Civilians being used as human shield -LTTE

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 05 April 2000, 08:49 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers said in a press release today that the Sri Lanka Army was holding thousands of civilians as human shields in the northern battle zones. The LTTE said that the ICRC and the UNHCR delegations in Jaffna were failing in their duty protect civilians.
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Heavy fighting again in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 05 April 2000, 06:35 GMT]
Heavy fighting broke out this morning in Jaffna's southern sector between the Liberation Tigers and the Sri Lanka army (SLA). Residents in Mirusuvil, a village by the A9 highway southeast of Chavakachcheri, said that both sides are bombarding each other's positions with heavy volumes of mortar and artillery fire since morning.
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Release refugee says Tamil group

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 05 April 2000, 04:25 GMT]
A Tamil group in Colombo called on the international community today to persuade the Sri Lankan government to let the refugees held up at Kilali in Jaffna by the Sri Lanka army proceed to safer areas in other parts of the northern peninsula.
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'Let us go' say Jaffna refugees

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 April 2000, 20:55 GMT]
"Do you intend to give us 2000 rupees to buy our coffins?" "Are you going to let us be used as human shields?" asked angry refugees from the war zones in the southern sector of Jaffna when senior government officials went to distribute dry rations among them this morning. More than three thousand civilians who fled the war have been blocked at Kilali by the Sri Lanka Army since Sunday. The irate refugees were reacting to reports in the media that the government had promised to give 2000 rupees (28 USD) as relief to each family displaced from the war zone near Jaffna's gateway garrison following representations made by Tamil Parliamentarians about their plight yesterday.
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Offensive for MSR thwarted -VoT

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 April 2000, 17:58 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers said this evening that they thwarted a two pronged operation by the Sri Lanka army (SLA) this afternoon to attack and overrun their defences on the A9 at Muhamaalai, about 14.5 kilometers south east of Chavakachcheri. They said that a main battle tank was destroyed and another damaged when their troops counter attacked the SLA. A South African 'Buffle' fitted with .50 heavy machine gun was also captured from the army in the battle they said.
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War zone refugees arrive

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 April 2000, 13:32 GMT]
More than five thousand Tamils in the Pallai and Pachchilaipalli areas in Jaffna arrived at Kilali late this morning, Catholic church sources in the north said. Most of the civilians were blocked at Kilali by the Sri Lanka army. Only about 200 families were allowed until noon to proceed beyond Kilali to Mirusuvil. The Catholic church is the only organisation assisting the people arriving from the war zone, according to the Tamilnet correspondent who was at Kilali and Mirusuvil today.
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Battles rage for MSR

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 April 2000, 08:58 GMT]
The Voice of Tigers said in its morning news broadcast today that Tiger troops on the A9 highway north of the Elephant Pass garrison repulsed an operation by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) yesterday to retake the sector of the road held by them now. The radio said that more than twenty SLA troops were killed in the fighting and that the Tigers had recovered weapons and equipment from the scene of the battle.
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Civilians asked to leave battle zone

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 April 2000, 18:41 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Thamil Eelam (LTTE) asked the people of the Pachchilaipalli division near the Elephant Pass garrison in Jaffna to leave their villages by tomorrow afternoon and move to safety in Kodikamam. The Tigers said that they will hold fire from 6 a.m. in morning to 2 p.m. in the afternoon tomorrow to facilitate the movement of people out of Pachchilaipalli.
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Refugee crisis in Jaffna war zones

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 April 2000, 17:08 GMT]
Local officials and Catholic church sources said today that they are fast running out of rice gruel for more than 7500 persons displaced in the Pallai sector due to the fighting between the Liberation Tigers and the Sri Lanka army. They said there aren't funds or supplies to feed the people who fled the shelling in Pallai and Maasar, north of the Elephant Pass garrison, since Monday, March 27 as all civilian transport has come to a halt because of the fighting on the A9 highway and the interior between Pallai and Eluthumadduval.
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Pallai patient succumbs to injuries

