Jaffna missing persons' parents continue protest

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 November 2001, 08:14 GMT]
"Arrests, deaths and destruction will continue in our land until our struggle succeeds. To put an end to such tragedies we have to succeed in our people's struggle. If we speak out for our nation then we shall win our struggle for which blood is being spilled," said Rev. Fr. T. Jeyakumar, the head of the Human Development Centre (HUDEC), addressing a demonstration and protest sit in near the Muniappar temple in Jaffna town Saturday by more than 200 parents and relatives of persons who went missing after being arrested by the Sri Lanka army in 1996-97 in the northern peninsula. The protest was organised by the Missing Persons' Guardian Association (MPGA) and the Jaffna Mothers' Front. "We will continue the protest tomorrow as well," the secretary of the MPGA told Tamilnet.
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SLA arrests eight in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 November 2001, 13:49 GMT]
The Sri Lanka army arrested five persons Tuesday in the outer suburbs of Batticaloa town. They were taken into custody by the military intelligence unit of the SLA in Batticaloa, Police sources said. Three persons were arrested on 3 November by the SLA from two villages close to the eastern town. The eight have been detained by the Special Investigation Unit (SIU) of the Police for further inquiries, sources said.
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Embargo, war caused 13, 379 civilian deaths - report

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 November 2001, 03:05 GMT]
Thirteen thousand three hundred and seventy nine civilians died in the Kilinochchi and Mullaithivu districts due to the war and the economic embargo imposed by the Sri Lankan government from 1990 to 1999, according to a press report in the Vanni published this weekend. Most of the deaths, destruction of civilian property and mass displacement tool place after the People's Alliance came to power in 1994, the report said. Four thousand eight hundred and seventy nine civilians died in the Mullaithivu district between 1994 and 1999 due to the direct impact of the economic embargo on the Vanni, particularly due to the severe restrictions on medical supplies.
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Lies, fronts and ruins

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 November 2001, 11:24 GMT]
((News Feature) Sri Lanka’s President Chandrika Kumaratunga Tuesday accused Human Rights Watch, which has criticised excesses by the Sri Lankan security forces, of “telling lies” and dismissed the largest human rights organization based in the United States as a front for the Liberation Tigers. President Kumaratunga however praised the University Teachers for Human Rights (Jaffna) as “totally independent” and whom she said were “very appreciative” of her government. Kumaratunga’s comments were made in an interview to CNN conducted by Zain Verjee during which the President continued her bitter attack on her main opposition, denied she had conducted a ‘war for peace’ (“we called it a battle for peace. we wanted peace through peace”), and denied there was an economic embargo on Tamil areas – even though Verjee didn’t actually raise the matter.
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Tough time on Hard Talk

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 November 2001, 15:06 GMT]
(News Feature) Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga's public relations blitz in the Western media unexpectedly ran into difficulties Tuesday on the BBC's Hard Talk program hosted by Tim Sebastian. Faced with several embarrassing questions about the human rights situation in the island and the lack of progress in the peace process, President Kumaratunga, struggling to respond, became increasingly defensive and irritated. During the course of the half-hour interview, Kumaratunga said the US State Department's 2001 report on human rights contained "lies," claimed there had been "only one rape in Jaffna" since she came to power, flatly denied there was an economic embargo on Tamil areas ("that is nonsense!"), and blamed rights violations on "mad" policemen. Amid Sebastian's, trademark rapid-fire questions, some exchanges with the President bordered on the farcical.
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Eleven policemen killed in Mutur attack

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 November 2001, 11:30 GMT]
Eleven military trained police personnel were killed, and 11 policemen and three Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers were wounded in an attack by the Liberation Tigers in Mutur, south of Trincomalee, around 2.p.m. Thursday, security sources said.
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Bomb blast in Colombo

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 October 2001, 09:41 GMT]
Three people, including a police man were killed and at least 20 others were wounded in a bomb blast in Colombo, around 2.30 p.m. Monday, police sources said. The incident occurred at Narahenpita, a suburb of capital.
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Police enforce curfew in Mutur

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 October 2001, 13:54 GMT]
Sri Lankan security forces declared unofficial curfew in Mutur, south of Trincomalee from 5 p.m. Sunday evening following tension in the eastern town over the death of two Muslim youth in cross fire Friday during a clash between the Liberation Tigers and the army and Police. Tamils in Mutur have sought asylum in the town’s Methodist Church and St. Anthony’s church and a Tamil orphanage fearing reprisals by Muslims. Meanwhile, four Muslims, including a 2 year old, were found murdered near the Navaladi Sri Lanka army camp, 34 kilometres north of Batticaloa.
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Soldiers, civilians injured in Mutur clash

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 October 2001, 06:12 GMT]
One military trained police constable was killed and two Sri Lanka army soldiers and a ‘Police security assistant’ were wounded when the Liberation Tigers attacked the security forces post near the Central College in Mutur town, south of Trincomalee Friday morning around 8 a.m. with small arms and mortars. Two civilians were killed and three were wounded in retaliatory fire and shelling, residents said.
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Eight civilians wounded, 2 killed in shelling

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 October 2001, 13:46 GMT]
Eight civilians, including an infant, were wounded and two were killed in shelling by the Special Task Force, an elite arm of the Sri Lankan security forces, on the villages of Ambilaanthurai and Thumbankerni, south west of Batticaloa town Tuesday.
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STF, SF operation in LTTE held villages in east

