Arrests reveal eastern inciters' connections

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 July 2002, 19:42 GMT]
Police Thursday arrested a person believed to be working for Sri Lanka army intelligence for stoning and throwing bottles at a Tamil owned passenger van in the Muslim quarter of the Eravur town. Two persons were wounded in the attack Wednesday afternoon. On information given by the public the Police arrested Abu Salee Naseer (also known as 'Support' Naseer). Police said that Naseer was a soldier of the Sri Lanka army. However, his relatives in Eravur said that he now works for the military intelligence unit in Batticaloa.
Full story >>

Protests as SLAF expands airbase

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 19 June 2002, 22:56 GMT]
There were massive protests Wednesday in Batticaloa demanding an end to the occupation of zone 'C' by the Sri Lankan Air Force (SLAF), the continued occupation by the Sri Lankan armed forces of schools, temples and public buildings and the continued blocking of public travel on several important roads. The SLAF has begun expanding its base in Batticaloa, incorporating a nearby temple and school and triggering outrage amongst locals.
Full story >>

'S.L Security forces still in temples' - Hindu body

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 May 2002, 14:37 GMT]
The Federation of Hindu Temples in Batticaloa and Amparai said Sunday that the Sri Lankan security forces in the region continue to encompass more than 15 places of worship in the two districts within the defence perimeters of their camps. The trustee boards of fourteen Hindu temples in Batticaloa and Amparai complained to the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) Saturday that their precincts and environs are still occupied by Sri Lankan security forces.
Full story >>

Ex-garrison town schools await succour

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 January 2002, 13:31 GMT]
More than forty schools in the Kilinochchi education zone were damaged by floods in the region during the recent monsoon, officials said. Most of these schools were functioning in temporary sheds as their permanent structures have been destroyed in heavy bombing and shelling since 1996 when the Sri Lanka army captured and garrisoned the town. Education officials said they have not received funds for repairs although damaged to the temporary shacks and partially destroyed buildings in which children study has been estimated at 5 million rupees (53,000 USD). The Liberation Tigers overran the large SLA garrison in Kilinochchi in September 1998.
Full story >>

EPDP rigs polls in Jaffna, Mannar

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 05 December 2001, 09:15 GMT]
Police sources in Jaffna said that the Eelam People’s Democratic Party fired on an opposition candidate and lobbed a grenade at his vehicle near Vaddukoddai junction this morning around 9 a.m. They said that the EPDP had also fired on a bus in which voters were travelling near Chankanai and had smashed a Tamil National Alliance van on Stanley Road in the heart of Jaffna town. Meanwhile, an observer with the People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL), an independent monitoring group, in Jaffna said that the EPDP cadres were seen rigging the polls in the island of Kayts, Velanai and at the polling centres at the Jaffna Hindu College, St. John’s College and the Nelliyadi Maththiya Maha Viththiyalayam. Some voters who went to these centres found their ballots already cast, the PAFFREL source said.
Full story >>

Batticaloa shuts down for massacred children

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 May 2001, 02:43 GMT]
Shops and businesses were closed and few people were on the roads Monday in the Batticaloa district to observe the Buddhist festival if Vesak as a day of mourning for the 10 children from an orphanage who were killed by Sri Lanka army soldiers on 17 May last year. The main road from Kalmunai to Batticaloa was blocked at Ondaachchi Madam, Kaluthavalai and Thalangkudah by villagers. Fourteen persons, including ten children who came to the Batticaloa town from an orphanage in Aayiththiyamalai, were shot dead during the Vesak festival by SLA troops last year.
Full story >>

CSU personnel injured in claymore attack

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 May 2000, 06:16 GMT]
Five military trained Policemen including three operatives of the Counter Subversive Unit (CSU) were wounded when they were hit by a claymore mine blast in the heart of Mannar town this morning around 10.30 a.m. The Police said that the Liberation Tigers were responsible for the attack in this high security zone.
Full story >>

