Co-Chairs’ failure to condemn bombing will fuel violence - IFT

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 November 2006, 16:22 GMT]
Geneva based Tamil diaspora federation, International Federation of Tamils (IFT), criticising the Co-Chair's "failure" to condemn the Sri Lankan Air Force (SLAF) airstrike on the environs of Kilinochchi hospital which killed five people, the IFT warned the weak international response “will encourage Sri Lanka to continue such attacks with impunity.”
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Colombo emboldened by international support - paper

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 November 2006, 15:02 GMT]
Uncritical international support for the Sri Lankan government in its campaign against the Liberation Tigers contributed greatly to the collapse of the peace talks in Geneva last weekend, the Tamil Guardian newspaper argued in its latest editorial. “When even the US publicly declares that it is backing Sri Lanka [against the LTTE], why wouldn’t Colombo have adopted the intransigent and belligerent stand it did?”
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Former LTTE member killed in Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 November 2006, 07:31 GMT]
A former member of the Liberation Tigers who was abducted from his home, Friday night, was found hacked to death, Saturday morning, Vavuniya police said.
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Colombo intensifies attacks in Vanni, Vaharai

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 November 2006, 22:34 GMT]
Four civilians were killed and six wounded in Sri Lanka Army (SLA) artillery shelling in Vaharai in the East, and a Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) cadre was killed and two wounded in Pooneryn, Vanni, Friday, as SLAF intensified air raids across Northeast, sources in Kilinochchi said. The attacks continued despite Colombo's commitment to cease violence at the negotiating table in Geneva last weekend, and Co-chairs' indignation over the bombing of a house in Kilinochchi that killed five persons and damaged Kilinochchi Hospital.
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Father of five shot dead in Mannar

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 November 2006, 16:07 GMT]
A 39-year old resident of Periyamurippu village in Mannar district, and a father of five children, was shot dead by unidentified persons Friday morning, sources in Mannar said. The victim's body was found near the suspension bridge along Madhu Road to Kunchukulam road.
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Kilinochchi raid violates International Humanitarian Law- TNA

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 November 2006, 15:58 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) in a press release issued in Colombo Friday condemned the Thursday bombing raid by SLAF near Kilinochchi hospital as "serious violation of International Humanitarian Law," and said the bombing was "conducted with callous disregard for the safety and the security of Tamil civilian life and property." TNA also expressed disappointment that despite repeated attacks by GoSL against civilian life and property, "the International Community is unable to bring such attacks of the GOSL to an end."
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Co-Chairs express deep regret over Kilinochchi bombing

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 November 2006, 13:43 GMT]
The Tokyo Co-Chair (EU, Japan, Norway and the US) ambassadors in Sri Lanka, in a press releas issued Friday, expressed their "deep regret over the bombing of a house in Kilinochchi on 2 November 2006 that resulted in the death of five civilians," and added that "the explosion comes at a delicate time when both sides should seek to build confidence and compromise to ensure further rounds of talks can soon be agreed, and an escalation of the conflict can be avoided."


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SLA mortar attack kills father, son in Vaharai, Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 November 2006, 09:23 GMT]
A father and son were killed on the spot in a mortar attack launched by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) from its Mankerny camp in Batticaloa on Vaharai, a village in the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) held territory in Batticalo, Friday around 8:30 a.m. The shells launched continuously by the SLA on and around the temporary shelters of the internally displaced people (IDP) in this area fall and explode causing the IDPs to flee in fear in all directions, said sources from Vaharai.


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Jaffna Bishop calls for urgent help to avert humanitarian disaster

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 November 2006, 00:30 GMT]
Jaffna Bishop, Rt. Rev. Thomas Savundara- nayagam, has sent an urgent telegram Thursday to Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse requesting him to immediately open a landroute to Jaffna peninsula to allow the flow of desperately needed food and other essential materials to Jaffna residents, civil society sources in Jaffna said Thursday.
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India should lift ban on LTTE - Kuldip Nayar

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 November 2006, 22:04 GMT]
Kuldip Nayar, the noted Indian journalist and head of the Indian Peace Mission to Sri Lanka called on India to lift the ban on the LTTE and engage it politically in order to bring lasting peace to the war-torn island, the Hindustan Times reported.
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Health emergency in Mannar as virus fever spreads

