History rejects military defeat of liberation movements- Gajendrakumar

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 September 2008, 18:22 GMT]
Responding to a question on year-end dead line set by the Government of Sri Lanka to defeat the Liberation Tigers, Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, a Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian from Jaffna said, "We have been told many times and by many governments of Sri Lanka that the war will be won and that the LTTE will be defeated...I am yet to come across an instance when a national liberation movement in any part of the world has been militarily defeated," in an interview published in Colombo weekly the Sunday Leader 14th edition.
Full story >>

Outsiders quit Colombo, tells Defence Secretary

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 September 2008, 15:03 GMT]
Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse told the State run Daily News Saturday that thousands who stay in Colombo "without any valid reason" should return to their villages as they are creating a huge security concern. "We must be prepared for this. That is why wer doing human control measures. People criticise us for fundamental rights violations when we do these things," paper quoted Gotabhaya as saying.
Full story >>

Ambushes kill 2 policemen in Batticaloa, 7 wounded

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 September 2008, 06:40 GMT]
An ambush team of the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) attacked a sentry post at Thimilatheevu in Batticaloa district in the early hours of Saturday at 4:30 a.m., killing a Sri Lankan policeman at the post. Meanwhile, a Claymore attack on Ma'ndoor Vellaave'li Road targeted a truck, killing a policeman and causing serious injuries to four Sri Lankan policemen at 9:30 a.m., according to LTTE officials in the East. Sri Lankan police sources also confirmed that two of their policemen were killed in two separate attacks and said seven police personnel, including two female police, were wounded in the Claymore attack, according tot he Police sources.
Full story >>

LTTE leader pays tribute to Black Tiger commandos on Vavuniyaa mission

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 September 2008, 04:16 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) Leader Velupillai Pirapaharan on Thursday paid his last respects to the ten Black Tiger commandos, who laid down their lives during the Tiger operation on the Vanni headquarters of the Sri Lankan forces (SF HQ). LTTE officials told media that the LTTE leader paid his last respects with garlanding the photographs of the Black Tigers and by lighting the flame of sacrifice at an undisclosed location in Vanni. The Tiger mission destroyed the infrastructure of the joint operations command of the Sri Lankan forces in Vanni in the early hours of Tuesday.
Full story >>

2 STF wounded in Ampaa'rai - LTTE

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 September 2008, 15:37 GMT]
Two of the commandos of a Sri Lankan Special Task Force (STF) unit, which entered a booby trapped area in the interior jungle of Kagnchikudichchaa'ru in Ampaa'rai, sustained injuries Wednesday evening, LTTE officials told media Thursday.
Full story >>

Ban Ki-moon 'helping LTTE' – Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 September 2008, 15:35 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s hardline government Thursday criticised United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon for expressing deep concern about Tamil civilians in the Vanni region. Sri Lankan human rights ministry official Rajiva Wijesinghe told reporters that there were no civilian casualties in the Colombo government’s ongoing offensive and that the UN Chief’s comments were helping the LTTE.
Full story >>

India betrays Tamils by providing military personnel to Sri Lanka - Vaiko

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 September 2008, 14:46 GMT]
Referring to the news that two Indian radar operators were wounded Tuesday when the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) attacked the Vanni Headquarters of the Sri Lankan military, Vaiko, the General Secretary of the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK), in a letter sent Thursday to the Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, said that the Indian Government was "caught red handed in its unpardonable betrayal" of involving Indian military personnel in Sri Lanka's "genocidal war" against the Tamils. He blamed the top level bureaucrats in India, particularly the national security adviser, for "clandestinely conspiring" with the Sri Lankan government.
Full story >>

4 STF killed, 3 wounded in Batticaloa - LTTE

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 September 2008, 11:11 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) officials in the East on Thursday said a guerrilla team of the Tigers triggered a Claymore mine killing four Sri Lankan Special Task Force (STF) commandos and causing injuries to three, Wednesday around 5:30 p.m., near Pulipaaynthakal, which is located 30 km north of Batticaloa.
Full story >>

Foreign aid workers start leaving Vanni

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 September 2008, 09:55 GMT]
Vehicles with foreign aid workers of OXFAM, Save the Children, World Vision, Danish Refugee Council, ZOA, International Organisation of Migration (IOM) and a group of persons belonging to UN agencies were lined up at Oamanthai exit point, according to the sources in Vanni and Vavuniyaa. Meanwhile, a UN spokesman in Colombo confirmed that they have started to pull out from Vanni, but declined to give the time-frame chosen for the total pull-out.
Full story >>

SLA orders power cut in Jaffna following Tiger attack on Vanni SF HQ

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 September 2008, 09:43 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Jaffna ordered a power cut Tuesday around 4:00 a.m in its High Security Zones (HSZs) around Kaangeasanththu’rai (KKS) harbour and Palaali military complex immediately after the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) attack Tuesday at 3:05 a.m on Sri Lankan Forces head quarters in Vanni, sources in Jaffna said. Jetliner, the ship that transports SLA troops to Jaffna was anchored in KKS harbour at the time of the Tiger attack, the sources added.
Full story >>

