"White van" squad abducts two Tamil youths in Puttalam

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 January 2007, 01:14 GMT]
Six unidentified armed men in a white van abducted two Tamil youths Tuesday around 8:45 p.m from the house their house at Kampawathe area in Puthalam, according to a complaint made with the Puthalam police.


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SLA, LTTE exchange rocket fire at Muhamalai FDL

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 January 2007, 19:14 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army soldiers and LTTE fighters exchanged artillery and rocket fire in Muhamalai sector on the Thenmaradchi division of the Jaffna peninsula, Wednesday. Eight SLA troopers who were injured in Wednesday's shelling were admitted at the Palaly military base hospital.
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2 Muslims shot injured in Kathankudy

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 January 2007, 09:49 GMT]
Karuna paramilitary members arriving on motorcycles shot and seriously injured two Muslim civilians standing along Kathankudy Dean Road around 8:05 p.m Tuesday, Kathankudy sources said. The paramilitary personnel have also severely attacked two more civilians and the attacks have caused the Tamils and Muslims living on Kathankudy boarder to move to safer places.


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Stormy sea returns ship back to KKS harbour

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 January 2007, 04:47 GMT]
Rough seas and stormy weather forced a ship leaving from Kankesanthurai to Trincomalee to return back to Kankesanthurai harbour Tuesday. Meanwhile, hundreds of inhabitants on the coastal belt from Point Pedro Munai to Point Pedro harbour in Vadamaradchi north, spent Tuesday night in interior villages away fearing dangers from stormy waters, sources from Point Pedro said.
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Four civilians disappear in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 January 2007, 20:14 GMT]
Four civilians including two youths have gone missing within the 48 hour period beginning Sunday, sources in Jaffna peninsula said, quoting complaints lodged with the HumanRights office in Jaffna. Two of the four are alleged to have been forcefully abducted at night by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers traveling in a white van, according to the relatives.
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Mob led by SL Minister attack Journalists at UPM event

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 January 2007, 14:43 GMT]
An armed mob led by Sri Lankan Deputy Minister of Labour, Mervin Silva, arrived at the open air stage at Super Market Square in Nugegoda, the site of the first public event organised by the newly established United People's Movement (UPM), and attacked the journalists who were present at the site to cover the event which was about to commence at 3:00 p.m. Tuesday. The UPM is a political platform that seeks to establish consensus among especially the Southern polity on a Federal System of Governance, as against war and any other undemocratic, non-negotiable conclusion to the on going NorthEast conflict.
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US urges south to form basis for renewed talks

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 January 2007, 12:57 GMT]
"Attacks that deliberately target civilians are clear acts of terrorism," said US Embassy in a press statement Tuesday, condemning the attacks on civilian buses and stated that the "on going violence in Vakarai" has caused significant hardship to civilians. The US has urged the SLFP, UNP and the All Party Representative Committee (APRC) to "accelerate their concentration of the power sharing proposal" that can form the basis for renewed peace talks.
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SLA shelling kills 2 civilians, wounds 9 in Verugal

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 January 2007, 07:57 GMT]
Two Internally Displaced Persons were killed and 9 others including two children were wounded in artillery fire by the Sri Lanka Army towards Verugal Tuesday morning, LTTE officials in Verugal told media. The civilian victims were fleeing northwards after the artillery barrage towards Vaharai Monday.
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SLA soldiers shoot dead civilian in Mannar

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 January 2007, 06:43 GMT]
A young man who went to purchase panadol tablets for a sick child in his neighbourhood Tuesday at 1:15 a.m. was killed by Sri Lanka Army soldiers who opened fire on him, killing him on the spot and seriously wounding another man, while the victims were returning from a local shop 200 meters away with the medicine. The incident has taken place at Aththikuly village in Nanaddan DS division, 22 km southeast of Mannar town.
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General shut down in East against dividing NorthEast

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 January 2007, 20:51 GMT]
People of Batticaloa and Amparai district staged a general shut down Monday condemning the Sri Lankan Government's decision of dividing North and East and demanding the immediate stoppage of killing civilians and carrying out aerial bombing and other attacks on civilians by Sri Lankan Forces.
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ICRC transports Vaharai wounded, 1 succumbs to wounds

