Sri Lanka defiant over aid massacre charge

[TamilNet, Friday, 01 September 2006, 13:59 GMT]
Accused by international ceasefire monitors of being responsible for the massacre of 17 aid workers, Sri Lanka reacted with indignation, rejecting the findings and launching a blistering personal attack the outgoing head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), Swedish Maj. Gen. Ulf Henricson. And whilst its senior representatives lambasted the SLMM, the Sri Lankan government slapped new restrictions on other international aid workers. Meanwhile, reflecting international reaction to the SLMM’s findings, the United Nations threatened to stop its agencies’ activities in the country, a warning it subsequently toned down.
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Sri Lanka's military conducting slow pogrom - paper

[TamilNet, Friday, 01 September 2006, 10:36 GMT]
The deliberate displacement of over 160,000 Tamils by Sri Lankan military offensives and attacks this year combined with the purposeful blocking of food, medicine and relief supplies amounts to a 'slow pogrom' of the Tamils, the Tamil Guardian newspaper argued in its latest editorial. "Whilst trotting out the tired counter-insurgency rhetoric of 'hearts and minds' and a glib insistence that Tigers, not Tamils, are the target, Sri Lanka's military has always been ready to punish the Tamils for the LTTE's violence," the paper said.
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Jaffna Bishop appeals for regular food supply

[TamilNet, Friday, 01 September 2006, 09:56 GMT]
Jaffna Bishop Rt. Rev.Thomas Soundaranayagam Friday appealed to the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Thamileelam (LTTE) to extend their assistance with the facilitation of the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) for the transportation of food to Jaffna peninsula. The Jaffna Bishop has pointed out in his appeal that acute shortage for food is currently prevailing in the district and action should be taken immediately to avert famine in the peninsula.
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SLA ban affects cultivation in LTTE held Batticaloa villages

[TamilNet, Thursday, 31 August 2006, 23:55 GMT]
Cultivation of paddy in about fifty thousand acres and cash crop in around forty thousand acres in the LTTE controlled areas in Batticaloa district has been completely affected as the farmers are not allowed to enter the government controlled area to buy agro-chemicals, fertilizer for their crops and to purchase petroleum products for the use of tractors via SLA checkpoints located in Vavunativu, Chenkalady and Kiran Bridges and Vaharai road, pointed out Mr. P.Ariyanethran and Miss K.Thangeswary, Batticaloa district Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians at a conference held Thursday morning in the Batticaloa District Secretariat Auditorium.
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Army releases mutilated bodies, warns families

[TamilNet, Thursday, 31 August 2006, 15:00 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army released the mutilated bodies of 16 Tamil youth in Vavuniya Wednesday, claiming they were Tamil Tiger cadres. The genitals of some of the youth had been hacked off and the faces of some bodies had been burnt off by acid, hospital sources said. The bodies of 10 youths have been claimed by their familes in Vavuniya, who said the youth had gone missing after leaving for work. The LTTE has accepted the bodies of the remaining six to see if they are those of 7 cadres who went missing on patrol earlier this week.
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LTTE seeks road supply to Jaffna civilians

[TamilNet, Thursday, 31 August 2006, 14:16 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers are ready to allow food and medicine for the civilians in Jaffna to be transported by road through the Vanni, to ease the difficulties of the population there, LTTE officials told the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Wednesday. Agreement on the use of a sea route to the peninsula is proving problematic as the Sri Lanka military is seeking to resupply its garrison there under the guise of aid for civilians, LTTE officials said.
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British Tamils protest against Rajapakse’s London visit

[TamilNet, Thursday, 31 August 2006, 11:53 GMT]
More than one thousand British Tamils and UK residents, Wednesday held a demonstration in front of the British Parliament in London from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. protesting against the visit of the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse to London, and condemning the Sri Lankan Government for violations of the human rights of the Tamil people in Sri Lanka, the organizers of the rally said.
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SLA refuses permission for NGO convoys to enter Batticaloa LTTE areas

[TamilNet, Thursday, 31 August 2006, 11:19 GMT]
Mr.G.Nagarajah, President of the Consortium brought to the notice of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) officials in Batticaloa district that local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and international non-governmental organizations (INGOs) have suspended their services following the refusal by the security forces to allow food convoys to enter LTTE held areas through border check points on Wednesday.
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SLAF bombs Kilinochchi

[TamilNet, Thursday, 31 August 2006, 07:53 GMT]
Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) Kfir bombers dropped at least 3 bombs on the suburbs of Kilinochchi Thursday around 9:45 a.m. Sri Lanka Army fired artillery shells hit 5 villages in Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) controlled territory in Vanni for 6 hours from 3:00 a.m.
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IDPs face food and accommodation problems in Vaharai

[TamilNet, Thursday, 31 August 2006, 07:45 GMT]
The Internally Displaced People (IDP) staying at the Palsenai Government Tamil Mixed School in Vaharai division in the LTTE controlled area in Batticaloa District have been facing food and accommodation problems, Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO), Vaharai branch said on Wednesday.
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Tamil medium education affected in North East-CTTU

