Jubilant Sri Lanka threatens to wipe Tigers out

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 November 2007, 13:27 GMT]
Hailing the Air Force bombing raid Friday which killed the Tamil Tigers chief negotiator and Political Wing head, Mr. S. P. Thamilchelvan and five other LTTE officials, Sri Lankan Defence Secretary, Gotabaya Rajapaksa said his government would kill other LTTE leaders ‘one by one’. Sources said he made his comments, quoted by Reuters, at a celebratory meeting at Temple Trees, the official residence of President Mahinda Rajapakse, who is also Mr. Gotabaya’s brother. Meanwhile, the Colombo stock market soared on news of the deaths.
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Tamil detainee files FR petition in Supreme Court

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 November 2007, 02:06 GMT]
A Tamil resident of Wattala in Colombo district has filed a fundamental rights (FR) violation petition in the Sri Lanka' Supreme Court to declare that his arrest and detention under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) is illegal and to order his release. The petitioner Rajendran Yogaraj, 49, has cited the Director of the Terrorist Intelligence Division of the Sri Lanka Police, Defence Ministry Secretary and Attorney General as respondents.
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Supreme Court dismisses FR petitions filed by 2 Tamil women

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 November 2007, 01:35 GMT]
Three-member bench of the Sri Lanka's Supreme Court Tuesday rejected the Fundamental Rights Violation applications filed by two Tamil women being detained in remand prison since their arrest three months earlier, legal sources in Colombo said.
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Court releases four Tamil youths from Boosa camp

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 November 2007, 00:33 GMT]
The Colombo Chief Magistrate Tuesday ordered the release of four Tamil youths who had been kept in detention in Boosa camp. S.Sujevanendra and J.N.Jeyanesan were released unconditionally. Nadaraja Kamalraj and Devadas Prakash of Jaffna were released on bail with a warning that they should appear in court whenever the Court serves notices, legal sources in Colombo said.
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Sri Lanka imposes censorship

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 31 October 2007, 14:01 GMT]
The Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) has decided to impose censorship on the press under the Public Security Ordinance on news reporting related to military confrontations and offensive operations, informed officials in Colombo said. The clamp down on the press comes in the wake of the recent Tiger military operation on Anuradhapura airbase and increased guerilla attacks in southern Sri Lanka.
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Irish Tamil citizen files HC application in SL Court

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 31 October 2007, 09:30 GMT]
A Habeas Corpus application has been filed in the Sri Lanka's Court of Appeal seeking the release of a Sri Lankan Tamil who is currently a citizen of Ireland and a resident of Singapore. The Terrorist Intelligence Division (TID) of the Sri Lanka Police arrested Mr.Gunasundaram Jayasundaram on September 4 this year at Katunayake International Airport (KIA) when he arrived from Singapore on a business trip to Colombo. Since then he is being detained in the remand on the orders of the Defence Ministry Secretary.
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ABC Director seeks protection from police arrest

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 31 October 2007, 09:28 GMT]
Director General of the ABC News Network, A. Samantha Rainer Silva, filed a fundamental rights petition in the Supreme Court Tuesday seeking protection from being arrested by the police. This petition follows the withdrawal of licence to the ABC news network that resulted in the closure of five radio stations of the ABC network since October 26 Friday, legal sources said.
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Sinhala journalist shot in Colombo

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 October 2007, 20:56 GMT]
Two armed men who tried to stop the motorbike of the news editor of ethalaya.com, a Sinhala language website attached to the Sisira TV, opened fire on him, around 11:45 p.m. Tuesday in Rajagiriya in Colombo. The journalist, Kumudu Champika Jayawardana, was rushed to Colombo General hospital. The attack on the journalist of the Sisira TV, owned by one of the largest privately-held media corporations, the Maharajah Television (MTV), which runs three stations, comes three days after the Sri Lankan government silenced the five FM radio services operated by the Asian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), another private media corporation in Sri Lanka.
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Rights group launches campaign against attacks on Journalists in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 October 2007, 08:03 GMT]
Expressing concern on the level of prevailing impunity of the killings of media personnel in Sri Lanka, the Asian Human Rights Commission, citing 11 cases where 12 Tamil media personnel were killed since 31 May 2004 till 29 April 2007, on Tuesday urged the public to write letters to the concerned Sri Lankan authorities demanding impartial investigation in order to identify and bring the perpetrators to justice. "Not a single person has been brought before the court," in the 11 cases, the AHRC noted and urged the public to forward a copy of their appeal to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions.
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SLN increases troop strength in Veala'nai