Troops by schools: officer ventures rationale

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 March 2000, 18:41 GMT]
The officer in charge of the Sri Lankan army (SLA) camp at Kinnaiyadi, 33 kilometers north of Batticaloa, told residents of the village who were summoned by him this morning for a meeting that his troops were stationed by the local school in the interests of the students. Sources in Kinnaiyadi said that the officer appeared to be reacting to the strong objection raised by the Ceylon Tamil Teachers Union about the large number of SLA camps that are located by schools in Tamil villages when it met the Governor of the Northeastern Province Major Gen.(retd) Asoka Jayawardana on March 10.
Full story >>

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.
Full story >>

Arrested schoolboy released

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 12 May 1999, 17:30 GMT]
The Magistrate of Mallakam, Mr. S.Sabanathan, today ordered the release of Thatparanathan Sivarooban, 19, a school boy who was arrested by the Sri Lanka Army on April 29. He was produced in the courts today by the police.
Full story >>

News in Brief:

[TamilNet, Monday, 10 May 1999, 18:18 GMT]
Additional Magistrate for Jaffna and Kayts issued an arrest warrant in connection with a killing of a youth by EPDP on Saturday, Students boycott classes.
Full story >>

Vaakarai delegation meets army officer

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 April 1999, 23:51 GMT]
A two member delegation from Vaakarai North met the Commander Officer of the 23-2 Brigade, Col. A. Alwis, yesterday to discuss the effects of Sri Lankan Army restrictions on food and medicine on the civilians in the northern part of the Batticaloa district.
Full story >>

President halts Palaly expansion plan

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 March 1999, 18:53 GMT]
The Sri Lankan President has ordered a halt to the acquisition of land to expand the 'perimeters' of the Palaly Sri Lankan Army (SLA) base in the Jaffna Peninsula said the state run Sri Lanka Broadcasting Co-operation (SLBC) today.
Full story >>

Police fire wounds student

[TamilNet, Sunday, 13 December 1998, 08:57 GMT]
Ponnuthurai Nakuleswaran,15, a student at the government school in Thambalagamam, 22 kilometers southwest of Trincomalee, was seriously wounded this morning around 9.30 a.m. when military trained Policemen opened fire indiscriminately in this large Tamil village.
Full story >>

Scrap SLAF base - council

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 September 1998, 18:54 GMT]
The Batticaloa Municipal council passed a unanimous resolution today demanding that the government should remove the Sri Lankan Air Force (SLAF) base in the eastern town. The Council also unanimously condemned the move by the SLAF to close down the Alaiadichcholai cemetery, Sri Vigneswara school and the Hindu temple which are close to its base in the Batticaloa town.
Full story >>

Four students arrested

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 July 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Four students from Ambalanthurai Kalaimagal Viththiyalayam who were arrested by the Special Task Force (STF) while they were working in the fields at Thaandamalai, 30 km southwest of Batticaloa on June 29, are to be produced in court today, said sources in Batticaloa.
Full story >>

Colonisation sparks communal passions

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 July 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Communal passions flared up when encroachment on state land in Trincomalee was discussed during the Trincomalee District Coordinating Committee meeting at the Trincomalee District Secretariat last morning, said sources at this eastern seaport town.
Full story >>

Batticaloa Villages assaulted by STF personnel

[TamilNet, Sunday, 21 June 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Three women were whipped publicly by the Special Task Force (STF) on the Batticaloa - Kalmunai highway at Kottaikallar, 25 km south of Batticaloa Friday morning, said ex militant sources in Batticaloa when contacted by Tamil Net.
Full story >>

Three female Batticaloa students 'disappear'

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 June 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Three female students studying in the ninth grade at Kaluthaavalai Mahaviththiyalayam (secondary school), near Kaluvanchikudy, 25 km south of Batticaloa, went missing on May 31 and have not been heard of since, said sources in Batticaloa today.
Full story >>