Fourteen injured as troops attack civilians, MP in Mannar

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 November 2004, 10:24 GMT]
Fourteen civilians were seriously injured when Sri Lanka army troops indiscriminately attacked hundreds of people in Mannar town Thursday. Tamil National Alliance MP for Mannar, Mr. Vino Noharathalingam and the parish priest for Thalvupaadu were also attacked in the rampage. Hundreds of SLA troops, firing in the air, ran amok in the town centre with iron bars and clubs, pulling down Heroes’ Day decorations and assaulting civilians. They attacked and damaged the political office of the Liberation Tigers in Mannar town.
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Two civilians decorating for Maveerar Day shot dead

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 November 2004, 16:52 GMT]
Two civilians who were decorating their neighbourhood for the Great Heroes' Day observations in Vanthaarumoolai, 18 kilometres north of Batticaloa, were shot dead Wednesday night around 7:50 by gunmen riding a motorbike.
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Troubles erupt over flag in Mannar town

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 November 2004, 10:35 GMT]
Mannar town was tense Wednesday afternoon amidst a stand off between Sri Lankan security forces and hundreds of civilians over the removal of a Thamil Eelam national flag hoisted at a sports festival to mark 'Great Heroes' Week. Crowds burnt tires in the town and demanded that the flag be handed back to organisers of the sports festival on the Mannar general play ground. Trouble erupted after some Sri Lanka army soldiers removed and took away the flag, Mannar Police said. Sri Lanka army deployed more troops and armoured vehicles in Mannar town following the fracas.
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Trincomalee town, suburbs' security strengthened

[TamilNet, Sunday, 21 November 2004, 15:26 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and Sri Lanka Police have deployed more soldiers in strategic points in the Trincomalee town and several parts of the district under their control following several violent incidents that had taken place during the weekend, security sources said.
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SLA, Police tear gas assault protestors in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 November 2004, 06:13 GMT]
Tension prevailed near Kodikamam town in Jaffna Sunday morning as military and Police fired tear gas and assaulted civilians protesting against an accident on the A9 highway in which a Sri Lanka army vehicle knocked down and killed a young Hindu priest. Hundreds of protesting civilians in the area blocked the highway and set fire to the Sri Lanka army vehicle and two military motorbikes. Two journalists who were covering the incident were also assaulted by Police and SLA troopers.
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TNA MP protests Ministry order to remove two Hindu temples

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 November 2004, 14:04 GMT]
"Destruction of Hindu shrines in areas where thousands of Hindus reside and construction of Buddhist shrines on State lands where there are hardly any Buddhists are blatant discriminatory acts and indicate State's willingness to condone acts committed in the name of Buddhism," said Mr.R.Sampanthan, Tamil National Alliance parliamentary group leader and member of parliament for the Trincomalee district in a letter to the Secretary of the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources.
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Paramilitary operative arrested for claymore attack in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 November 2004, 11:36 GMT]
Batticaloa Magistrate Friday remanded a ‘Karuna Group’, cadre accused of attempting to murder two civilians by exploding a claymore mine and lobbing a grenade at them on Thursday around 2.30 p.m. near Kaluwankerni Junction on the main coastal artery of the district. Mr. Dharmasena Ratnayaka, Officer in Charge (OIC) of the Eravur Police said the Karuna Group cadre was operating from the EPDP camp in neighbouring Chenkalady.
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Kumarapuram massacre case inquiry fixed

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 November 2004, 14:01 GMT]
Mr.Anton Balasingham, Trincomalee High Court Judge fixed the inquiry into the Kumarapuram massacre case for 14 February 2005, as none of the witnesses was present when it was taken up on Monday. He also directed the court registrar to serve notice on three eyewitnesses to be present on the next date, legal sources said.
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TNA MPs meet Solheim

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 November 2004, 11:25 GMT]
Norwegian Special Peace Envoy, Mr Eric Solheim, who arrived in Sri Lanka Tuesday morning, met with a Tamil National Alliance (TNA) delegation led by Senior M.P Joseph Pararasingham at the Norwegian Embassy in Colombo, political sources in Colombo said. Jaffna district parliamentarians Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, Ms Padmini Sithamparanathan, S. Gajenthiran, and Suress Premachchandran accompanied Mr Pararajasingham to the meeting.
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Grenade attack on paramilitary in Valaichenai

