Gunmen kill 4 more civilians, islets terrorized

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 May 2006, 06:31 GMT]
Three civilians belonging to same family were massacred at their home in Puliyankoodal in Kayts by Sri Lanka Navy operated paramilitary gunmen, around 10:30 p.m. Saturday. A tea-shop owner was also found shot dead near Velanai junction. A petrol station was attacked. Meanwhile, armed men who came in a vehicle set fire to several shops and blasted a transformer at Puliyankoodal junction in Kayts, Saturday night, civilian sources said. Villagers blame Sri Lankan forces for the attacks in the Jaffna islets. On Saturday alone, 13 civilians have been killed in Sri Lanka Navy controlled Jaffna islets. EPDP paramilitary was in control of the Jaffna islets before the signing of CFA in 2002.
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Seven innocent youths killed in Vadamaradchi, Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 May 2006, 10:29 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army soldiers opened fire and attacked with Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG) launchers two three-wheelers with 7 youths inside, killing all of them on the spot. The attack took place inside a lane near SLA Intelligence Camp in Navindil, 300 meters from Nelliyadi junction in Vadamaradchi, Jaffna, around 2:15 p.m. Thursday. The victims, who were on their way to attend a birthday party, were attacked by the SLA men in retaliation to a grenade attack that took place behind their Intelligence camp where 3 SLA personnel, including an officer, were wounded.
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Paramilitary gunmen attack Jaffna daily, 2 killed

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 May 2006, 14:25 GMT]
Five armed paramilitary gunmen who entered the main office of the Jaffna daily Uthayan Tuesday night around 7:45 p.m., opened fire on editorial staff, killing at least two staffers, including the daily's marketing manager and wounding two, according to initial reports. At least 40 gunshots were heard, residents said.
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ITAK takes over Trinco Town PS administration

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 25 April 2006, 01:54 GMT]
Nine members of the Trincomalee Town and Gravets Pradesiya Sabah (PS) took oaths Monday morning at the PS office located in Chelvanayakapuram in Uppuveli police division, about four km off north of port city. Mr.T.Thiruchenthilnathan, President of the Trincomalee Bar Association and Justice of Peace first administered oaths to the Chairman, Mr.Thangavelautham Kantharoopan followed by Mr.Vellaithamby Sureshkumar, Vice Chairman and other seven members.
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Ex-EPDP supporter shot dead in Kayts

[TamilNet, Monday, 24 April 2006, 10:22 GMT]
A former Vice President of the Kayts Pradesiya Sabah (PS) during the period when Kayts first came under the control of Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) was shot dead by unknown gunmen Thambatti area Sunday night, source from Kayts said. Nagamuttu Tharmarajah, 71, was appointed to the Kayts PS by the Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP) and a well known supporter of the EPDP, sourced added.
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EPDP cadre gunned down in Batticaloa market

[TamilNet, Thursday, 20 April 2006, 04:58 GMT]
Unidentified gunmen shot and killed a senior paramilitary cadre of Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP) at Batticaloa public market around 8:45 a.m. Thursday, Batticaloa police said.
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Trincomalee UC to function from Thursday

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 19 April 2006, 10:56 GMT]
Elected administration of the Trincomalee Urban Council is to function from Thursday morning with Mr.Shanmugarajah Gowrimuhunthan and Mr. Kanthasamy Selvarajah of the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kadchchi (ITAK) taking oaths as Chairman and Vice-Chairman respectively, local government sources in Trincomalee said.
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Tamil, Muslim candidates elected to Trincomalee UC

[TamilNet, Friday, 31 March 2006, 20:13 GMT]
No Sinhalese has been elected a member to the Trincomalee Urban Council in the election held Thursday. The newly elected council, which is to start functioning from April 15, will have twelve members- 10 from the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK) and 2 from the Independent Group. Of the twelve members nine are Tamil members and three are Muslims. The ITAK fielded fourteen Tamils and two Muslims for the Trincomalee UC. Out of them nine Tamils and a Muslim got elected on preferential votes.
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Polling commences for 266 local councils in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 March 2006, 05:16 GMT]
Polling in about 8829 centers to elect 3624 members to 266 local government authorities comprising 12 municipal councils (MC), 34 urban councils (UC) and 220 pradesiya sabahs (PS) countrywide began Thursday morning at 7 a.m. A total 11,037,763 voters are eligible to cast their franchise to elect their members from about 25,523 candidates fielded by political parties and independent groups.
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Sri Lankans go to local polls Thursday

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 March 2006, 20:42 GMT]
Sri Lankans will elect 4442 members for the 330 local councils in the elections to be held Thursday. In Trincomalee elections are being held after a lapse of 12 years, and in six NorthEast districts- Jaffna, Killinochchi, Mullaitivu, Mannar, Vavuniya and Batticaloa the elections have been postponed for six months.
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SLA soldiers, paramilitary cadres round up Valaichenai villages

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 March 2006, 06:39 GMT]
More than 150 Sri Lanka Army soldiers and around 50 paramilitary cadres belonging to three various paramilitary groups, Tuesday morning rounded up five villages in Valaichenai. The paramilitary cadres, brought in SLA vehicles around 5:00 a.m., summoned the people to Pechiyamman temple grounds and held a meeting where key operatives of Karuna Group warned the people against supporting the Liberation Tigers. Cadres from the ENDLF paramilitary group and a key operative of the EPDP group attached to the Sri Lanka Army camp in Valaichenai Harbour also took part in the show-down paramilitary operation, villagers said.
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Provocations and smear campaign cast peace doubts - paper

