Humanitarian crisis: 42,000 displaced in LTTE areas

[TamilNet, Thursday, 10 August 2006, 13:10 GMT]
Close to 42,000 civilians are trapped and displaced, without food, water, or medical assistance in LTTE areas of Eachchilampattu, Sampoor, Verugal, Kathiraveli, Vaharai and surrounding villages, the LTTE Peace Secretariat said Thursday. Sri Lanka’s military is blocking ICRC and UN relief supplies from reaching Vaharai, northern Batticaloa. UNICEF estimated that of the 40,000 civilians displaced half are women and children. The Head of the LTTE’s Peace Secretariat, S. Puleedevan, has contacted the British and Norwegian diplomatic missions in Colombo as well as Oslo’s Special Envoy, Jon Hansen-Bauer, over the humanitarian crisis.
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Policeman, trader injured in Kattankudy gunfire

[TamilNet, Thursday, 10 August 2006, 10:17 GMT]
A policeman and a civilian were injured when unidentified gunmen fired at them inside the public market in Kattankudy in Batticaloa district Thursday morning around 9.30 a.m. Both the injured were immediately taken to the Batticaloa Teaching Hospital, police sources said.
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50 civilians killed, 200 wounded, renewed SLA offensive

[TamilNet, Thursday, 10 August 2006, 04:59 GMT]
Atleast 50 civilians were killed and more than 200 were injured in Sri Lankan forces aerial bombardment and artillery attacks, Thursday morning, in Kathiraveli and surrounding villages as thousands of civilians were still fleeing the areas. Sri Lanka Army (SLA) launched a fresh offensive, involving thousands of troopers, from Kallaru SLA camp towards Maavilaru sluice-gate while launching indiscriminate aerial and artillery attacks on Eachilampathu and it's suburbs. Liberation Tigers Military Spokesman Irasaiah Ilanthirayan, speaking from Kilinochchi said: "We can only interpret this as Colombo's declaration of war."
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Government peace secretariat official visits Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 August 2006, 20:54 GMT]
Dr.Palitha Kohone, Director of the Sri Lankan Government Peace Secretariat, Tuesday evening visited Batticaloa district and held discussion with Mr.C.Punnyamoorthy, Government Agent, at the Batticaloa district Secretariat sources, said. He later met with Brigadier Amal Karunaratne, Senior Police Superintendent Maxie Proctor, and several security officials at 223 Brigade Headquarters in Batticaloa.
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Fleeing IDPs bombed in Verugal, five killed

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 August 2006, 16:16 GMT]
Fleeing IDPs from Eachchilampathu and Muthur to Vaharai were caught in aerial attack and SLA artillery fire Wednesday evening when they were ferrying through Verugal River to Vaharai division in Batticaloa district. On Wednesday evening around 6.05 p.m. five IDP persons were killed in bombing by Kfir jets and several others injured at Verugal. About thirty five thousand people of around seven thousand families displaced from Muttur east and Eachchilampathu division seeking refuge in Vaharai division in Batticaloa district till Wednesday.
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Aid massacre ‘result of impunity’ - TRO

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 August 2006, 15:37 GMT]
Joining several humanitarian organizations in condemning the massacre of the 17 ACF staff members in Muthur, the Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) said the failure to investigate and punish those responsible for attacks on its own aid workers in January 2006 had contributed to a climate of impunity.
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Paramilitaries kill two Tamil civilians in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 August 2006, 08:58 GMT]
Kandasamy Govindarajah, 25, a resident of Meeravodai and one of the two Tamil civilians who were taken into custody in a cordon and search operation conducted by members of the para military with the security cover by soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and Sri Lanka Police Monday afternoon around 3 p.m., was shot dead the same day night around 10 p.m. at 18th mile post in Kalodavi located about 27 km off north in Batticaloa town along Batticaloa-Valaichchenai main road, civil sources said.
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5 killed in DPU Claymore attack on Ambulance

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 August 2006, 03:22 GMT]
A medical doctor, his wife, two nurses and the driver of the ambulance belonging to Nedunkerni hospital, were killed Tuesday night when Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Deep Penetration Unit (DPU) attacked the ambulance, medical sources in Puthukudiyiruppu hospital said. Three Claymore mines in a row were exploded. Meanwhile, a cvilian bus with 75 passengers narrowly escaped another Claymore attack around 12:45, ten kilometers from Nedunkerni ambush site. The SLMM monitors, returning from Nedunkerni, were within one kilometers when the second Claymore explosion took place.
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Mannar civilians again flee to South India

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 August 2006, 15:03 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Navy Monday night around 7:30 p.m. arrested 12 persons of three families including three children who were hiding in a bush along the Mannar sea shore waiting for a boat to leave to Tamilnadu state in South India to seek refuge. All of them were handed to the Talaimannar police Tuesday morning around 11:00 a.m by the Sri Lanka Navy. SL policemen in Pesalai recently warned civilians to leave their houses from Pesalai.
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Maavilaru sluice gates opened by LTTE, civil representatives

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 August 2006, 12:11 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) together with civilian representatives in Maavilaru Tuesday evening around 5:00 p.m. opened the sluice gates, said S. Elilan, Trincomalee District Political Head of the Tigers. On Sunday, Head of Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) Major General Ulf Henricsson and Trincomalee Head of SLMM came under artillery fire when they went to Maavilaru with Mr. S. Elilan, to open the sluice gates on humanitarian grounds according to the Norwegian International Development Minister Erik Solheim's request.
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Relatives blame SLA for aid workers’ executions

