SLA shoots dead a civilian in Mannar

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 November 2006, 09:37 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troopers shot dead a civilian during a cordon and search operation conducted by the SLA Thursday around 6:30 a.m at Theevupitty in Sooriyakaddaikaadu village in the Mannar district when some unidentified persons lobbed a hand grenade on the SLA troopers seriously injuring a SLA captain, Murungan Police said.


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Operation USA: GoSL ‘blocking aid’ to Jaffna, Vaharai

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 November 2006, 05:27 GMT]
Operation USA, a large American NGO, says it is “collecting funds and pushing the US Government and the UN to take firm action to help re-open humanitarian corridors” in Sri Lanka. Demanding access to internally displaced people (IDPs), the NGO said “a contributing factor to the current tension between the Sinhalese and Tamils is the inequitable distribution of tsunami relief aid by the Government of Sri Lanka.”
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Kilinochchi remembers Raviraj

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 November 2006, 00:07 GMT]
"Nadaraja Raviraj went to the doorsteps of his people, observed their living conditions, understood the daily struggle of our people, and exposed the atrocities and human rights violations committed against the Tamil people by the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL). His activities were a threat to the extremists who have succeeded in taking his life," said C. Ilamparithi, the Jaffna political head of Liberation Tigers, Wednesday in an event held to remember the slain parliamentarian, held at Kilinochchi Cultural Hall, 11:00 a.m. Wednesday, sources in Kilinochichi said.
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Collegues vow to carry on policies of slain MP

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 November 2006, 18:31 GMT]
Speaking in the presence of large number of civilians gathered in Jaffna on Wednesday to pay their last respects to Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP Late Raviraj Nadaraj, fellow parliamentarian Suresh Premachandran accused an armed group linked to Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) as directly responsible for the killing of Raviraj,sources in Jaffna said.
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NorthEast mourns for Raviraj

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 November 2006, 16:51 GMT]
The people of Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Mulaithivu, Mannar, Vavuniya, Batticaloa, Amparai and Trincomalee districts observed hartal (general shut down) Wednesday mourning the loss of Raviraj, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian allegedly assassinated by Eelam People Democratic Party (EPDP) cadres operating with the Sri Lankan Army (SLA). The shut down was organized to condemn Raviraj's assassination and the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) artilery fire killing of nearly forty-two Tamil civilians including children in Vaharai in Batticaloa.
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India trains jet bomber support crews

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 November 2006, 09:46 GMT]
India is training a third batch of six Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) personnel at Chandigarh, Punjab to support Colombo’s plans to expand its jet bomber fleet, the Times of India reported this week. Sri Lanka plans to purchase four more jet bombers from Russia and, in preparation, SLAF personnel are being put through three months of instruction. The latest group began training on October 14, despite outrage in Tamil Nadu over the targeting of civilians by SLAF bombers in which over a hundred people have been killed this year.
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Trincomalee to observe 3-day general shut down

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 November 2006, 01:01 GMT]
Tamil People Force (TPF), a civic organization in Trincomalee, appealed to the district residents to observe three day general shut down commencing from Wednesday condemning the killing of TNA parliamentarian Mr.Nadarajah Raviraj in Colombo and killing nearly sixty five Tamil civilians including children in Vaharai in Batticaloa, sources in east port town said.
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SLA soldier injured in grenade attack in Kommathurai

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 November 2006, 00:11 GMT]
A Sri Lankan Army (SLA) soldier was injured when two unidentified persons came in a motorbike threw a hand grenade at the group of soldiers on guard duty at Uma Mill junction, Kommathura, in Eravur Police division in Batticaloa district around 4:30 pm Tuesday.
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Sri Lanka Army moves into Tiger territory in fresh offensive

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 November 2006, 15:52 GMT]
Sri Lankan troops have moved into Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam controlled Vakarai region, beyond no-go zone, Tuesday morning, amid heavy artillery shelling, according to civil sources in Vakarai.
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4 youths killed by 'White Van' squads in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 November 2006, 12:31 GMT]
Bodies of four youths, abducted earler by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) trooper and collaborating paramilitaries driving white vans, were found in Jaffna district Tuesday morning, civil society sources in Jaffna said. White van abductions, subsequent killings, and harassment of civilians by SLA soldiers riding in field bikes, have increased at an alarming rate in Jaffna, where amidst prevailing dire economic conditions residents are also gripped with fear from SLAs brutal counter-insurgency campaign, civil society sources and human rights activists in Jaffna said.
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UN: Sri Lanka military ‘recruiting child soldiers’