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 March 2006, 12:36 GMT]
The vitriolic language increasingly being used by the Rajapakse administration against the LTTE and the concerted smear campaign it has launched against the Tigers casts doubts on Sri Lanka’s commitment to the peace process, the Tamil Guardian argues in its latest editorial. “Protagonists who wish to strike peace deals seek to deescalate tensions, build mutual trust and demonstrate goodwill so as to make securing an agreement more likely. But the Rajapakse administration is doing the exact reverse of that,” the expatriate fortnightly said.
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Sinhala nationalist extremists obstacle to peace – Balasingham

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 March 2006, 20:21 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers will view any further attacks by military-backed paramilitaries as an act of war and may postpone next month’s talks in Geneva unless the state fulfils the Ceasefire Agreement and disarms them, the LTTE’s Political Strategist and Chief Negotiator, Mr. Anton Balasingham said Tuesday. In an interview to Reuters at his London home, Mr. Balasingham also said President Mahinda Rajapakse should dump his Sinhala nationalist allies and seek support from the main opposition UNP party which led a government that held six rounds of talks with the LTTE in 2002-3.
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PNM alliance aims to split East from NEP

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 March 2006, 11:10 GMT]
The Patriotic National Movement (PNM), an alliance of Sinhala nationalists, on Wednesday formed a "task force" named "Defenders of Eastern People's Rights" in collaboration with Sinhala nationalist parties, Muslim and Tamil groups in the East. The task force was formed after a meeting with the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), MLM Ataulla's National Muslim Congress (NMC), K. Vigneswaran's Akila Ilankai Tamil United Front (AITUF), a break away party of the Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP), and key operatives of Karuna Group, a PNM activist has disclosed to Colombo media. The task force aims to split the East from the North Eastern Province (NEP).
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LTTE hands over arrested home guards to Thamileelam Police

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 March 2006, 01:31 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Tuesday afternoon said at a press briefing held in Sampoor that they have handed over to the Thamileelam Police the two home guards who they arrested on March 14 caught riding in a motorcycle inside the LTTE controlled area, The Thamileelam Court in accordance with the normal procedure could release these two home guards, Mr.Sithik Reseen (23) of Valaichchenai and Mr.Haniffa Anzar (30) of Thoppur, LTTE Trincomalee leaders said at the briefing.
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Ilamparithi details SLA's CFA violations to SLMM

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 March 2006, 02:12 GMT]
Violations of the Cease Fire Agreement (CFA) by Sri Lanka Armed forces after the February Geneva talks were pointed out to the officials of the Jaffna Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) when Jaffna district Political Head of the LTTE, Mr. C. Ilamparuthi, met the SLMM officials Monday 10 a.m at the LTTE Jaffna district Political Secretariat in Pallai, sources said.
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Local elections in Trincomalee, Amparai to be held

[TamilNet, Monday, 20 March 2006, 19:27 GMT]
Elections to 12 local authorities in Trincomalee district and 17 in the Amparai district are to be held on March 30. Elections to forty-six local authorities in the other six districts of Jaffna, Killinochchi, Mullaitivu, Vavuniya, Mannar and Batticaloa in the North East are to be postponed by six months, Colombo media sources reported Monday evening quoting an official of the Department of Elections.
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Jaffna DDC meets under heavy security

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 March 2006, 10:53 GMT]
Mr. Douglas Devananda, Minister in the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government, and North East Governor Mohan Wijewickrema, retired Rear Admiral of the Sri Lanka Navy, Thursday morning arrived at the Jaffna District Secretariat in a troop carrier of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) for the Jaffna District Development Committee (DDC) meeting held Thursday morning, sources in Jaffna said. The entire surrounding of the secretariat building was fortified with large numbers of troops and armored vehicles, sources added.
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TNA to boycott Devananda meeting

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 March 2006, 22:54 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians said Wednesday that they will boycott the District Integration Meeting schedueld for Thursday 16th at the Jaffna Secretariat to be chaired by Sri Lanka Cabinet Minister Douglas Devananda, the leader of the Eelam Peoples Democratic Party, with the newly appointed Governor for NorthEast, Rear Admiral (Retd) Mohan Wijeyawickrema, and Mavai Senathirajah, TNA parliamentarian as co-chairmen, TNA sources said. The EPDP is a paramilitary group working with Sri Lanka Government and a political party aligned with the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA).
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EPDP, Karuna Group and PLOTE amongst paramilitaries - US State Dept

[TamilNet, Monday, 13 March 2006, 01:32 GMT]
Commenting, amongst other abuses, on the numerous killings in Sri Lanka’s northeast last year, the US State Department’s 2006 annual human rights report blamed “paramilitary forces” as well as the Liberation Tigers for “politically motivated killings” and singled out three paramilitary groups – the Karuna Group, EPDP and PLOTE – for criticism. The State Department said many of those killed by the LTTE were members of the anti-LTTE paramilitary groups and informants for the security forces.
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