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 January 2007, 20:20 GMT]
One of the four civilians who were critically injured in the Sri Lanka Army’s artillery attack on Vaharai Government hospital succumbed to her injuries at Valaichchenai District hospital after the ICRC officials brought them in boats from besieged Vaharai to Sri Lanka Army controlled Valaichchenai around 4:00 p.m. Monday.
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JVP demands SL government to declare war against the Tigers

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 January 2007, 19:41 GMT]
The Sinhala nationalist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) Sunday demanded the Government of Sri Lanka led by President Mahinda Rajapakse to declare full scale war on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) openly after proscribing it. The JVP politburo made the demand in a statement issued Sunday.
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TRO urges GoSL to guarantee security of humanitarian workers

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 January 2007, 16:22 GMT]
The Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation, which has been subjected to Sri Lankan Police raids and paramilitary attacks, has urged the Government of Sri Lanka to guarantee security of the humanitarian staff of the organistion. The Trincomalee office of the TRO was attacked Saturday and Sunday nights by armed men, believed to be paramilitary members operated by the Sri Lanka Army. The attack on Trinomcalee TRO office comes after Sri Lankan police raid on Friday.
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5 Tamil youths detained by Eravur police

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 January 2007, 13:25 GMT]
Seventy civilians were arrested in a search operation launched by Eravur police and the Special Task Force (STF) at Savukkady in the Earvur police division in Batticaloa district Monday from 6:00 a.m until 11:30 a.m. Five Tamil youths among the arrested were detained while the rest were released after interrogation, Eravur police said.


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UN calls for protection of civilians, says Vaharai demands urgent response

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 January 2007, 10:08 GMT]
The United Nations office in Colombo has condemned the deliberate targeting of civilians and called for the protection of all civilians throughout the island. A statement by the UN office that deplored the latest incidents involving two buses which resulted in the deaths of 20 innocent civilians, quoted Amin Awad, the acting resident and humanitarian coordinator, as stating that the civilians in Vaharai are the "most vulnerable of the vulnerable." The UN agencies stood ready to assist the civilians, but said there has been no access to Vaharai for humanitarian agencies. The last convoy, after repeated protests, was allowed on 29 November with humanitarian supplies for two weeks.
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SLA artillery barrage kills 3 civilians, wounds 11 in Vaharai refuge

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 January 2007, 09:05 GMT]
3 civilians were killed Monday morning when Sri Lanka Army stepped up artillery fire on Vaharai, including the civilian refuge comprising Vaharai hospital where thousands of Internally Displaced Persons were staying, initial reports from Vaharai said.
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SOS from Vaharai

[TamilNet, Sunday, 07 January 2007, 13:49 GMT]
Tamils Rehabilitation Organization, in an urgent press release has said that 15,000 Internally Displaced Persons, denied food by the Sri Lanka Army obstruction of the transport of food to Vaharai, are on the verge of death due to starvation.
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Six civilians injured in bomb blast in Amparai

[TamilNet, Sunday, 07 January 2007, 10:42 GMT]
Six civilians were seriously injured in a bomb explosion Sunday around 10:30 a.m in the Central camp area in Amparai district near a shop which sells agricultural products and chicken feed, Amparai police said. The bomb had been hidden near the shop targeting the Special Task Force (STF) road patrol unit in Amparai Central camp area, the police added.


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SLN cancels ship transport, clashes erupt in the seas off Nagarkovil

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 January 2007, 12:43 GMT]
A Sri Lanka military ship scheduled to transport civilians and military personnel to Trincomalee from KKS Harbour Saturday has cancelled the trip as clashes erupted in the seas off Nagarkovil in Vadamaradchi East Saturday evening around 3:45 p.m. Around 350 civilians who were transported to KKS High Security Zone from Jaffna were sent back.
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Claymore blast kills 3 SLA soldiers, civilian in Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 January 2007, 10:37 GMT]
Three Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers were killed when a civilian vehicle which the troopers at Varikkuddiyar SLA camp have comandeered to transport soldiers was hit by a claymore mine blast at Thaddankulam, about 15 km. west of Vavuniya, around 8:30 a.m., Saturday. A civilian was killed and another injured in the blast, sources said.
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