Civilians warned not to return

[TamilNet, Thursday, 26 March 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The Sri Lankan army's 22 Brigade commander who is also the Co-ordinating Officer for the Trincomalee district said that anyone attempting to cross the Uppaaru lagoon will be shot at sight. He was responding to a query by TULF MP for Trincomalee Mr. R. Sampanthan about the forcible evacuation of Tamil and Muslim civilians from Uppaaru and other villages in Muthur at the District Co-ordinating Committee meeting held at the Trincomalee Kachcheri this week.
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Reports in Sinhala hamper Jaffna judiciary

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 March 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The judges in the Jaffna courts are finding it difficult to carry out their duties as reports are being filed in the Sinhala language which they cannot comprehend, said M. Thirunaavukkarasu, the Mallakam judge, during a discussion yesterday with a delegation from the United States embassy in Colombo.
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Tamil parties protest over arrests

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 March 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The Tamil United Liberation Front and the All Ceylon Hindu Congress lodged vehement protests with the Sri Lankan government today over the arrest and detention of the Captain Gardens Hindu temple chief priest's daughter and her three children.
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SLA spearheads Sinhala Colonisation

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 March 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The Sri Lankan army is continuing to forcibly remove Tamil civilians from their villages in the Muthur area, south of Trincomalee despite protests by Tamil Parliamentarians, said ex-militant Tamil groups in the eastern port town today.
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Jaffna Medical College vacancies yet unfilled

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 March 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The Jaffna university authorities have advised the Sri Lankan University Grants Commission (UGC) that a one point reduction in the cut off marks for admission would help fill the vacancies which still exist in the Jaffna medical college, despite the decision to enroll 13 Sinhala students.
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Research objectives of Buddhist monks questioned

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 March 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Three Sinhala Buddhist monk-academics who wanted to begin archaeological excavations at Kandarodai in Jaffna, were given a short shrift by the staff of the University of Jaffna at a meeting on Thursday, said sources in Jaffna.
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Uthayan editorial raises language issue

[TamilNet, Monday, 09 March 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Uthayan, the only Tamil daily published in Jaffna now wrote a very strong editorial today, strongly criticising the failure of the Sri Lankan Police in Jaffna to take complaints in Tamil.
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Leprosy cases seen in Jaffna again

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 04 March 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Leprosy, almost non-existent in the Thenmaradchi region in Jaffna recently, is emerging again in that area, said sources in Jaffna. A case detected at Meesalai in Chavakachcheri in the Thenmaradchi region, is causing concern in Jaffna medical circles as even the handful of reported cases in the peninsula have come from Tholpuram, Chulipuram and Velanai.
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First flight fiasco

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 March 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Passengers waiting to catch the first flight of the Monara Airlines to Colombo at the Palaly airbase today were stranded as the aircraft of the new service which had flown in from the capital returned without picking them up.
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Senior TELO member killed

[TamilNet, Thursday, 26 February 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Suspected members of the Liberation Tigers shot dead a senior operative of a paramilitary group working with the Special Task Force in Batticaloa last night around 10.30 p.m.
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Home guard killed at Welikanda

[TamilNet, Thursday, 26 February 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers attacked a group of Sri Lankan Army and home guards this morning around 6.30 a.m. in Manikkampitti near Welikanda, 70 kilometers northwest of Batticaloa near the Polannaruwa Batticaloa district border killing one homeguard and wounding three soldiers and two homeguards.
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STF operation in Palugamam

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 February 1998, 23:59 GMT]
A large contingent of the Special Task Force (STF) and the Police moved into the Tiger held village of Palugamam around 7 a.m. this morning. Palugamam is a large village about 24 kilometers south west of Batticaloa across the lagoon where the Liberation Tigers had many of their military, financial and other administrative centres.
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7 Ampara homeguards killed

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 February 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Seven homeguards were killed in an attack by the Liberation Tigers this morning around 10.30 a.m. in the Central camp area about thirty kilometers south west of Batticaloa near the district's border with Ampara.
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Sinhalese couple accused of LTTE links

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 February 1998, 23:59 GMT]
A Sinhalese Police constable and his wife accused of working for the Liberation Tigers were produced in the Batticaloa district court today.
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Journalists taken to Jayasikurui FDLs

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 February 1998, 23:59 GMT]
More than 40 foreign and local journalists were taken by the Sri Lankan Army to areas captured in Operation Jayasikurui, since it was launched in May last year. Journalists who went on the guided tour said this evening that the press team was taken from Vavuniya on the A9 highway to Jaffna, through Puliyankulam and Kanakarayankulam to a point 1.5 km from the latter
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A comfortable blackout

[TamilNet, Monday, 16 February 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The conflict between the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE is being fought behind one of the most comprehensive news blackouts of recent times. The Sri Lankan government has been able to strictly control information coming out of the war zone with considerable success and without drawing much international criticism of the censorship. Sri Lanka's success stems from following a simple but effective strategy that has proved successful elsewhere.
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LTTE ambush in Polanaruwa

[TamilNet, Saturday, 14 February 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Five SLA soldiers were killed and an unknown number were wounded when the Liberation Tigers attacked an SLA detachment at Aralaganwila in the Polanaruwa district this morning around 8.45 a.m.
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LTTE seeks access to "secret" records

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 February 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Lawyers representing the Liberation Tigers have filed a motion with the US Court of Appeals, claiming the right to full access to "secretly compiled" US State department records, with a view to correcting "inaccuracies and distortions", according a news release released by Ramsey Clark Lawrence W. Schilling today.
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Sri Lanka concealing losses - LTTE

[TamilNet, Monday, 09 February 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The VOT said this morning that the SLA had tried to advance from its positions north of Kilinochchi on Saturday night towards the town.
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President appeals for deserters to return

[TamilNet, Saturday, 07 February 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The Sri Lankan President issued an official communiqué this evening for the first time since she assumed office calling on those who had deserted the Sri Lankan security forces including the Police to return to their respective units immediately.
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