Special police team to investigate Trincomalee attack

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 October 2002, 10:35 GMT]
A special team comprising senior police officers will be sent to Trincomalee to conduct full scale investigation into the gun and grenade attack on Tamil civilians on October 11 that killed three Tamil civilians and injuring about fifty. Prime Minister Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe took this decision after meeting with Mr. Sampanthan, Tamil National Alliance (TNA)parliamentarian for the Trincomalee district, Tuesday, said sources. Interior Minister Mr. John Amaratunge also participated in the talks.
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Committee begins Kanchirankuda probe

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 October 2002, 20:15 GMT]
The three-member committee of inquiry into the killings of eight Tamil civilians at Kanchirankuda began its sittings at Thirukovil divisional secretariat auditorium in southeast Ampara district Monday morning. Eight civilians were killed and at least 20 others were wounded when the Special Task Force (STF) opened fire on protestors.
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STF refuses to vacate homes

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 October 2002, 18:06 GMT]
Five Tamil refugee families of Kittanki at Kalmunai in the southeastern Amparai district have appealed to the authorities to return their houses now being occupied by the Commandos of the Special Task Force. The STF earlier promised to leave these houses on 16 October. The STA now has gone back on its promise, said refugees in a complaint to the district parliamentarian.
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Tigers escorted SLA troops

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 October 2002, 08:55 GMT]
(News Feature) In a reciprocal gesture to earlier actions by the Sri Lanka Army, cadres of the Liberation Tigers in Batticaloa last Sunday escorted SLA soldiers through areas in which angry Tamil demonstrators had set up road blocks protesting the earlier killings of several civilians by Special Task Force (STF) commandos.
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Evidence of dead witness read out in Mylanthanai massacre

[TamilNet, Friday, 18 October 2002, 19:08 GMT]
The Colombo High Court Judge Mr.S.Sriskandarajah Friday allowed an application in the Mylanthanai massacre case by the prosecution to read out the evidence of two witnesses given in the lower court to the Jury, as these witnesses could not attend court. One of the two witnesses Thavarajah Rajmohan is dead and the other witness Nallammah Nallasekaram has gone abroad and working in Kuwait.
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AG indicts five SLA soldiers in Mirusuvil massacre case

[TamilNet, Friday, 18 October 2002, 17:30 GMT]
The Attorney General Friday filed indictments in the Colombo High Court against five Sri Lanka Army soldiers for murdering eight Tamil civilians, including a five year old child, in Mirusuvil in Jaffna district two years ago.
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Tigers say Akkaraipattu incidents instigated

[TamilNet, Thursday, 17 October 2002, 12:50 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers Thursday called on Muslims and Tamils identify divisive forces bent on creating chaos in Akkaraipattu. The Tigers issued a leaflet Thursday in the south-eastern town stating that the problem was instigated by evil elements for profit. “We will never disrupt the peace. This is certain. Some interested parties have hidden Abdul Wajid to achieve their selfish motives. Tamils and Muslims should resolve to live as brothers. We should always resolve our differences through negotiation”, the leaflet states.
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TNA writes to PM on Trinco violence

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 October 2002, 21:11 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance MP, Mr.R.Sampanthan Tuesday said that the lives of three Tamil civilians who died in the grenade attack last week in Trincomalee, might have been saved had the attackers not prevented two ambulances, one bringing medical officers and the other dispatched from Muttur, from reaching the injured. In a fax sent to the Prime Minister the MP said, "the deliberate inaction of the Police contributed to this tragedy."
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Medical evidence continues in Mylanthanai massacre case

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 October 2002, 17:40 GMT]
“ When I was holding postmortem on a body of a male person at Mylanthanai I saw an axe near the scene. The Police then took that axe as a production in this case,” said Dr.Sinnathurai Thadchchanamoorthy, presently District Medical Officer of Valaichchenai government hospital continuing his evidence in the Mylanthanai massacre case before the High Court Judge Mr.S.Sriskandarajah Wednesday.
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Medical officers give evidence in Mylanthanai massacre

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 October 2002, 09:37 GMT]
"One year old Latha, a girl who was rushed to the Colombo general hospital in critical condition the day after the Mylanthanai massacre succumbed to cut and chop wounds caused by pointed weapons such as axe and knives on admission," said Dr.K.Niranjan, Assistant Judicial Medical Officer before the Colombo High Court Judge Mr.S.Sriskandarajah Tuesday.
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Thirukkovil resentful, STF said concocting evidence

