50 Tamil civilians killed, 130 wounded within 48 hours

[TamilNet, Sunday, 22 February 2009, 15:44 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) artillery barrage has killed 33 civilians on Saturday and 73 were brought to the makeshift hospital at Maaththa'lan with injuries. 14 deaths were registered by the hospital. On Sunday, around 20 civilians were killed in the SLA barrage and 60 wounded were brought to hospital, according to medical sources.
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Holmes u-turns minutes after TNA meeting

[TamilNet, Sunday, 22 February 2009, 11:41 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Parliamentary group leader R. Sampanthan has told the visiting UN Under Secretary General of Humanitarian Affairs, Sir John Holmes, that there is an urgent need for the international community to act decisively to stop the humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in the Vanni. However, in the press conference he gave minutes afterwards, Sir Holmes lauded the Sri Lankan government’s conduct vis-à-vis the humanitarian situation and said there was “good cooperation” between UN agencies and the Mahinda Rajapakse regime.
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Holmes whitewashes Sri Lanka’s ‘slaughter’

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 February 2009, 23:44 GMT]
Within a day of Human Rights Watch’s damning report stating that “Sri Lankan forces are shelling hospitals and so-called safe zones and slaughtering the civilians there,” the UN Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Sir John Holmes, went out of his way to avoid criticising the hardline Mahinda Rajapaksa regime and instead praised the “good cooperation” between the government and the UN agencies vis-à-vis the needs of the displaced Tamil population. Instead, he blamed the LTTE for the continuing suffering of the Tamil civilians in Mullaiththeevu.
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Holmes relies on SL Minister to translate IDPs' complaints

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 February 2009, 23:42 GMT]
Visiting UN Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Sir John Holmes, visited displaced camps in Vavuniyaa on Friday, accompanied by the Minister of Resettlement, Rishard Badurdeen and his security detail. Moreover, Sir Holmes relied on the Minister to translate the complaints of those people brave enough to speak up, humanitarian sources in Vavuniyaa said. When one woman complained her sons had been abducted by the Army, Minister Badurdeen told Sir Holmes that she said LTTE had abducted or shot her sons. Meanwhile, parliamentarians of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) had also protested the matter to Sir Holmes, sources said.
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10 Sinhala villagers hacked to death in Ampaa'rai

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 February 2009, 23:37 GMT]
An unknown armed group entered Rathmalgaha Ella, a remote village in Ampaa'rai district, shot and and hacked to death 10 villagers Saturday evening around 5:30 p.m., according to initial reports.
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U.S. rally exposing Colombo's genocide draws 7000

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 February 2009, 04:17 GMT]
Nearly seven thousand U.S. and Canadian Tamils filled the Ellipse at the southern perimeter to the White House, as a show of solidarity with the more than 250,000 Tamil civilians undergoing daily aerial bombardment and artillery attacks herded within a 100 sq.mile area in Vanni. The rally, organized jointly by the US-based activist group, Tamils Against Genocide (TAG) and several local organizations, drew a record crowd, dewarfing the "hurriedly arranged" counter-rally organized by supporters of Colombo, an AFP report said.
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SLA barrages Mullaiththeevu after Tiger air attack on Colombo

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 February 2009, 02:25 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) launched artillery barrage towards IDP settlements located in Ampalavaanpokka'nai and the area located between Ira'naippaalai and Maaththta'lan Friday night from 9:30 to midnight. Casualties are not known.
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LTTE: Black Air Tiger attack on Colombo's Air Force HQ, Air Base

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 February 2009, 22:55 GMT]
The LTTE Friday claimed two aircraft of Black Air Tiger mission diving into Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) Headquarters in Colombo and into the SLAF base at Katunayaka, carrying out successful air raids. The Tigers also released photograph of the two Black Air Tigers, Col. Roopan and Lt. Col. Siriththiran with LTTE leader Velupillai Pirapaharan before embarking on their mission.
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Norwegian company donates sea craft, felicitates Colombo's 'victorious' forces

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 February 2009, 19:39 GMT]
Managing Director of a Norwegian boat manufacturing company, Jostine Viksund, Friday said that he and his staff had decided to donate their latest innovation, Viksund 605, a speed boat produced by them, to the Sri Lankan Ministry of Defence, as a "tribute to the victorious armed forces," according to the Sri Lankan Defence Ministry, which said the craft would be used in coastguard duties. More than 400 Tamil Nadu fishermen have been reportedly killed by the Sri Lanka Navy on coastguard duties during the last few years.
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Tiger aircraft bomb Colombo, 2 killed, 51 wounded

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 February 2009, 16:25 GMT]
Two LTTE aircrafts hit two Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) installations in Colombo, the Slave Island area where the SLAF Headquarters is located and the SLAF base at Katunayake between 9:20 and 9:45 p.m. Friday. 47 persons, including Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) airmen, were rushed to hospital from Slave Island. Several of the wounded have sustained serious injuries, the sources said. Two of them succumbed to their injuries. At least 6 persons were wounded inside Katunayake airbase. Two of the aircrafts have come down on their targets, according to available details from Colombo.
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"Flames on my body will guide to liberation"

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 February 2009, 11:30 GMT]
"We Tamils, displaced and all over the world, loudly raised our problems and asked for help before [the] international community in your own language for three decades. But nothing happened ... So I decided to sacrifice my life ... The flames over my body will be a torch to guide you through the liberation path," said British newspaper Guardian quoting British computer graduate, Murugathasan Varnakulasingham, who immolated to death in Geneva last week.
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Lack of antibiotics force doctors to re-amputate patients in Vanni

