2 DPU attacks claim 2 civilian lives, ambulance targeted again in Vanni

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 November 2007, 09:37 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army Deep Penetration Unit (DPU) attackers, in two separate Claymore attacks on Sunday targeted civilians in Oddisuddaan, 22 km southwest of Mullaiththeevu town and Mudkompan, 20 km northwest of Ki'linochchi town in Poonakari (Pooneryn) division Sunday, Tamileelam Police officials said. The Claymore attack in Oddisuddaan claimed the lives two, a student and a business man, around 7:55 a.m. and another attack at Mudkompan targeted an ambulance around 9:50 a.m. The two DPU Claymore attacks during Heroes Day remembrance days in Vanni come two months after a similar attack that claimed the life of Rev. Fr. Nicholaspillai Packiyaranjith who was on a humanitarian mission.
Full story >>

4 civilians killed, 6 wounded in SLAF bombardment

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 November 2007, 04:51 GMT]
A father and mother with their daughter and a teenage girl were killed, their son and his wife were seriously wounded with four other civilians, Sunday morning, when Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombers attacked a civilian settlement twice, between 7:15 and 7:40 a.m., at Tharmapuram 8th Unit, located in Ki'linochchi district. A 4-years-old girl, a teacher and a retired postmaster were among the wounded. The airstrike, using bombs that explode underground, comes as November 27 Heroes Day remembrance events were being observed in Vanni. The explosions have created 6 to 10 meter depth craters.
Full story >>

SLAF bombing victim in Mu'rika'ndi succumbs to injuries

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 November 2007, 12:24 GMT]
The 32-year old woman, seriously injured during bombing by Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) Kfir fighter jets targeting a civilian settlement in Mu'rika'ndi located close to Ki'linochchi on 16 November morning, succumbed to her injuries Thursday evening, sources in Kilinochchi said. Doctors could not save her seriously injured legs, and the legs were amputated earlier.
Full story >>

SLAF Kfirs bomb tsunami settlement in Mu'rika'ndi

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 November 2007, 10:42 GMT]
Two Sri Lanka Air Force kfir fighter jets dropped eight bombs in two sorties Friday between 6:15 a.m. and 6:25 a.m. targeting a civilian settlement in Mu’rika'ndi located close to Ki’linochchi, seriously injuring a mother of three children and another civilian besides completely destroying a private boat building yard which makes boats for tsunami affected fishermen, sources in Ki'linochchi said. Five huts of tsunami victims and the house of Mu'rika'ndi Hindu Viththiyaalayam principal were damaged in the bombing.
Full story >>

Landmine injures SLA trooper in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 November 2007, 04:08 GMT]
A Sri Lanka Army (SLA) trooper sustained injuries Thursday around 3:00 p.m in Aayiththiyamalai area in Batticaloa district when a landmine exploded during a road patrol, Batticaloa police said.
Full story >>

Karunanidhi laments the death of Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 November 2007, 11:43 GMT]
Seen as a significant gesture, the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and veteran leader of Tamils, M. Karunanidhi, condoled the demise of Thamilchelvan on Saturday. Kalaignar Karunanidhi, quite typical of his style, used the medium of poetry and pun to pass a subtle message that the Tamils of Sri Lanka haven't gone brotherless. The Chief Minister's emotion-filled condolence gains significance in the background of a prevailing impression that the government of India is fully backing the war efforts of the government of Sri Lanka aiming for a military solution to the ethnic crisis in the island.
Full story >>

SLAF bombs civilian settlement in Visuvamadu

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 October 2007, 06:31 GMT]
Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) kfirs bombed Visuvamadu East civilian settlements Tuesday, dropping 16 bombs in two sorties, the first between 6:30 a.m to 6:50 and the next between 7:00 a.m to 7:20 a.m, damaging six settlements, and agricultural crops in Visuvamadu area.
Full story >>

Farmer shot dead in Akkaraipattu

[TamilNet, Monday, 24 September 2007, 16:42 GMT]
Unknown gunmen on a motorcycle followed a farmer riding home on his motorcycle and shot him dead around 01:05 p.m Monday with a pistol in front of Aalaiyadivempu Divisional Secretariat, located on Chaakaamam road in Akkaraipattu in Amparai district, Akkaraipattu police said.
Full story >>

SLAF bombs Visuvamadu in Vanni

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 September 2007, 08:44 GMT]
Two Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) kfir bombers dropped eight bombs in two sorties Friday between 12:15 a.m and 12:40 p.m on Visuvamadu junction, behind the shops in the area, in Puthukkudiyiruppu DS division of Mullaitheevu distirict, sources in Vanni said. A 65-year-old man identified as Nagappan and a child aged 3 years 3 months sustained injuries in the bombing while 5 students in a school located 800 meters from the bombed area fainted in shock of the exploding bombs.
Full story >>

