3 civilians seek protection with HRC Jaffna, 3 missing

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 August 2007, 16:20 GMT]
Three civilians, two from Kaithadi and one from Koappaay, fearing for their lives from Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and SLA-backed paramilitaries, sought protection with Human Rights Commission (HRC) Jaffna office Sunday. Meanwhile, one civilian had been abducted on Sunday and three others had gone missing since Friday from separate places in Jaffna peninsula, sources in Jaffna said.
Full story >>

Tsunami -affected Batticaloa civilians receive new houses

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 August 2007, 13:09 GMT]
64 new houses constructed in Thiraayamadu , Batticaloa District by a Non Governmental Organization(NGO) based in United States of America (USA), at a cost of 48 million Rupees were handed over to civilians whose houses in Kalladi, Naavaladi and Thiruchchenthoor were destroyed during 2004 Tsunami.
Full story >>

Three to be charged in Kadirgamar assassination- AG

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 August 2007, 10:27 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Attorney General, Mr.C.R.de Silva, told the media Sunday on the second death anniversary of former foreign minister Mr.Lakshman Kadirgamar that indictments against three Tamils now in remand will be filed soon after statements from three persons are obtained, legal sources in Colombo said.
Full story >>

IDPs refusing to resettle in new areas refused relief

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 August 2007, 10:12 GMT]
East Provincial Governor Rear Admiral Mohan Wijewickrema is reported to have instructed civil authorities in districts of Trincomalee and Batticaloa not to provide food and other relief assistances to Tamil displaced families frpm Moothoor east and Eachchilampathu division who refuse to be relocated in new lands allocated to them by the Sri Lanka government in other parts of the Trincomalee district. Moothoor east and Eachchilampaththu have been declared as high security zone after the military operation and civilians are not being allowed to resettle there, civil society sources said.
Full story >>

Woman killed, School destroyed in SLAF bombardment in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Monday, 13 August 2007, 15:00 GMT]
Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) Monday morning bombed a civilian area in Maruthoadai, Nedungkea'ni Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) controlled territory in Vavuniyaa, killing a 20-year-old female. A government school, Maruthoadai Tamil Mixed School, was destroyed in the bombardment. A Multi-Purpose Cooperative Society building, a rice mill and two civilian houses were also damaged in the bombardment that took place twice between 6:40 and 7:10 a.m. A couple, owners of one of the houses, were seriously wounded in the air-attack.
Full story >>

5 civilians shot dead in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 13 August 2007, 10:48 GMT]
In five separate incidents gunmen shot dead three civilians in Kaithadi in Thenmaraadchy, one in Varani and another near St. Patricks College, Jaffna Monday, sources in Jaffna said.
Full story >>

Killings shock Kaithadi, 8 civilians slain in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 13 August 2007, 10:08 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army operated gunmen in Thenmaraadchi, Jaffna, have shot and killed seven civilians since Sunday noon. Four civilians, including a Village Officer (GS) were slain on Monday in Kaithadi where two civilians were shot dead last wednesday and a gurellia ambush killed four Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers on Sunday when a youth was also killed in SLA gunfire. Two civilians were killed in Meesaalai and one in Vara'ni in Thenmaraadchi on Monday. Meanwhile, a Jaffna Municipal Council employee, shot in Jaffna city has succumbed to his injuries. Tension prevails in Kaithadi where armed men also burnt down a house, according to the residents in the area.
Full story >>

14 Tamil civilians arrested in Gampaha

[TamilNet, Monday, 13 August 2007, 08:06 GMT]
Fourteen Tamil civilians were arrested in a cordon and search operation conducted by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and police from Sunday night till Monday early morning in Gampaha town in the western province. This was the fourth search operation conducted by the government security forces in Gampaha town during the first 2 weeks of August, sources said.
Full story >>

Heavy fighting in the seas off Pulmoaddai - LTTE

[TamilNet, Sunday, 12 August 2007, 23:02 GMT]
Three Sri Lanka Navy Fast Attack Crafts (FACs) were damaged and more than 20 Dvora gunboats were chased away by the Sea Tigers, the naval force of the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE), towards Trincomalee port Sunday night after a fierce sea battle off Pulmoaddai that lasted from 10:00 p.m. till 2:30 a.m. Monday, according to Sea Tiger officials in Vanni. Six Sea Tiger fighters were killed in action in the battle, the Tigers said. Meanwhile Sri Lankan military sources claimed that they had sunk a Sea Tiger vessel in the clash.
Full story >>

LTTE fires mortars towards Weli Oya, says SLA

[TamilNet, Sunday, 12 August 2007, 21:18 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eeelam (LTTE) fired mortars targetted towards Wel Oya area in Polllanaruwa district, Sri Lanka Army (SLA) spokesperson Brigadier Prasanth Samarasinghe said Sunday. The attack began at 8:00 a.m. Sunday and claimed the life of a 65-year old man and injured five others, Brig. Samarasinghe said. A number of private residences are also said to have been damaged during the attack.
Full story >>