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 February 2009, 09:35 GMT]
"If we are not going to receive at least IV antibiotics, anesthetics and surgical consumables in minimum amounts ASAP, we may not be able to provide even emergency first aid to the war wounded," writes Dr. T. Varatharajan, the Regional Director of Health Services (RDHS) in Mullaiththeevu district to the Sri Lankan Ministry of Health, in a letter sent to Colombo five days ago. The letter, leaked through a dissent-friendly government official also states: "lack of lifesaving medicines required for surgical operations and post operative management-parenteral high potency antibiotics, anesthetics, esp. Ketamine, intravenous fluids, surgical consumables and accessories – and on top of all, absence of an aseptic operation theatre, seriously affects the outcome in many cases."
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Eyewitness account on Vavuniyaa internment camps

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 February 2009, 11:14 GMT]
"Now, what is happening here is genocide in many forms. Needless to say scattering people all over to unknown and unfamiliar places will ultimately lead to a weak population and result in damages done to our culture, education, and relationships. I can foresee a maimed Tamil generation with no hope in the future. The international community can make statements. But none will pay heed. For me the future looks dark and gloomy," reveals a letter written by a professional eyewitness, who visited the barbed-wired internment camps and hospital in Vavuniyaa couple of days ago.
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UK's Frontline Club suppresses genocide debate

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 February 2009, 07:20 GMT]
Reinforcing the growing evidence of systematic attempts at suppressing debate on genocide in Sri Lanka, one of London's well known media avenues, the Frontline Club, Wednesday withdrew invitation to a Tamil genocide legal advocacy group to participate in a panel discussion on the crisis in Sri Lanka scheduled to take place on the 24th February. The reason given for Wednesday's decision not to include Tamils Against Genocide (TAG), by Frontline Programme Manager, Deborah Dwek, was that Frontline felt the discussion wouldn't be balanced without a spokesperson for the Sri Lankan government being on the panel.
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30 tonnes of food for 300,000 - Ilamparithi

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 February 2009, 18:32 GMT]
Pressurised by international opinion, Colombo government allowed Wednesday transportation of a meager amount of food – 30 tonnes – for a population of 300,000, said LTTE's Puthukkudiyiruppu Political Head C. Ilamparithi. "When distributed the amount each one would be getting is 100 grams: roughly 66 grams of flour, 20 grams of Dahl and 14 grams of sugar per person," he said blaming Colombo for 'eyewash'.
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India offers ‘final thrust’ for ‘subjugation’ of Tamils

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 February 2009, 16:40 GMT]
Accusing the Tigers for committing damages to the Tamil community and calling them for laying down arms and releasing the civilians, the Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee in Indian Parliament on Wednesday offered India’s facilitation to evacuate civilians, working along with the Colombo government and the ICRC, who would be responsible for the security, screening and rehabilitation of them, BBC reported. This offer without taking responsibility, neither to the future plight of the civilians nor to the political consequences that would follow, is the 'best of its abetment' India is rendering to Colombo in the subjugation of Tamils, according to Tamil political observers.
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Tamil diaspora doctors prepared to enter Vanni, demand access

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 February 2009, 15:13 GMT]
Doctors organised in charity and aid organisations in Australia and Norway have urged their foreign ministries, United Nations Secretary General and the ICRC to secure urgent permission from Sri Lankan authorities to facilitate safe passage of their convoy of doctors and medical supplies. Dr. V. Manomohan, the president of Australian Medical Aid Foundation (AMAF) and Dr. T. Sivakanesan, the coordinator of Norwegian Tamils Health Organistaion (NTHO) said Wednesday that their organisations that have rendered medical aid for a long time, especially in the aftermath of Tsunami, have the necessary skills, manpower and resources to engage immediately in the medical aid, given that a safe passage is provided to their medical units.
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Sri Lankan government rejects ceasefire call by TNA

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 February 2009, 15:11 GMT]
Sri Lanka Ministry of Defence spokesman Minister Keheliya Rambukwella said Wednesday that his government was not prepared to stop the war as requested by the parliamentary group leader of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) R. Sampanthan, in a press meet in Colombo on Tuesday. "There is no need to stop the war against the LTTE when they are loosing the war," Rambukwella said. The statement of Sampanthan in the Tuesday press meet in the parliamentary complex that people in Vanni are being killed by the Sri Lankan armed forces is not true, he further said.
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Massive air attack on civilian targets, scores killed

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 February 2009, 09:10 GMT]
At least 50 civilians were killed Wednesday around 12:50 p.m. when four Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombers dropped cluster bombs on Internally Displaced Civilians at Aananthapuram in Ira'naippaalai, according to initial reports from medical sources. More than 70 wounded were rushed to hospital so far and 10 of the victims have died on the way to Maaththa'lan hospital. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka Army (SLA) launched an artillery barrage blocking transportation of wounded to hospitals. Doctors in the makeshift hospital told TamilNet that unless the seriously wounded were not evacuated by the ICRC to Trincomalee or elsewhere, many would die at the hospital. There is no medicine at the hospital as Colombo has refused to allow medical supplies to Vanni since December 2008.
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Sampanthan accuses Sri Lanka of genocide of Tamils

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 February 2009, 19:21 GMT]
"A news black-out of Sri Lanka Government's slaughter of Tamils through indiscriminate artillery barrage and bombings prevails, while the International media is publishing false information spread by Colombo," said Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentary group leader, R. Sampanthan, in a press meet attended by a large number of local and international journalists Tuesday afternoon in Sri Lanka parliamentary complex, sources in Colombo said.
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