Opposition challenges war progress claims

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 September 2008, 05:38 GMT]
Hours after a devastating Tamil Tiger attack on the Sri Lankan military’s headquarters in Vavuniya, the main opposition Tuesday questioned the government’s claims of progress in the war against the LTTE, press reports said Wednesday. “The Air Force base and the Police HQ of Vavuniya was attacked using heavy artillery. Radar defence system is completely destroyed. This happened in an area that government has always claimed has been liberated a long time ago, and cleared of any LTTE activity,” United National Party (UNP) parliamentarian Lakshman Seneviratne was quoted by The Bottom Line newspaper as saying.
Full story >>

SLAF bombs Ki'linochchi town, 3 civilians wounded

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 September 2008, 01:46 GMT]
Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) Kfir bombers attacked Ki'linochchi town Wednesday around 7:00 a.m., wounding a 90-year-old man and a 11-year-old boy and causing damage to 23 houses. A 23-year-old pregnant mother was to be operated due to fetal death, caused by the bombardment and a 1-year-old child was admitted in fainted state, medical sources said. The attack has taken place at the heart of the town where NGO offices, residences, civilian facilities and other offices are located. The Sri Lankan bombers fired 16 bombs and deployed lethal air bursts, causing wide destruction. NGO office of Seva Lanka and a store of OXFAM are located 100 meters from the attack site.
Full story >>

2 SLA killed in ambush in Ampaa'rai - LTTE

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 September 2008, 17:36 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamileelm (LTTE) officials in the East on Tuesday claimed that their a Tiger guerrilla unit triggered a land mine targeting Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers who were on road patrol in Bakmitiyawa, 30 km southwest of Ampaa'rai Tuesday morning around 9:05 a.m. Six SLA soldiers sustained injuries, they added.
Full story >>

Time for Britain to act, says UK Parliamentary group for Tamils

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 September 2008, 15:14 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s decision to bar foreign aid staff at this critical juncture from the Vanni region, when these internally displaced people most need help of the aid staff, begs the question whether the Government of Sri Lanka will ever adhere to international norms, said All-Party Parliamentary Group for Tamils in a statement issued on Tuesday. "Government of Sri Lanka should be made to realise that time for soft talking is over and it should be warned more tough actions will follow if it fails to fall in line with international norms and standards," the group said urging the British government to act.
Full story >>

UN pulls staff from Vanni, aid workers fear 'bloodbath'

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 September 2008, 13:33 GMT]
United Nations staff have begun leaving Vanni this week after Sri Lanka’s government ordered aid workers out of the Tamil Tiger controlled region and told them to remove their equipment with them. The government move comes after the UN agencies said they were unable to advise civilians to vacate LTTE-controlled areas in compliance with a government directive to this effect. Over 160,000 people have been displaced in the past two months by Sri Lankan offensives and a humanitarian crisis is fast developing, aid workers said. And amid indiscriminate bombing and shelling, some aid workers are warning of an impending bloodbath.
Full story >>

Mission on Vanni SF HQ successful, Tiger aircrafts safe - LTTE

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 September 2008, 13:24 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) has claimed that their Black Tigers destroyed the Radar installation inside Sri Lankan military's Vanni headquarters at 3:05 a.m. on 09 September, Tuesday. Thereafter, Tamileelam Air Force (TAF) aircrafts and Col. Kittu Artillery formation targeted the Sri Lankan Vanni HQ with the coordination of the Black Tigers, successfully carrying out the operation, the Tigers said, adding that the LTTE aircrafts safely returned to their bases after completing their mission. The communication facility with its tower, engineering facility, anti-aircraft weapon and the ammunition store at the Sri Lankan base were completely destroyed, the LTTE said.
Full story >>

155 SL forces killed, 983 wounded in August - Sri Lankan PM

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 September 2008, 10:56 GMT]
155 Sri Lankan armed personnel were killed and 983 wounded during August in the war against the LTTE, said Sri Lanka's Prime Minister, Ratnasiri Wickremanayake, when the parliament resumed sittings Tuesday to debate on the motion of extending the State of Emergency for another month, parliamentary sources said.
Full story >>

Tiger attack devastates Vanni SF HQ

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 September 2008, 07:25 GMT]
The joint attack carried out by the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) Air Tigers, artillery batteries and Black Tiger commandos, has devastated the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) and Sri Lanka Army (SLA) installations inside the Vanni Sri Lankan forces Headquarters, according to an informed military source in Vavuniyaa. According to officials figures, 11 Sri Lankan military and police personnel were killed and 33 wounded, including two Indian radar operators. Six civilians were also admitted at Vavuniyaa hospital with injuries.
Full story >>

Indian radar operators wounded in Vanni SF HQ

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 September 2008, 06:16 GMT]
Two Indian radar operators working for Sri Lankan Air Force (SLAF) sustained injuries in the attack carried out by the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) on Sri Lankan forces Vanni Headquarters located in Vavuniyaa. SLA sources in Vavuniyaa said 26 military personnel were wounded in the mission.
Full story >>

Vanni SF HQ attacked

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 September 2008, 00:53 GMT]
The joint headquarters of the Sri Lankan forces in Vanni, situated in Vavuniyaa town, came under attack for more than 2 hours by the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) in the early hours of Tuesday. According to the casualty figures released by the Sri Lankan military sources, 9 Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers, 2 Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) personnel and 1 policemen were killed and 26 wounded. At least 10 LTTE Black Tiger commandos had infiltrated into the Vanni headquarters of the SL forces, causing destruction to the military facilities. LTTE's aircrafts bombed the SF HQ of Vanni around 2:30 a.m., before the Black Tigers launched the attack. Vavuniyaa town is at standstill.
Full story >>