[TamilNet, Thursday, 31 August 2006, 06:58 GMT]
About two hundred thousand Tamil medium students in the North East have been deprived of their education due to the prevailing tense situation resulted in mass displacement of teachers and students and curfew imposed in the Jaffna peninsula, Ceylon Tamil Teachers' Union (CTTU) said in a press release Thursday.
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Jaffna students stranded in Colombo

[TamilNet, Thursday, 31 August 2006, 06:01 GMT]
About thirty Tamil students from Jaffna district who came to attend the All Ceylon English Day contest have been stranded in Colombo with out necessary transport arrangement. However the English Day contest was also cancelled due to the volatile security situation in the capital. These students arrived in Colombo before the war between the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) broke out in the first week of August.
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SLMM blames Sri Lanka military for aid workers’ massacre

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 August 2006, 11:15 GMT]
International ceasefire monitors Wednesday blamed the Sri Lankan military for the massacre of 17 local aid workers from international group Action Contre La Faim earlier this month, Reuters reported, quoting Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM). Outgoing SLMM head Ulf Henricsson, called the killings a "committed act of assassination" and "one of the most serious recent crimes against humanitarian aid workers worldwide," AP reported.
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Abducted youth being trained in Polannaruwa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 August 2006, 11:05 GMT]
A number of youths from Amparai district abducted by Army-backed anti-LTTE paramilitaries are undergoing weapons training at military bases in Polannaruwa District, LTTE officials who met with the United Nations’ child agency, UNICEF, said this week. Many youth had been brazenly picked up by unmarked ‘white vans’ in Army-controlled parts of the eastern districts, they said, urging UNICEF to visit the training sites.
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Rajapakse seeking UK's help to secure India's support - Norwegian radio

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 August 2006, 09:07 GMT]
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse's meeting Wednesday with British Prime Minister Tony Blair is "presumably an attempt to secure India's support in favour of Sri Lanka's policy" on the ethnic question Norwegian state radio reported, citing Oslo's Special Envoy, Jon Hanssen-Bauer.
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SLA offensive continues on Sampoor - LTTE

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 29 August 2006, 11:22 GMT]
Liberation Tigers Military Spokesman Irasaiah Ilanthirayan Tuesday evening said Sri Lanka Army (SLA) was continuing it's offensive towards Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) controlled Sampoor in Trincomalee district. SLA has intensified artillery and mortar attacks as the two-pronged offensive movement of SLA troops was contained by the Tigers, he said. "If the Sri Lankan military aggression continued, it would set a full stop to the February 2002 Ceasefire Agreement," LTTE's military spokesman has commented.
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Sampoor battle: toll mounts

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 29 August 2006, 08:18 GMT]
Sri Lankan military Tuesday continued its new offensive for the second day against the Tamil Tiger controlled region of Sampoor in the Trincomalee district. Around 50 Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers had been killed and 108 wounded so far, LTTE officials claimed Tuesday afternoon. They said 12 LTTE fighters have been killed and 15 injured. But the military says it has killed 66 Tigers and lost 13 troops. A civilian, wounded on Monday, succumbed to injuries Tuesday. 21 fleeing IDP's have been killed during the past 30 hours in artillery and aerial bombardment, according to LTTE officials.
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‘War not way to peace’ - India

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 29 August 2006, 04:58 GMT]
As Sri Lanka’s military launched a new offensive against the Liberation Tigers this week, India re-iterated that war was not the way to resolve the island’s conflict. “We do not believe that war is the way out...We do not think violence, whether from LTTE's side or an armed conflict, can resolve any issue,” press reports quoted India’s Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran as saying in Delhi Monday. Meanwhile, The Hindu newspaper reported that, worried over the violence in Sri Lanka, peace-facilitator Norway and India “are engaged in quiet consultations to defuse the situation.”
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Tamil News Manager abducted in Colombo

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 29 August 2006, 02:50 GMT]
Nadarajah Kuruparan, News Manager of Sooriyan FM Radio broadcast from Colombo and the programme leader of popular weekly programme, Viluthukal, in Sooriyan FM, is reported missing since Tuesday morning around 4:30 a.m., Dehiwale Police said. Mr. Nadarajah Kuruparan, a senior Tamil news editor, was on his way to work in his car, when he was reported missing 300 meters away from his house, on Pinthali Road. Journalist associations and Free Media Movement in Colombo held an urgent protest calling for the release of Kuruparan in front of Colombo Fort Tuesday from 12:30 p.m. till 13:30 p.m.
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Dozens killed in new Sri Lankan offensive on Sampoor

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 August 2006, 11:38 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s military launched a major offensive Monday to capture Tamil Tiger controlled Sampoor in the Trincomalee district. Bombs and shells have killed at least 20 civilians and wounded 26 more, LTTE sources in Sampoor told TamilNet. At least 11 SLA soldiers were killed and 79 wounded, AFP reported. The objective of the offensive was to capture Sampoor and Thoppur area, Sri Lanka Army (SLA) commander Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka told The Associated Press. The LTTE's Military Spokesman Irasaiah Ilanthirayan told Reuters the Sri Lankan government was trying to resume a full-scale war.
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