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 October 2001, 05:59 GMT]
The Special Task Force and Sri Lanka army Special Forces began an operation into areas held by the Liberation Tigers southwest of Batticaloa town from the early hours of morning Tuesday. Two main groups of Sri Lankan security forces moved into the villages of Palugamam, Periyaporathivu, Kovitporathivu and Munaithivu, sources said. A timber shed was set on fire amid sporadic gunfire in areas which the STF and SF entered this morning. No major confrontation was reported until noon.
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Claymore blast in LTTE held region

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 October 2001, 19:32 GMT]
A civilian was injured in a claymore mine blast in Kadukkamunai, a village in the western hinterland of the Batticaloa district which is under the control of the Liberation Tigers around 11.45 a.m. Thursday. The claymore was hidden in a culvert on the interior road and was aimed at a vehicle of the LTTE which had passed the point seconds before the blast, according to residents of Kadukkamunai who came to the eastern town Thursday evening.
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Fire-fight in Welikanda

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 October 2001, 10:00 GMT]
Three Sri Lanka Army soldiers were killed in an ambush by the Liberation Tigers in the Welikanda region in the boarder between Batticaloa and Polonaruwa districts, around 7.15 a.m. Wednesday. Two civilians were killed and two others wounded in the ensuing fire-fight, police sources said.
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Three school boys arrested in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 October 2001, 09:13 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Police arrested three schoolboys in Jaffna Thursday. The three are students at the Sri Parvathi Maha Vithiyalayam in Nayanmaarkattu near Jaffna town. Their parents informed the Human Rights Commission about the arrests today. Meanwhile, the Special Investigation Unit of the Police Thursday produced in the Mannar courts a youth who had been taken into custody for possessing a mobile phone. The Sri Lankan government prohibits the use of mobile phones in the northern and eastern parts of the island. Tamil civilians from other parts of the island are, however, allowed to carry their mobile phones when visiting the army controlled parts of the east or the Vavuniya town.
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Tigers overrun Velvery airforce camp in Trinco

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 October 2001, 04:10 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers overran the Sri Lanka Air Force camp at Velvery, about 12 km northwest of Trincomalee town off the high way to Anuradhapura, Tuesday night around 11.30 p.m. Four SLAF men were killed and 17 are reported missing in the attack, military sources in the eastern port town said. The SLAF and the Sri Lanka army shelled the overrun camp till the early hours of the morning Wednesday. The Liberation Tigers withdrew from the overrun camp before the crack of dawn. SLAF jets were also called to bomb the area, sources said.
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Killing in Mutur raises 'homeguards scare' again

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 September 2001, 18:28 GMT]
Fear prevails in the interior villages southeast of Mutur following a shooting on Friday night in which a civilian in Thanganagar was killed and another was wounded. Residents of Thanganagar said that Sinhala homeguards working with the Sri Lankan security forces in the Serunuwara Police division had shot the two men while they were watching TV at home. Sinhala homeguards massacred seven villagers on 2 October last year in the Thanganagar area. Tamil villagers in Thanganagar-Poonagar area said they fear that the homeguards may strike again.
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Police arrest Tamils in Colombo, Galle

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 September 2001, 12:44 GMT]
Sri Lanka Police arrested more than forty Tamil civilians were arrested in Colombo and in the southern port town of Galle in search operations during the weekend. Twenty five were taken into custody in the capital and fifteen in Galle. “All the suspects are from the northeast province and are temporary residents. They are being interrogated for possible links with the Liberation Tigers,” Police sources said.
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IDP visiting home in Thenmaradchi knifed

[TamilNet, Saturday, 29 September 2001, 20:12 GMT]
Mr. Sinnathamby Kandaiah, 53, who went to see his home in Kodikamam in the Thenmaradchi division southeast of Jaffna town Saturday was admitted to the Manthikai hospital with knife wounds. Relatives who brought him to the hospital around 4.30 this afternoon said that he was found lying unconscious and that there were cuts on his body. The man, who regained consciousness later in the day, said he was knifed by Sri Lanka army soldiers in the area. Kandaiah's family was displaced by heavy fighting between the SLA and the LTTE last year.
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"Halt resettlement in Thenmaradchi" - Jaffna Mayor

[TamilNet, Saturday, 29 September 2001, 06:30 GMT]
The Jaffna Municipal Council Mayor said that during the past six months sixty civilians have lost their limbs due to landmine blasts in Thenmarachchi area in the peninsula. The meeting of the Jaffna Muncipal Council held Friday discussed the danger people undergo when being resettled in areas captured by Sri Lanka army. The discussion took place following the deaths of six members of a family recently at Kattaithirai, Kopay in Jaffna in a pressure mine blast.
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‘Don’t resettle in areas mined by SLA’ - LTTE

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 September 2001, 04:44 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers said Friday that displaced civilians in Jaffna are being resettled in areas where land mines laid by the Sri Lanka army haven’t been removed. They said that the family of six that was killed in a land mine explosion on 24 September was among the displaced residents who were resettled in Irupalai where no SLA mines fields have been cleared so far. Meanwhile, Jaffna court sources said that residents of Irupalai had complained to Jaffna District Judge T. Vignarajah about the danger they face from land mines left behind in the village by the SLA when he visited the scene of the explosion that killed the family on 24 September. The sources said that the matter would be recorded at the inquest.
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