Eyewitness to desecration of temple arrested under fabricated charges - UPF Minister

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 September 2008, 10:34 GMT]
Sri Lankan police in Grandpass, Colombo, arrested last Thursday a 29-year-old Tamil man who is the main eyewitness to the desecration of a Hindu temple by a Buddhist monk at de-Mel Watte in Colombo on 03 September. Up-Country People's Front parliamentarian and a Deputy Minister in UPFA, P. Rathakrishnan has condemned the act as a move by the police to intimidate a key witness. The Tamil community viewed the arrest as a fabricated charge, he said.
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Co-chairs emphasise on immediate humanitarian concerns

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 September 2008, 08:58 GMT]
"We're placing a lot of emphasis right now on the protection of human rights for civilians who are caught in the fighting, and the democratic government's responsibility for extending - for respecting and extending human rights protection to the people in the areas that they take over," said U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Affairs, Richard Boucher, in a statement on Wednesday, after a meeting of the 'Sri Lanka Co-Chairs' in New York.
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Canada says Bahu an LTTE member, refuses visa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 September 2008, 05:51 GMT]
Canadian High Commission in Colombo last week denied visa to the Leader of New Left Front and General Secretary of New Sama Samaja party, Dr Wickramabahu Karunaratne, saying that his past actions "constitute membership in the LTTE," and therefore, Dr Karunaratne fails the admissibility tests laid out in Canada's Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA).
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Heavy fighting continues in Ki'linochchi district

[TamilNet, Sunday, 21 September 2008, 18:15 GMT]
Heavy fighting, which erupted in the southwest frontiers of Ki'linochchi district on Sunday continued amid heavy artillery fire throughout the day. Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombers were observed over Vanneari area three times and at least two airstrikes were witnessed by the residents of the district. Meanwhile, two artillery shells exploded near A9 highway around 1:00 p.m.
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Crisis unfolding in Ki'linochchi - Human Rights Secretariat

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 September 2008, 16:56 GMT]
The better off among the newly displacing Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Ki'linochchi have gone to the extreme of dismantling their homes so that they can setup a home in due course in new place. The sight of Ki'linochchi streets with roofless, doorless homes tells the sad tale of the IDPs who once lived in them, said North East Secretariat on Human Rights (NESoHR) on Saturday. Meanwhile, the United Nations office of the Resident / Humanitarian Coordinator in Colombo, in a press statement issued on Saturday, said it was seriously concerned by theft from its Ki'linochchi offices on Thursday and Friday nights and said it has brought this to the attention of the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE).
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New campus in Buttala to accommodate EUSL Sinhala students

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 September 2008, 13:21 GMT]
The University Grants Commission (UGC) has worked out a proposal to provide accommodation in a building located in Buttala in Uva Province to about 100 Sinhala students who left Batticaloa, and to engage lecturers from Universities of Sabaragamuwa, Uwa Vellesa, South East and East to conduct classes, according to informed sources in Colombo. The new facility comes under the administration of the Sabaragamuwa University. The proposal has come after a Sinhala student was shot dead in Batticalao district where the EUSL is situated.
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5 students reported missing in Colombo

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 September 2008, 12:56 GMT]
Five students, three Tamils and two Muslims, traveling together from Kotahena to Bambalapitya on September 17th night, are reported missing, according to complaints lodged by their relatives to Maradana Police and Kotahena Police. All were born and grew up in Colombo. One of the students was to leave Sri Lanka last Thursday for higher studies in London with his father.
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ASP in Tissa's case didn't think confession was important

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 September 2008, 12:47 GMT]
Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), Mr Srilal Anandaraj Ranasinghe, during cross examination in Tissainayagam case 18th Thursday in Colombo High Court, said that he did not think "[Tissainayagam's] confession was not very important," legal sources following the case in Colombo said. While the main duty of the ASP Ranasinghe was to record confessions, and after admitting to having taken fifteen such confessions, the ASP said since he had not given evidence to the Court before, he did not understand the importance of statements of confession.
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Tamil youth shot dead in Colombo

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 September 2008, 08:07 GMT]
Armed men riding in a motorbike in Colombo shot and killed a Tamil youth in Colombo Saturday around 8:15 a.m. The killing has taken place near Kotahena street, Colombo 13., Police said.
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Relatives identify body of Indian citizen washed ashore in Nedunththeevu

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 September 2008, 19:54 GMT]
The grandson and two nephews of the Indian citizen whose corpse was washed ashore 14 September in the islet of Nedunththeevu (Delft) identified and confirmed that it was their relative from Gujarath by the identifications found on the corpse. The relatives, accompanied by an attorney-at-law from India, identified the corpse in Jaffna Teaching Hospital mortuary Friday, sources in Jaffna said.
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Skeleton of youth recovered in Vadamaraadchi