4 SLA killed in Claymore ambush near Jaffna FDL

[TamilNet, Sunday, 12 August 2007, 08:45 GMT]
Four Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers were killed and 12 troopers wounded in a Claymore ambush in Thenmaraadchi in the southwestern Forward Defence area adjoining Kaithadi Sunday around 1:30 p.m. A youth was killed when SLA soldiers in the convoy opened fire, after the attack, Police said. The attackers have targeted the SLA convoy on the Kaithadi Thachchanthoappu road in a heavily fortified area where two civilians were shot dead last wednesday allegedly by SLA operated gunmen.
Full story >>

A few devotees attend Maaviddapuram CAR festival

[TamilNet, Saturday, 11 August 2007, 16:54 GMT]
Only around two thousand devotees entered through Sri Lanka Army (SLA) checkpoint in Thellippazhai to attend the Thear festival of the historic Maaviddapuram Kandasamy temple located inside the Valikaamam north High Security Zone (HSZ). After the SLA offensives in 1990 civilians living close to temple and surrounding areas were evicted, and in 1999 the area was demarcated to fall within the HSZ, despite protests from Chaiva organizations.
Full story >>

Tamil civilian's body recovered in Ea'raavoor

[TamilNet, Saturday, 11 August 2007, 15:51 GMT]
The highly decomposed body of a Tamil civilian was recovered Thursday afternoon by Ea'raavoor police in a farm land in 5th Division, Ea'raavoor, sources in Batticaloa said. The victim has been identified as Nagamany Yogalingam, 40, a familied man from Chengkaladi, Cheanaikkudiyirippu area.
Full story >>

STF arrests two civilians in Kokkadichchoalai

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 August 2007, 16:49 GMT]
Sri Lanka Police and Special Task Force (STF) soldiers arrested two Tamil civilians during a combined search operation conducted in Kokkaddichchoalai police division in Batticaloa district Tuesday, police sources said. The arrested have been identified as M.Thiraviyarasa, 25 and Thiyagarasa, 36.
Full story >>

Impunity reigns, rights record seriously deteriorates- HRW

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 August 2007, 02:31 GMT]
Qualifying the report as focusing primarily on abuses by the Sri Lankan government, the Human Rights Watch (HRW), a New York-based rights organization, in a hard-hitting report released Monday said "the government's respect for international law has sharply declined, with it often appearing indifferent to the impact on civilians in the north and east...the main areas of concern [are], from violations of the laws of war and extrajudicial killings to unlawful restrictions on the media and nongovernmental organizations and the widespread impunity enjoyed by state security forces...Sri Lanka's defense establishment is particularly responsible for abuses."
Full story >>

Black July emblematic of Sinhala rule - paper

[TamilNet, Monday, 23 July 2007, 05:38 GMT]
In nearly a quarter century of conflict since the state-sponsored anti-Tamil riots of July 1983, despite the tens of thousands of lives that have been lost in the conflict, “there has not been an iota of change in the Sinhala leadership’s thinking – nor, for that matter, in the sentiments of the international community [on the ethnic question],” the Tamil Guardian newspaper argued in its editorial this week. Comparing the regimes of Presidents Junius Jayawardene, Chandrika Kumaratunga and Mahinda Rajapakse, the paper contends: “Black July is not just a historical event. Rather, it is an emblematic act of Sinhala rule."
Full story >>

Japan's aid not conducive to peace in Sri Lanka - Sampanthan

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 July 2007, 19:38 GMT]
R. Sampanthan, parliamentary group leader of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), has said that the decision by Sri Lanka's major donor country Japan, to continue economic aid to Sri Lanka, will soften the International pressure on the SL government to seek a political solution and strengthen Colombo to pursue the military option. Pointing out Sri Lanka President's categorical statement that there would be no change in his policy on a "unitary structure of a government" with the "district as the unit of devolution," Mr. Sampanthan dismissed the efforts of All Party Representatives Committee (APRC) as "no more than a mere pretense" to show some action is being taken towards political solution.
Full story >>

2 civilians shot dead in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 May 2007, 00:02 GMT]
Unidentified gunmen killed two civilians in ka'luvaagnchikkudi and Ea’raavoor police divisions Monday night, sources in Batticaloa District said.
Full story >>

Civilian wounded in SLAF attack on Puthukkudiyiruppu

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 May 2007, 14:48 GMT]
A mother of seven children was wounded when two Sri Lanka Air Force bombers attacked Kar'nankudiyiruppu in Puthukkudiyiruppu around 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, medical sources in Puthukudiyiruppu said.
Full story >>

Bomb scare disrupts Colombo Municipal Council work

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 May 2007, 16:10 GMT]
Soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and police personnel evacuated all employees of the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC), and conducted an extensive search of the premises after they received a tip off from an unidentified source that a bomb is about to detonate within the offices, sources in Colombo said.
Full story >>