[TamilNet, Monday, 14 October 2002, 13:02 GMT]
“The Special Task Force will pose a dire threat to our lives as long it remains in this region. There is no security now for farmers who have to pass the Kanjirankudah STF camp to cultivate their fields. The sole access to more than twelve thousand acres of our people’s fields is controlled by the STF which has no qualms about killing us like animals,” said Mr. Ariyanayagam Chandra Nehru, the sole Tamil MP for the Amparai District, Monday.
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Trincomalee hospital protest strike

[TamilNet, Monday, 14 October 2002, 10:53 GMT]
Medical officers, nurses, attendants, drivers and minor employees working in government hospitals and dispensaries in the Trincomalee district Monday staged a one hour strike in protest against the assault on a doctor and damage to an ambulance by the unruly crowd which caused the deaths of Tamil civilians on Friday, sources said.
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TNA calls for Tamil home guard

[TamilNet, Monday, 14 October 2002, 03:12 GMT]
The security of the Tamil people can no longer be left in the hands of Sinhala dominated Army and Police, the Trincomalee district parliamentarian of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), Mr. R. Sampanthan, told Sri Lanka’s Interior Minister, Mr. John Amaratunge Sunday afternoon. Arguing “the security of Tamils should be entrusted to Tamil youths,” the TNA leader urged the Minister to take immediate steps to form home guards units comprising Tamils.
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Wounded blame Sinhala police, home guards

[TamilNet, Monday, 14 October 2002, 03:10 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Interior Minister Mr. John Amaratunge Sunday visited Trincomalee to review the situation in the east port town following the killings of three Tamil civilians and wounding of up to sixty others by Sinhala paramilitaries and security forces.
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Buddhist monks slam Tigers, Tamils at Trinco review

[TamilNet, Monday, 14 October 2002, 03:09 GMT]
The conference convened Sunday morning at Trincomalee district secretariat and presided over by Sri Lanka's Interior Minister Mr. John Amaratunge was apparently meant to review the security situation in the eastern port town. But there was no Tamil or Muslim representation – because the authorities didn’t even notify local representatives. Instead, Buddhist monks dominated the conference – which was conducted entirely in Sinhalese - hurling allegations against the Liberation Tigers and the Tamil community.
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Thousands attend funerals in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Sunday, 13 October 2002, 14:15 GMT]
Thousands attended the funerals in Trincomalee of three civilians killed in Friday's grenade attack blamed on Sri Lanka Police and Sinhala paramilitaries. The funerals were held Sunday at the Hindu cemetery in Trincomalee, following last respects at the Trincomalee Hindu Cultural Hall from 1 p.m. till around 3 p.m.
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Civilians’ funerals to be held Sunday

[TamilNet, Saturday, 12 October 2002, 20:33 GMT]
The bodies of the three Tamil civilians killed in Friday’s gun and grenade attacks in Abeypura will be kept at the Trincomalee Hindu Cultural Hall in front of Trincomalee harbour from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. to allow people to pay their respects, sources said Saturday. Parliamentarians from the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) are expected to deliver eulogies. The funeral procession will commence at 3 p.m. to the Hindu cemetery.
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LTTE, Sri Lanka military meet over civilian deaths

[TamilNet, Saturday, 12 October 2002, 20:17 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers Saturday requested international ceasefire monitors to take immediate action against those responsible for Friday's gun and grenade attack on Tamil civilians in Trincomalee and demanded Sri Lankan military commanders take steps to prevent future attacks on civilians.
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STF atrocities intended to scuttle peace – Karuna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 12 October 2002, 11:16 GMT]
“The peace talks in Thailand have created confidence among our fighters and our people. In this context, the actions of the STF are aimed at scuttling the peace talks. Our people have faith in future negotiations. But the STF’s atrocities are sowing doubts and confusion in their minds. However, we are observing the ceasefire with vigilance according to the instructions of our national leader,” Col. Karuna, senior commander of the Liberation Tigers in charge of the Batticaloa Ampara districts, told Maj. Gen. (ret) Trond Furhovde, the head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission.
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Hartal in northeast

[TamilNet, Saturday, 12 October 2002, 09:03 GMT]
Shops remained closed and streets were deserted in all the towns in the northeast as a general shut down ('hartal') was observed in protest at the attacks on Tamil civilians in Trincomalee and Kanchirankuda. Black flags were hoisted on shops, houses and at public places. Burning tyres were seen on main roads, sources in several north-eastern towns said.
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