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 April 2000, 13:53 GMT]
A seriously wounded civilian transferred today from Pallai to the Jaffna hospital died this evening. The woman, Rasalingam Sriranjani Rajeswary, was admitted to the Pallai hospital with severe injuries on March 28 when the fighting between the Sri Lanka army and the Liberation Tigers was raging in several sectors of the Thenmaradchi division.
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Tigers, SLA brace for more

[TamilNet, Friday, 31 March 2000, 17:34 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers consolidated areas they captured on the peninsula's southeastern coast this week and the Sri Lankan army re-deployed troops from Maathagal and Varani to strengthen its defences in Thenmaradchi against the Unceasing Waves III offensive. The SLA, meanwhile, banned fishing again in the seas off the Vadamaradchi coast.
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Nagar Kovil SLA counters barrage

[TamilNet, Friday, 31 March 2000, 08:02 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers opened up a barrage with artillery and mortars on the Sri Lanka army camp at Nagar Kovil on Jaffna's east coast last night. The bombardment began around 8 p.m. and went on until 3 a.m. this morning.
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Pallai hospital seeks evacuation

[TamilNet, Friday, 31 March 2000, 04:54 GMT]
The Pallai hospital authorities appealed to the District Medical Officer of Health and the International Committee of the Red Cross to evacuate their patients to Jaffna town as they are facing a shortage of supplies due to the fighting since Sunday night.
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SLA releases casualty figures

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 March 2000, 13:40 GMT]
Eighty Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troops, including five officers have been killed and six hundred and thirteen, including thirty one officers, have been wounded in the fighting with the Liberation Tigers in the Jaffna peninsula since Sunday night said the Ministry of Defence in a press release Thursday afternoon.
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Tigers pound Chavakachceri SLA

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 March 2000, 12:39 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers bombarded the Sri Lanka army's 52-3 brigade in Thambuthottam near Chavakachcheri in Jaffna from this morning as hundreds of civilians continued to flee the battle zones in the Thenmaradchi division and the peninsula's southeastern coast. The SLA, meanwhile, vacated another camp at Karukkai on the Pt.Pedro Kodikamam road today.
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Civilians asked to find safety

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 March 2000, 04:06 GMT]
The Voice of Tigers said in its morning news broadcast today that the Political wing of the Liberation Tigers has asked all civilians living close to Sri Lanka army positions in Pallai and Vadamaradchi east in the Jaffna peninsula to move out to safer areas.
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Tigers overrun another coastal garrison

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 March 2000, 10:46 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army base at Thalaiyadi on Jaffna's southeastern coast was overrun by the Liberation Tigers this noon around 12.30 p.m. Civilians who fled the fighting today said that the Tigers are pressing on with their attack on the SLA camp at nearby Maruthankerni. A LTTE field commander directing operations in this sector told residents that the camp is expected to fall by evening today.
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Tigers beef up strength on coast

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 March 2000, 18:20 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers who are currently based in Maamunai on Jaffna's southeastern coast said the large number of their special units that have been transported by sea from the Vanni will continue to mount the attack on the Thalaiyadi base and its forward positions in Vaththirayan.
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Fighting displaces three thousand

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 March 2000, 05:40 GMT]
About three thousand civilians from the villages on Jaffna's southeastern coast displaced by the fighting have sought refuge at the Sembiyanpattu Government Tamil Mixed School sources said. Hospital sources in Pt.Pedro said twenty civilians wounded in the shelling and cross fire since Sunday night were brought in from the war zone for treatment.
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MSR was breached- SLA

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 March 2000, 14:00 GMT]
The Sri Lanka army said in a press release today that a gap was created in the Main Supply Route (MSR) to the Elephant Pass base from Jaffna due to fighting with the Liberation Tigers. Meanwhile, residents of Maamunai who fled the war zone this morning said that the Tigers have overrun the SLA garrison in that coastal village.
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