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 August 2006, 11:36 GMT]
Relatives of some of the aid workers shot dead execution-style in Muttur town blamed Sri Lankan security forces Tuesday whilst diplomats were skeptical of government claims the Tamil Tigers were responsible. Correspondents with Reuters news agency interviewed relatives of some of the seventeen staff of international aid group Action Contre La Faim (ACF). The father of one aid worker said another son was amongst five Tamil students shot, also execution-style in Trincomalee earlier this year.
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Thousands flee amid new Sri Lankan bombardment

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 August 2006, 11:20 GMT]
Six hundred Tamil families fled an intense bombardment of villages in LTTE held Eachchilampathu division Tuesday and sought refuge in Vaharai division in Batticaloa district. Continuous artillery fire from Sri Lankan military installations in Trincomalee and its suburbs and from Kallaru Army (SLA) camp drove the four thousand people from their homes. Sri Lankan troops at Kallaru are blocking international and local aid workers from reaching the displaced.
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ACF workers, 14 Tamils and a Muslim, lined up and shot - Fact Finding Mission

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 August 2006, 07:26 GMT]
"The bodies [of Muthur massacre victims] were all face downwards on the front lawn [of ACF office], seemingly lined up and shot at very close range. The sight was too much to handle," said a Fact Finding Mission of the Consortium of Humanitarian Agencies (CHA) that visited Muthur town Sunday where 14 Tamil and a Muslim worker of Action Against Hunger (Action Contre la Faim, ACF) were allegedly massacred by Sri Lanka Army (SLA). The CHA report further verified that most of the deceased were wearing ACF agency T-shirts. Meanwhile, reports from Trincomalee on Tuesday said 17 bodies of ACF workers, 16 Tamils and a Muslim, were brought to Trincomalee hospital.
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ICRC condemns killing of aid workers

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 August 2006, 17:27 GMT]
The International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) strongly condemns the killing of 15 national employees of the French humanitarian organization Action Contre la Faim (ACF) in the town of Muttur, Trincomalee district, Sri Lanka. "We are appalled at what happened to the ACF staff. This was a deliberate attack on a humanitarian organization that was doing valuable work for the people of Muttur,"said Yvonne Dunton, head of the ICRC's sub-delegation in Trincomalee in a press released issued Monday evening.
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Civilian killed in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 August 2006, 10:36 GMT]
A young family man was shot dead by the paramilitary cadres working with Sri Lanka Army (SLA) at 2 a.m. Monday in Kurinchi Nagar, Valaichchenai, about 3okm.northofBatticaloa, sources in the eastern town said..
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GoSL paying "scant regard" to Norway's peace efforts - LTTE

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 August 2006, 06:39 GMT]
"It is the plea of the Tamil people to the international community that it understands the stark truth behind these actions of the GoSL," the Peace Secretariat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said Monday as Norwegian Special Envoy Jon-Hanssen Bauer was scheduled to visit Trincomalee to meet Head of Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission Major General Ulf Henricsson in his final efforts to avert the outbreak of war. The Tigers on Sunday said they considered Sri Lankan forces continued attacks towards the LTTE controlled territory as Declaration of War by Colombo.
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Sri Lanka’s shelling ‘declaration of war’ - LTTE

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 August 2006, 17:26 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers said Sunday that the Sri Lankan government’s artillery bombardment of LTTE-controlled territory as amounting to “declaration of war.” The LTTE has not said if it is going to retaliate. Norwegian Special Envoy Jon Hanssen-Bauer is undertaking hectic diplomatic efforts from Kilinochchi where he had been meeting LTTE officials.
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SLA shelling kills 15 civilians, injures 20

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 August 2006, 16:15 GMT]
At least 15 Tamil civilians were killed and 20 others were seriously injured when artillery shells fired by the Sri Lanka Army and Sri Lanka Navy Sunday hit Nallur and Upooral villages in the Muttur east and Eachchilampathu division in the south of Trincomalee district. This incident took place Sunday night around 7.15 p.m., sources in Muthur said.
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STF infiltration repulsed, one Batticaloa Rural Force Member killed

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 August 2006, 14:23 GMT]
A member of the LTTE's Rural Force of Kovil Porathivu was killed at 12:20 a.m., Sunday, when the LTTE confronted members of Special Task Force(STF) attempting to infiltrate LTTE Forward Defense Lines (FDL) in Paddiruppu, Batticaloa, P.Thayamohan, the political head of the LTTE, Batticaloa District, said. The LTTE repulsed the attack by the STF. Sangarapillai Rajmohan, 18, died in the confrontation.
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ICRC urged to ensure relief supply reaches IDPs in Muttur east, Eachchilampathu

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 August 2006, 13:32 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance has appealed to the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) to ensure humanitarian relief supply reaches the internally displaced Tamil people numbering more than 30000 in the LTTE held areas in the Muttur east and Eachchilampathu division due to indiscriminate aerial strike and artillery attack since April in the Trincomalee district on par with displaced in the government controlled territory. Meanwhile, the ICRC said Sunday in a press release that it has launched a relief operation in Muthur area in co-ordination with the Red Cross Movement (RCM), local authorities and other humanitarian organizations.
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