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 November 2006, 17:14 GMT]
A virus fever is spreading fast in Mannar district and daily hundreds of persons affected by the fever are seeking treatment in the Mannar general hospital and private medical institutions, health officials in Mannar said. Mannar General hospital is overflowing with the large influx of affected civilians, hospital sources said.
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Governor rejects appeals from stranded Government employees

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 November 2006, 12:13 GMT]
Rear Admiral (Retd) Mohan Wijeyawickrema, Governor of the North East Province, rejected appeals from more than one thousand Tamil government employees stranded in Jaffna peninsula for the past three months to allow them to work in the province as an interim measure, civil society sources in Jaffna said Thursday.
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Aerial attack near Hospital, a message of terror, says Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 November 2006, 11:59 GMT]
The Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) that promised to halt the military offensives at the negotiating table, in front of the International Community in Geneva, has sent a "message of terror" within 24 hours of LTTE delegation's arrival in Kilinochchi by conducting a "gruesome" aerial attack killing an innocent family and terrorising the patients at the General Hopital premises, said Political Head of the Liberation Tigers, S. P. Thamilchelvan, following the Sri Lankan aerial attack in the heart of Kilinochchi town Thursday. Hospitals which serve the most humanitarian need and deserve utmost protection from any acts of violence, have now become targets to GoSL's campaign of terror, he added.
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Co-Chair envoys in Colombo meet GOSL peace delegation

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 November 2006, 09:47 GMT]
Envoys of Co-Chairs to the Tokyo Donor Conference in Colombo Thursday met with representatives of peace delegation of the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) that attended the Geneva talks 2 last week. The discussion was held at the office of the Government Peace Secretariat in Colombo.
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5 killed, SLAF attacks hospital surrounding in Kilinochchi, 500 patients flee hospital

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 November 2006, 09:07 GMT]
Five members of a family were killed when Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) Kfir jets dropped 16 bombs within 500 meters east of the newly built Kilinochchi General Hospital at Anandapuram around 2:30 p.m. Thursday. One was seriously wounded. Around 500 patients warded in the hospital, among others mothers with newly born babies in their hands and severely wounded patients from earlier SLAF bombings, were forced to leave the hospital premises. Explosion shock shattered hospital window-glasses and fans fell down while the patients were having lunch in their beds, doctors told TamilNet. Tension prevailed in Kilinochchi town following the aerial attack.
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NECORD funded Mullaithivu hospital opens

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 November 2006, 08:23 GMT]
Dr. T. W. Jeyakularajah, Mullaithivu District Deputy Provincial Director of Health Services, presided over the opening ceremony of a section of the Mullaithivu hospital complex constructed at a cost Rs.110m funded by he Northeast Community Restoration and Development (NECORD), held Wednesday at 10:00 a.m at Maanthottam area along the Mullaithivu-Mulliyawalai road.
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SLA attacks fishermen returning to Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 November 2006, 19:39 GMT]
Sri Lankan Army (SLA) stationed along the coastal belt of Gurunagar fired at 21 fishermen, returning in six boats from LTTE- controlled Pooneryn and adjoining areas on Wednesday morning, Fisheries Society sources said. No one of was injured in this attack. The fishermen earlier fled to the LTTE controlled area following the break out of fresh violence between LTTE and Sri Lankan Forces on August 11.
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SLAF Kfir jets bomb LTTE held villages in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 November 2006, 10:47 GMT]
Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) Kfir bombers bombed civilian settlements nine times Wednesday around 7:15 a.m in the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) held areas of Kattumurivu in Kathiraveli in Batticaloa district. Casualties in this bombing are not yet known but 12 houses of civilians are said to be badly damaged.
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SLA fuel ban halts paddy cultivation in Mannar LTTE areas

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 November 2006, 03:12 GMT]
Farmers in villages held by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Mannar district are unable to plough their fields due to fuelshortage, agricultural sources said. 90% of paddy fields will remain uncultivated unless Sri Lankan Army (SLA) lifts the ban on transport of petrol and diesel to the LTTE held agricultural villages through Uyilankulam checkpoint, civil sources said.
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Home guard killed in Serunuwara

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 November 2006, 03:02 GMT]
A Sinhala home guard was shot dead by a group of unknown gunmen who attacked a home guard checkpost at Neelapola in Serunuwara police division in Trincomalee district Tuesday early morning around 12.40 a.m. by unidentified men, Sri Lanka security sources said. Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers retaliated but gunmen escaped, according to police sources said.


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