Halo Trust employee missing in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 February 2006, 14:43 GMT]
An employee of Halo Trust, an NGO engaged in mine clearing operations in Jaffna, is reported missing from Saturday night, sources from Jaffna said. Gunaratnam Logithas, 23, from Kaithady in Jaffna district, was travellling to Chavakachcheri from his home in his motorbike when he was reported disappeared.
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SLA mines injure Mannar elephants

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 February 2006, 15:37 GMT]
Three wild elephants which have sustained injuries from landmines buried in Ganshapuram along Sri Lanka Government controlled Mannar-Vavuniya Road Wednesday morning have crossed over into the jungles at the Madhu side. Wild Department officials and veterinary surgeons are reported to have refused to enter the forest located in the Liberation Tigers controlled area to treat the elephants, sources said.
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Valaichenai school principal returns

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 February 2006, 14:15 GMT]
Mr. M. Thavarajah, the principal of Valaichenai Hindu College, has returned home Saturday morning around 9:00 a.m. Denying that any kidnapping was involved in his temporary time away from his family, the principal said: "There is no truth in the reports that I was abducted," he told reporters when contacted over phone.
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TRO abductions, GoSL response may stall Geneva talks - TNA

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 February 2006, 14:10 GMT]
"We are concerned that the continued deterioration of ground situation in the NorthEast and the abduction of TRO staff members by paramilitaries can potentially prevent Liberation Tigers' participation in Geneva talks," said Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians after a meeting with Head of the LTTE Political Wing, S.P Thamilchelvan at the LTTE Peace Secretariat in Kilinochchi at 11 a.m. Saturday. "Colombo has openly attempted to discredit the LTTE by making misleading statements to the International Community on the recent abductions of TRO staff by the paramilitary cadres," they added. The meeting lasted for more than three hours sources in Kilinochchi said.
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Reconstruction of 13,000 houses in NorthEast to begin

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 February 2006, 03:13 GMT]
The World Bank funded North East Housing Reconstruction Programme (NEHRP) has commenced the second phase reconstruction of 13000 houses for the war victim families in the NorthEast. NEHRP officials started distributing forms to collect necessary data to select qualified beneficiaries affected by the two decade-old war in the province to be included in the second phase, a press release of the NEHRP said.
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Action, not words is needed - paper

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 February 2006, 20:43 GMT]
The Sri Lankan government’s tardy response to the kidnapping of ten aid workers of the Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) have raised serious doubts about the prospects of peace talks, the Tamil Guardian newspaper said this week. Arguing that “last week’s optimism [about talks] was premature and, as many Tamils now feel, sorely misplaced,” the expatriate publication said “this incident has demonstrated exactly what the future of negotiations with President Rajapakse and his government is likely to be.”
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Protest against Batticaloa abductions held in Mannar

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 February 2006, 12:26 GMT]
A protest demonstration attended by residents of Mannar and workers of the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) was held Thursday in Mannar demanding the immediate release of abducted TRO workers in the Batticaloa district. At the conclusion of the demonstration Mr.S.Jesuthasan, Mannar District Director of the TRO handed over memorandum to the district head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), District Government Agent, district heads of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka, UNHCR, and the Bishop of Mannar Diocese, sources said.
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Underage paramilitary recruit attests to SLA-Karuna link

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 February 2006, 11:05 GMT]
A 15-year-old boy, recruited by the paramilitary cadres of Karuna Group, later sent on vacation, and who managed to move with his family into the Liberation Tigers held area in Ayithiyamalai, addressed a press meet at Solayaham in LTTE controlled Kokkaddicholai Friday. The underage youth, Arulraj, has revealed details on how he was abducted, transported to Thivuchenai and trained at the training camp of the paramilitary group at Thivuchenai in Welikande. Arularj, who was on leave, managed to escape as his "guardian", an EPDP cadre Rama Ranjan, who accompanied him to Batticaloa from Welikande, was gunned down by unidentified gunmen in mid-January.
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Trinco district local bodies increased to thirteen

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 February 2006, 19:49 GMT]
Two more local government bodies, Kinniya Urban Council (UC) and Verugal Pradesiya Sabah (PS), have been carved out in the Trincomalee district bringing the number of such institutions to thirteen, election department sources said.
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SLA ransacks, destroys LTTE Vadamaradchy political offices

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 February 2006, 16:35 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers cordoned off and searched central Vadamaradchy villages of Alvai, Vathiry and Karaveddy Thursday morning, sources from Jaffna said. During the house-to-house search operations SLA also ransacked and caused damages to the Liberation Tigers' Political office located in Vathiry area, sources added.
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Pattalipuram tsunami hit families receive livelihood assistance