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 September 2008, 19:51 GMT]
Nelliyadi police recovered Friday a human skeleton in Ma'ndaan, Karaveddi area in Vadamaraadchi on information given by local cattle grazers who found the skeleton. Jaffna Teaching Hospital Judicial Medical Officer (JMO), K. Illankovan, who accompanied the police and Point Pedro magistrate, K. Ariyanayagam, to the site where the skeleton was found, testified that it may belong to a youth between 30 to 32 years of age.
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28 Tamils arrested over Horton Place bus bomb blast

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 September 2008, 16:53 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and Cinnamon Gardens police in Colombo arrested 28 Tamil civilians including a woman in a joint cordon and search operation conducted in several areas in Colombo city from Tuesday evening till Wednesday morning. The arrests were made in connection with the Horton Place bus bomb explosion Tuesday and the arrestees are detained and being interrogated in Cinnamon Garden police station, police sources said.
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Fresh SLA advance repulsed in Vannearikku'lam - LTTE

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 September 2008, 11:32 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army (SLA), which launched a fresh attempt to advance in Vannearikku'lam on Thursday suffered heavy casualties as the Tigers repulsed the move after heavy fighting that lasted for almost four hours, LTTE military officials in Vanni told TamilNet claiming that 25 SLA soldiers were killed in the fighting and more than 40 wounded. Two dead bodies of SLA soldiers were recovered and the Tigers have seized arms and ammunitions from the battlefield. Meanwhile, Sri Lankan military officials in Colombo claimed that their forces were engaged in a 3-hour sea battle from 11:30 a.m. with the LTTE Sea Tigers in the seas off Naachchikkudaa, claiming an equal number of casualties on LTTE side.
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SLAF attack in Vaddakkachchi targets civilians, 2 wounded

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 September 2008, 07:20 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF), which attacked Vaddakkaachchi, 3 km east of Ki'linochchi town Wednesday morning while claiming that it targeted a 'high profile hideout' of the Tigers, dropped bombs on a densely populated settlement of Internally Displaced Persons (IPDs) on Hudson Road, wounding two, a 14-year-old boy and a father of three. A 15-year-old girl fainted as her father sustained injuries.
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Armed men abduct Tamil youth in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 September 2008, 17:34 GMT]
Armed men who were riding in a white van and motorbikes Sunday night abducted a Tamil youth, Sakthivel Muruganandam, from his residence at Poovarasangku'lam in Vavuniyaa police division, according to complaints lodged with the Vavuniyaa Police by his relatives.
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Bomb explodes in Colombo, 1 wounded

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 September 2008, 09:30 GMT]
A bomb explosion was reported inside a CTB bus at Horton Place in Colombo Tuesday at 1:45 p.m. One person was wounded and rushed to hospital, police said. The CTB bus belong to Mattakuliya depot and was heading to Moratuwa, near the Hortan place roundabout in Colombo 7.
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22 SLA killed in Akkaraayan fighting, arms seized, say Tigers

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 September 2008, 19:51 GMT]
More than 22 Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers were killed and at least 53 wounded Monday when the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) put up stiff resistance against the SLA offensive units that advanced in Akkaraayan area, southwest of Ki'linochchi district, the Tigers said. Releasing photographs taken from the battlefield where they recovered four SLA dead bodies and seized rocket launchers and machine guns, the LTTE officials told media in Vanni that the SLA was pushed back. Clearing mission was still going on, the Tigers said. Meanwhile, SLA officials in Colombo put their casualties as low as 3 killed in action and 9 wounded.
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3 Tamils abducted in Uddappu, released

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 September 2008, 17:46 GMT]
Three Tamils including a woman abducted Friday by unidentified armed men in a white van at Uddappu, a Tamil village in Chilaw district, were released Sunday morning, Munthal police said. They were forcibly taken away from their houses by the armed men in the white van.
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Corpse of Indian citizen washed ashore in Nedunththeevu (Delft)

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 September 2008, 17:27 GMT]
Nedunththeevu police recovered the body of a 77-year-old Indian citizen found washed ashore Sunday at Nedunththeevu, an islet of Jaffna, on information given by local residents. Monday evening another corpse, suspected to be that of a Tamil person from Mannaar fleeing to Tamil Nadu by boat which had capsized mid-sea, was found on Queen’s Tower beach in Nedunththeevu by local residents, Nedunththeevu police said.
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UN expects LTTE to provide safe passage to its convoy

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 September 2008, 15:42 GMT]
The United Nations office of the Resident / Humanitarian Coordinator for Sri Lanka, in a statement issued on Monday in Colombo, said it intends to move remaining UN and humanitarian agency staff in a single convoy at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday and that it expects the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) to provide safe passage to the convoy towards Oamanthai crossing.
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