[TamilNet, Monday, 13 November 2006, 13:15 GMT]
A United Nations official Monday accused Sri Lankan government security forces of recruiting child soldiers on behalf of an allied paramilitary group which is also fighting Tamil Tigers. The special advisor to the UN Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, Allan Rock, told reporters in Colombo that he had evidence of direct involvement of troops in forcibly enlisting children for the paramilitary group.
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Sri Lanka Army intensifies artillery barrage on Vakarai

[TamilNet, Sunday, 12 November 2006, 11:55 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army Sunday morning intensified multi-barrel and artillery attacks from four different bases towards Liberation Tigers controlled Vakarai causing thousands of Internally Displaced Tamil families from Vakarai, Panichchankerni and Alamkulam to flee on foot, civil sources in Vakarai said. The already scuttled transport was brought to a halt by the intensified attack, reported between 3:30 and 8:30 a.m. The artillery barrage comes amid condemnations from the International Community against the attack on refugee camp in Kathiraveli, 15 km north of Vaaharai, where tens of Tamil civilians were killed and more than a hundred wounded.
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Two bodies found dumped in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 12 November 2006, 06:29 GMT]
The bodies of two civilians, including a 14-year old school boy who was abducted by men in white van, were found dumped near Aanaippanthy junction, a suburb of Jaffna town, Sunday morning.
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Colombo's Law, order machinery collapsing- Rights Groups

[TamilNet, Saturday, 11 November 2006, 14:58 GMT]
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) expressed shock at the "further intensification of violence in Sri Lanka with the assassination of a Member of Parliament, Nadarajah Raviraj...and the killings of the civilians at Vakarai in the Batticaloa district," a UK-based Tamil Rights group said Raviraj's killing in the Capital indicated "chaotic law and order situation and the lack of human protection in Sri Lanka," while California-based Humanitarian Law Project (HLP) described Vaharai killings as a "war crime", in statements issued to the press in the aftermath of the assassination of Tamil parliamentarian, Friday.
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Two killed, two including SLA trooper injured in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 11 November 2006, 13:24 GMT]
A trader in Jaffna town and a civilian in the Jaffna Islet of Kayts were shot dead by unknown gunmen in the last 24 hours from Friday 6:00 p.m. in Jaffna district, sources in Jaffna said. A Sri Lanka Army (SLA) trooper and a worker-assistant of the slain trader were also injured during the same period.
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Canada condemns killing of Vakarai IDPs

[TamilNet, Saturday, 11 November 2006, 05:55 GMT]
Mr. Peter MacKay, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, Friday condemned the shelling of civilians in a camp for internally displaced persons near the town of Vakarai in eastern Sri Lanka on November 8, 2006.
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Tamil Americans call for moratorium on military aid to Colombo

[TamilNet, Saturday, 11 November 2006, 03:12 GMT]
Expressing condemnation over killing of at least 65 internally displaced people (IDPs) who were seeking shelter in a school in Vakarai by the government of Sri Lanka," a joint press release issued by Tamil organizations in the US Friday, called upon the international community to "impose a moratorium on military assistance to GOSL," and urged "the co-chairs of the peace process to explore modalities that will allow the peoples on the island of Sri Lanka to live with dignity, to determine their political and economic future without interference, and to ensure regional security."
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SLN suspends unloading goods at Pt. Pedro harbour

[TamilNet, Saturday, 11 November 2006, 00:34 GMT]
Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) cancelled the temporary permission given to Vadmaradchy fishermen to fish in waters up to Munai in Point Pedro Friday, and scoured large stretches of Point Pedro seas for bodies of sailors killed in the Thursday clashes with Sea Tigers, fishermen society sources in Point Pedro said. Unloading essential goods at Pt. Pedro harbour was suspended the whole day Friday.
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Batticaloa, Amparai shut down in protest of Vaharai killings

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 November 2006, 12:18 GMT]
Batticaloa and Amparai districts came to a standstill in response to a call made by Parliamentarian P. Ariyanenthiran, on behalf of Tamil National Alliance (TNA), to the people of both the districts to observe total shut down on Friday, as an expression of their united appeal to the International Community to exert pressure on the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) to stop killing Tamil civilians, sources in Batticaloa said.
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U.S. regrets loss of innocent life in Sri Lankan military attack in Vakarai

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 November 2006, 12:05 GMT]
The U.S. Department of State in a media note issued on Thursday said the U.S "strongly regrets" the loss of innocent life caused by the shelling by the Sri Lankan military in Vakarai region Wednesday. The U.S. urged both the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to honor their commitment to abide by the cease fire, end all hostilities immediately, and return to negotiations to find a peaceful solution to the conflict. "We are also disturbed that the Head of the Sri Lankan Monitoring Mission and his delegation came under fire in Pooneryn in the north of Sri Lanka the same day," the statement said.
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