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 February 2006, 02:42 GMT]
Save the Children, a non-Governmental Organization, has provided financial support to 232 families affected by tsunami in Pattalipuram in Muttur under an income generation project formulated by the Pattalipuram Poonchcholai Peoples' Development Organization (PPPDO), sources in Trincomalee said. The last phase of the project concluded on Monday with the disbursement of about 4.9 million rupees to the beneficiaries.
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TNA MPs walk out of parliament in protest of killings, abduction

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 February 2006, 06:07 GMT]
If Colombo continued to allow provocative incidents take place in Sri Lanka Army (SLA) controlled areas of the NorthEast, the peace talks planned between the Government and the LTTE would be in jeopardy, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has warned the Sri Lankan Parliament Wednesday. "This is a calculated move to disturb the talks to be held in Geneva between the Government and the LTTE. We demand that the Government to act urgently in this matter and take appropriate action to save the dialogue," Mavai Senathirajah, TNA MP for Jaffna District told a press conference after walking out of the Sri Lankan Parliament.
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Sexual assault at Kopay SLA camp suspected, says TNA MP

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 February 2006, 02:25 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Jaffna district parliamentarian S Gajendran brought to the attention of Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapakse that residents in Kopay strongly suspect sexual assaults on women are taking place inside a Kopay Sri Lanka Army (SLA) camp, the parliamentarian told the local media, Tuesday. Several residents of the area had complained to the parliamentarian that they had heard a woman screaming for several minutes inside the camp at 5 p.m. Tuesday.
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Chulipuram student missing, familes continue to flee Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 31 January 2006, 01:39 GMT]
Ramanathan Ratheeskumar, 20, from Chulipuram east and a student at the Vaddukoddai Technical College has disappeared after leaving home Thursday to attend school, said his parents in a complaint registered with the Human Rights Commision in Jaffna Monday, civil society sources said.
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World Bank, ADB, UN representatives to meet LTTE Political Head

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 31 January 2006, 01:21 GMT]
Representatives of multilateral donor agencies, World Bank, Asian Development Bank, UNDP and IMF, will travel to Kilinochchi on Friday to discuss with the leadership of the Liberation Tigers issues related to the rehabilitation, reconstruction and development activities in the NorthEast, according to LTTE officials in Kilinochchi.
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ILO funds computer center in Mannar

[TamilNet, Sunday, 29 January 2006, 19:19 GMT]
International Labor Organization (ILO) funded computer training center for Vellankulam area in Mannar district which will be adminstered by the NGO the Economic Consultancy House (TECH) was declared open on 25 January at 10 a.m.
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Passing out parades held for Sea Tiger auxilliary force

[TamilNet, Sunday, 29 January 2006, 15:07 GMT]
Cadres of the ninth group of Sea Tigers' auxilliary force who trained at the Lt.Col.Maravan training camp in Vadamaradchy east, participated in a passing out ceremony held at 5 p.m. Sunday, LTTE sources said. Vadamardchy East Head of LTTE Political Wing, Isaiyooran, presided the ceremony. In another ceremony held at 10 a.m. Sunday, 125 cadres graduated from the Lt Col Thiruvadi training camp in Manalaru in Mullaitivu district.
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Tamil farmer shot dead in Lingapuram

[TamilNet, Sunday, 29 January 2006, 12:34 GMT]
Unidentified persons shot dead Mr.Thambiah Jeyarajah (50), father of six children Saturday night around 9.30 p.m.while guarding his paddy crop in Lingapuram, a Tamil village in Seruvila division, down south of Trincomalee district. He was the second Tamil farmer killed in Lingapuram within two weeks' period, Police sources said.


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Three wounded in grenade attack on Vavuniya trader's house

[TamilNet, Sunday, 29 January 2006, 11:16 GMT]
A 13-year-old boy, his 14-year-old sister, and their mother were wounded when unknown attackers lobbed a grenade Saturday night around 8:40 p.m. on the front-yard of the residence of a reputed trader in Vavuniya, Police said. The cause of the attack on the house of the businessman, Chandrakumar, the owner of Gopi Agency, is not known, the Police said. This is the fifth grenade attack to be reported in Vavuniya town within the past 7 days, sources said.
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Two attacks against troops Saturday night, says SLA

[TamilNet, Sunday, 29 January 2006, 01:11 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troops on foot patrol in Irupalai area along Jaffna Point-Pedro came under fire from unknown gunmen Saturday evening, and in another incident in Chulipuram one SLA trooper was injured when unknown gunmen hurled a grenade at a SLA foot patrol, military sources in Jaffna said, without blaming any party for the attacks.
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