Tamil GS officer shot dead in Moothoor East

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 September 2007, 06:49 GMT]
Armed men shot and killed Paranjothy Muttukumar, 52, the Village Officer of Kaddaipparichchaan GS area in Sri Lanka Army (SLA) held Moothoor East in Trincomalee district Thursday around 8:00 p.m. Mr Paranjothi is the eldest brother of P.Sounthararajan, opposition leader of the Moothoor Pradesya Sabha (PS). Mr.Sounthararajan has been leading a group of four Tamil National Alliance (TNA) members elected last year to the eleven-member Moothoor PS.
Full story >>

SLAF bombs TRO Mullaiththeevu office, civilian settlement, 6 wounded

[TamilNet, Thursday, 20 September 2007, 08:53 GMT]
Six civilians were injured and five were rushed to Puthukkudiyiruppu hospital after Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombers dropped bombs near Puthukkudiyiruppu town, targeting Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) Mullaiththeevu district office and the civilian settlements in the area around 11:30 a.m. Thursday. The TRO buildings were damaged, and a civilian house was fully destroyed in the attack when the bombs exploded on the air and the ground, 1 km near the town on A-35 highway. The SLAF attack air-crafts flew two bombing raids. Tension prevailed in the town as civilians at the market and other locations were caught in panic.
Full story >>

Iththi+ka'ndal

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 September 2007, 22:26 GMT]
The seasonal marshland of Iththi trees (Ficus virens)
Full story >>

Aaiyiththiyamalai IDPs resettled

[TamilNet, Thursday, 13 September 2007, 08:09 GMT]
2865 Internally displaced persons (IDPs) from Aayiththiyamalai area in Batticaloa district, were sent Tuesday and Wednesday in twenty buses to their own areas for resettlement, Batticaloa Government Agent (GA), Sundaram Arumainayagam said.


Full story >>

Eachchilampaththu refugees complain of forced resettlement –TNA MP

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 12 September 2007, 08:38 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) forcibly loaded 74 families from Verukal, Eeechilampattu District, into buses September 6th for transport to a jungle area in CHinnakku'lam, Udappukkea'ni, 3 km from Eeechilampattu. The families who were previously housed in Batticaloa transitional shelters communicated their plight to Thurairatnsaingham, a Tamil National Alliance parliamentarian.
Full story >>

Pressure mine kills 3 civilians in Ea'raavoor

[TamilNet, Friday, 07 September 2007, 13:44 GMT]
Three civilians traveling in a tractor lost their lives Friday around 10:30 a.m in a pressure mine explosion in Ea'raavoor police division along Vanthaa'rumoolai-Uppoadai road. Ea'ravoor police recovered the bodies and handed them over to Batticaloa Teaching hospital for post mortem examination and inquest


Full story >>

Heavy rain adds to Moothoor IDPs' woes

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 August 2007, 10:36 GMT]
Heavy rain in Moothoor division have added further misery to displaced Tamil families sheltered in temporary structures in Killiveddi and Paddiththidal in Trincomalee district, civil society sources said. Flood water entering their camps, and leaking roofs have become a burden to carry out day-to-day basic acitivities, sources added.
Full story >>

Engineered Catastrophe

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 March 2007, 11:52 GMT]
Batticaloa has turned into an area of humanitarian disaster, and a battle ground for refugee figures, as more than 100,000 residents of Paduvankarai districts were forced to flee to GoSL controlled regions by the shelling of Sri Lankan Armed Forces inside LTTE controlled areas during the first two weeks of March. The changing IDP numbers have swelled to 165,485. While UN appealed for "vital funds to boost its operations in eastern Sri Lanka" and leftist parties accused the Government of engineering "demographic change," Sri Lanka Government spokesperson K. Rambukwella dismissed the severity saying only 52,000 are displaced, contradicting his own administration's official figures.
Full story >>

SLA forces exodus of Tamils in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Monday, 12 March 2007, 01:34 GMT]
More than 100,000 people have moved out of Liberation Tigers controlled areas of Batticaloa district to the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) controlled areas as Sri Lankan armed forces continued shelling for the third consecutive day in their attempt to force evacuation of large section of Tamil population with the military agenda to capture additional territory, officials providing relief assistance said Sunday.
Full story >>

SLAF, SLA attacks displace 3500 civilians in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 March 2007, 07:32 GMT]
Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) Kfir jets dropped bombs in the villages of Tharavai and Kudumbimalai in the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) controlled Batticaloa district around 10:40 a.m. Friday, sources in Batticaloa said. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka Army (SLA) stationed at 23-3 Brigade Head Quarters in Batticaloa, Valaichchenai Paper Factory, Chenkalady, Vavunathivu and Mylambavely Army Camps fired artillery shells into LTTE areas.
Full story >>

Despair of one displaced village

[TamilNet, Sunday, 27 August 2006, 15:20 GMT]
The experience of the residents of Vellaveli, a village in the eastern Batticaloa district, is a microcosm of that of over 200,000 people who have this year joined the hundreds of thousands of long-term displaced in the island. Driven from their homes by a Sri Lankan military offensive, the rice farming families face starvation and debt-riddled ruin.
Full story >>