooneryn, on the southern side of the Kilaly lagoon, yesterday around 5.30 p.m. said sources.
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Mass graves judge reprimands Jaffna SLA commanders

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 September 1999, 12:58 GMT]
The Jaffna district judge Manikkavasagam Ilancheliyan severely reprimanded the Jaffna Sri Lankan Security Forces Commander Lohan Gunawardana and the Sri Lankan Army's 51 division General Officer Commanding (GOC) Maj.Gen.Nihal Marambe this afternoon for interfering in the Chemmmani court proceedings and investigations into the alleged mass graves of civilians arrested and believed to be killed by the army in the peninsula in 1996-97.
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Excavators fail to find bodies

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 September 1999, 12:49 GMT]
No bodies or human skeletal remains were found today by investigators who cleared and dug the area in Chemmani near Jaffna town where ex-corporal Somaratna Rajapksha had earlier claimed were four graves in which eight bodies of civilians arrested and allegedly killed by the Sri Lankan army were buried.
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Man shot dead in Mannar

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 September 1999, 20:03 GMT]
According to an eye witness report from Mannar, unidentified men on a motorcycle brought a blindfolded man to Tharakulam junction, about 4 km. north of Mannar town, and fired three shots at his head killing him on the spot.
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Demonstration against acquisition of Palaly land

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 September 1999, 19:12 GMT]
The New Left Front (NLF) staged a demonstration close to the Wellawatte market in Colombo this morning demanding that the government withdraw the gazette notification to acquire several hundred acres of lands belonging to Tamil civilians in the Palaly area of the Jaffna peninsula.
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"PLOTE goes on despite killings"

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 September 1999, 19:08 GMT]
The funerals of PLOTE leaders, Ilango and Vino who were killed in a claymore mine blast on September 2, were held this afternoon in Vavuniya. The leader of the PLOTE, Mr. Mr. Tharmalingam Siddarthan, speaking to the gathering said that if murders of this kind continued the minority Tamils in Sri Lanka would be reduced to a great extent.
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Youth commits suicide

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 September 1999, 16:02 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) sources in the north said that an unidentified youth, suspected to be a member of the Liberation Tigers, committed suicide at the Arasady army checkpoint near Jaffna town around 2.30 p.m. today.
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Detention Order served on Mannar GA

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 September 1999, 12:43 GMT]
The Government agent of Mannar was issued with Detention Order (D.O) for seven days under emergency regulations said Police sources.
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Policeman wounded

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 September 1999, 08:19 GMT]
A policeman was wounded when suspected members of the Liberation Tigers fired at Kallar police post on the Batticaloa-Kalmunai road, around 7.30 a.m. this morning.
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Color-coded sails for Jaffna fishing boats

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 September 1999, 23:16 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army has relaxed a ban on using sails on fishing boats in Gurunakar, Paashayoor, Kolumbuththurai seas in Jaffna with effect from today, September 4, said sources. However, the fishermen will have to use sails with the colour assigned to them by the army, added sources.
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Two mothers claim wounded Tiger

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 September 1999, 20:41 GMT]
Two women in Batticaloa are claiming that an ex-militant whose memory has been affected by shrapnel lodged in his cranium is their son. The case was brought up yesterday by the two women at the office of the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO), a paramilitary group operating with the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and the Special Task Force (STF) in Batticaloa. Both produced certificates of birth for the youth to claim him as their son.
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EPDP to file action against paper

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 September 1999, 20:39 GMT]
Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP) sources said today that they intend to file action against the Sunday edition of the Sinhala daily, Divaina, for its lead story last week that the group was in cahoots with the Liberation Tigers.
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Teachers arrested in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 September 1999, 15:48 GMT]
Police officials from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) arrested two teachers from the Batticaloa Teacher Training college yesterday.
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Funeral arrangements for PLOTE leaders finalised

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 September 1999, 15:43 GMT]
The funeral of PLOTE leaders Ilango and Vino who were killed in a claymore blast on Thursday will take place tomorrow, Sunday September 5, said PLOTE sources. The funeral of Manikkadasan (Nagalingam Manikkam Rajan) will take place on Monday the sources added.
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Petition for Rehearing denied