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 November 2004, 07:13 GMT]
A civilian was injured when unidentified persons lobbed a grenade at two paramilitary cadres in Valaichenai, 32 kilometres north of Batticaloa, Monday morning around 10.30, Police said. Two Policemen were with the paramilitary cadres who were shopping in the Valaichenai bazaar when the grenade was lobbed. The attackers fired in the air before they fled the area, Police said.
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Soldiers, civilians clash in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 03 November 2004, 13:47 GMT]
A group of soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA)and members of public clashed at Madathady junction along Main Street in Jaffna town Wednesday noon that injured a soldier, police said. Jaffna Police arrested a Tamil youth after the incident.
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'Will reconsider meetings if civilians are harassed' - Kausalyan

[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 October 2004, 08:18 GMT]
''We explained to the Sri Lankan armed forces about the fear among civilians caused by the drastic increase in searching and checkpoints. We are very carefully considering the progress of these meetings in relation to these developments. If the harassment of civilians continue thus we would be compelled to reconsider our participation in these meetings'', said Mr. E. Kousalyan, head, political division of the Liberation Tigers for Batticaloa-Amparai, speaking to the press at the conclusion of a meeting in Batticaloa between LTTE and Sri Lankan armed forces Saturday.
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Mirusuvil massacre case inquiry to resume

[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 October 2004, 02:09 GMT]
The stalled inquiry into the Mirusuvil massacre case is to resume before the Colombo High Court Trial-at-Bar (TAB) on the instruction of the Supreme Court that TAB could continue its proceedings although the confession made by one of the accused soldier Mr.R.M.S.Ratnayake was declared inadmissible, legal sources said.
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Ex-military intelligence officer shot dead in Colombo

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 October 2004, 05:06 GMT]
An ex-military intellgence officer of the Sri Lanka army was shot dead in Colombo by unidentified gunmen Tuesday night, Police said. The ex-intelligence officer, Mr.Mohammed Suresh Casim, was found dead in his car in Dehiwela, a southern suburb of Colombo.
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Tamil civilian shot dead in Eravur

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 October 2004, 13:43 GMT]
Mr.Kathirgamathamby Ganeshamoorthy aged 43 was shot dead by unidentified men Tuesday early morning around 3.30 a.m in his house located in the village Iyankerny in Eravur division in Batticaloa district. He was a supporter of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the assassins are suspected to be members of Karuna group, Tamil sources said.
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Two Mankerni civilians wounded in firing

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 October 2004, 10:30 GMT]
Mr.Vethanayagam Suthakaran aged 20 and Mr.Sellathurai Ananthan aged 40, were shot and wounded by unidentified persons Thursday night around 10.30 p.m. at Mankerni, 64 km off Batticaloa town, police sources said.
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Police assault civilians, fire in Jaffna town

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 October 2004, 15:36 GMT]
Sri Lanka Police fired in the air and assaulted civilians in Kasthuriyar Road in Jaffna town Saturday around 8.30 following a fracas between some locals and traffic Policemen. Police and military patrols were immediately stepped in Kasthuryiar Road and KKS Road in the northern town. Heavily armed Policemen chased civilians indoors while firing in the air.
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Trinco refugees protest demanding resettlement

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 October 2004, 10:40 GMT]
A group of Tamil refugees sheltered in UNHCR run Allesgarden camp located about three km north of Trincomalee town Friday morning around 7.30 a.m.held a sit in protest obstructing the traffic on the Trincomalee Nilaveli road stating that they are unable to return their villages of Kanniya and Kuchchaveli as their lands are still occupied by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and Sri Lanka Navy (SLN), civil sources in Trincomalee said.


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CID records statement of Human Rights official

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 October 2004, 02:36 GMT]
Criminal Investigation Department of the Police recorded the statement of Mr.Ruwan Chandrasekara, Jaffna regional co-ordinator of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka when he was in HRCSL head office in Colombo regarding the alleged assault on him last week in the Jaffna police station by a group of policemen, HRCSL sources said.
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Suspected Karuna associates kill civilian

[TamilNet, Monday, 04 October 2004, 10:00 GMT]
A civilian was shot dead by gunmen suspected to members of the paramilitary lead by renegade Liberation Tigers commander ‘Karuna’ Sunday night around 8 in Omadiyamadu, an interior village near the Batticaloa-Polannaruwa district border, Police said. The man was identified as Mr. Vannamani Dharmarajah, 40. Valaichenai Police said that they had no further details of the person.


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