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 September 1999, 15:33 GMT]
The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia denied the petition for rehearing and suggestion for rehearing en banc filed by the Liberation Tigers on the 9th of August 1999. The petition sought to invalidate the provisions in the Anti-Terrorist and Death Penalty Act under which the U.S State Department designated the LTTE as a terrorist organisation.
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Mannar GA arrested

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 September 1999, 10:20 GMT]
(Adds Photo) The Government Agent of Mannar S.M Cruz was detained by Police investigators in Colombo today. A Tamil Parliamentarian said that the GA had been summoned to Colombo by the Criminal Investigation Division (CID) this week.
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A.C.S.Hameed dies in Colombo

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 September 1999, 17:11 GMT]
Senior United National Party (UNP) member and former Foreign Minister, A.C.S.Hameed died at a private hospital in Colombo around 10.40 p.m. this evening.
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Kopai businessman abducted

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 September 1999, 11:38 GMT]
A businessman, Ratnam Nadarajah, 46, was abducted by unidentified men in a white van around 9 a.m. on Wednesday, August 1. He was later released at Navaly cemetery after being severely assaulted, his relatives said.
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Claymore mine killed PLOTE leaders

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 September 1999, 19:47 GMT]
(Adds photos)Police investigators confirmed this evening that the blast which killed the Deputy Leader of the People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE), N.Manikkadasan, was a claymore device fixed inside the ceiling of the group's office in Vavuniya Town.
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Oxfam aims to ease ethnic tensions

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 September 1999, 15:51 GMT]
UK-based OXFAM, a leading foreign non-governmental organisation, has invited leading citizens of the Trincomalee district for a conference to look at easing tensions between Tamil, Sinhalese and Muslim communities.
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Foreign Ministry to research Tamil Nadu politics

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 September 1999, 15:47 GMT]
Sri Lankan Ministry of Foreign Affairs is to soon set up a research unit that will work on policy making, new geopolitical developments, regional and international bodies. The unit will specially research analyse and report on the effects of the political dynamics of Tamil Nadu, the south Indian State which is home to about 60 million ethnic Tamils.
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PLOTE leaders killed in blast

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 September 1999, 08:19 GMT]
(Adds photo) The PLOTE's deputy leader and military wing commander, Manikkadasan, and the group's Vavuniya military commander, Ilango, were killed in an explosion at 'Lucky House', the office of the organisation in Vavuniya town, around 12.45 noon today, said sources.
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PLOTE's Vavuniya military commander killed

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 September 1999, 07:32 GMT]
The PLOTE's Vavuniya military commander, Ilango, was killed in an explosion at 'Lucky House', the office of the organisation in Vavuniya town, around 12.45 noon today, said sources.
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PLOTE to file legal action

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 September 1999, 03:37 GMT]
The PLOTE said today that it is contemplating legal actions against police in Vavuniya for assaulting one of its members for helping two children who were wounded in retaliatory fire by the Sri Lankan Security Forces.
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Chemmani exhumations next week - AG

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 September 1999, 20:01 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Attorney General's Department said in a news release issued Tuesday night that the exhumations of alleged graves in Chemmani, Jaffna of civilians murdered by Sri Lanka Army troops would recommence on September 6.
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SLA advance in Vaakarai

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 September 1999, 17:39 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army moved up to Kathiraveli unopposed by the Tigers in an operation launched in the early hours of the morning today to take the coastal areas beyond Vaakarai, 64 km. north of Batticaloa. Kathiraveli is a coastal hamlet 15 km. north of Vaakarai.
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Two killed in security zone

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 September 1999, 17:38 GMT]
Two Policemen were killed in a grenade attack last night around 8 p.m. in the heart of Jaffna town. The policemen were walking by the Kottady fish market in the high security zone when unidentified persons had lobbed grenade at them.
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Ex-SLA troops identify further graves

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 September 1999, 16:04 GMT]
Former Sri Lanka Army Corporal Somaratna Rajapaksha and ex-soldier S.A.Perera today identified five more grave sites in the Ariyalai area in Jaffna where Tamil civilians arrested by Government troops were allegedly killed and buried.
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Temple play provokes SLA drama

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 September 1999, 07:26 GMT]
The trustee board members of a Tamil temple and the owner of a village sound service were grilled by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Batticaloa yesterday over a play critical of the Sri Lankan government that was staged on Sunday night at the shrine's annual festival.
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