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 October 2007, 11:17 GMT]
Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) command has been transporting additional soldiers to the SLN camp in Veala'nai in the islets of Jaffna for the past three days, sources in Jaffna said. Soldiers are arriving in SLN ships from Mannaar to Kayts, and also from Colombo to Palaali by air and transported by road to Veala'nai, according to sources.
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Editorial blasts CID's political subservience

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 October 2007, 12:10 GMT]
The editorial of this weekend's Sunday Leader launched a scathing attack on the Sri Lanka's Criminal Investigation Division (CID) as having been reduced to a "mere plaything of the Rajapakse Brothers and hangers-on such as [Minister] Wijeratne, poodles to do their beck and call," and called Mr. Wijeratene a "pathetically bad liar" who will soon be exposed as "a fraud, a purloiner of the public purse, and a perjurer," after the CID arrested Tamil journalist Wamanan on a hearsay charge of extortion, following Wamanan's article exposing Mr. Wijeratne of misappropriating government funds.
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Anuradhapura losses worse than Katunayake’s - Athas

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 October 2007, 21:24 GMT]
Two dozen aircraft of the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) were destroyed or damaged when Black Tiger commandos stormed the Anudradhapura airbase in the early hours last Monday, the Sunday Times reports. Ten aircraft were completely destroyed while fourteen others were damaged, some beyond repair, the paper’s defence correspondent, Iqbal Athas, said in his column this week. All but three of the 27 aircraft in the base were destroyed or damaged, the paper said, publishing pictures of incinerated aircraft on the runway and in the hanger. Meanwhile press reports said India was supplying anti-aircraft guns to Sri Lanka.
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APRC on hiatus

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 October 2007, 12:56 GMT]
Despite claims by Colombo media in early August that the All Party Representative Committee (APRC) formed by Sri Lanka's President Rajapakse has met with "sudden death," amid opposition from SLFP, MEP and the JHU to the "unit of devolution" ahead of the Committee report deadline of 15 August, the APRC discussions were resurrected; the latest on the resilient APRC is that after the 51st sitting on the 23rd October, the APRC is taking a 2 month recess, reports from Colombo said. The current status: APRC is "exploring the possibility of reaching consensus among the political parties on power sharing."
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Ten civilians arrested in Ragama

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 October 2007, 02:50 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and police conducted a cordon and search operation Friday morning at Ragama, including the vicinity of railway station and arrested 10 persons. The arrested failed to prove their identity with valid documents, police said.
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Mine blast kills 6 SLA troopers in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 October 2007, 08:28 GMT]
Six Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers were killed and four wounded in a mine blast at Kalmadu in Vavuniyaa Friday around 12:30 p.m., initial reports from Vavuniyaa said. Meanwhile, Sri Lankan Ministry of Defense officials told media said the explosion was "accidental".
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Journalists arrested for exposing Sri Lanka Minister's financial improprieties

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 October 2007, 15:21 GMT]
Following the Wednesday arrest of staff reporter of The Sunday Leader, Arthur Wamanan, related to a story in the newspaper that a Rs. 80,717 telephone bill of Enterprise Development Minister Mano Wijeratna's wife was paid by the National Gem Corporation, the CID has asked Investigative Editor of the paper, Dilrukshi Handunnetti, Thursday to come to the CID and record a statement pertaining to the same story, media reports from Colombo said.
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6 SLN killed in Tiger ambush in Hambantota

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 October 2007, 12:02 GMT]
A guerilla commando unit of Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) Thursday evening ambushed a Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) vehicle, a bus carrying more than 25 SLN personnel, in Thissamaharama in the Hambantota division of the southern province, killing 6 SLN personnel, LTTE military spokesman Irasiah Ilanthirayan told TamilNet. Claiming that the attack was a gunfire ambush, Mr. Ilanthirayan said 12 SLN personnel were wounded in the attack that took place at 16:35 p.m. Thissamaharama division is situated in the constituency of the Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa.
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CID arrests Sunday Leader journalist in Colombo

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 October 2007, 22:02 GMT]
Colombo based media watchdog, the Free Media Movement (FMM) Thursday expressed serious concern on the arbitrary arrest of a Tamil staff reporter of The Sunday Leader, Arthur Wamanan, by the Sri Lankan Criminial Investingation Department (CID) Thursday.
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Five allegedly shot dead near southern airbase

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 October 2007, 16:14 GMT]
Five firewood collectors who went to the jungles near Wirawila airbase in the Southern Province Hambantota district, have been allegedly shot dead by armed men Wednesday evening around 7:00 p.m., according to initial reports received by electronic media sources in Colombo. The dead bodies were said to be located by the Sri Lankan military and police who launched a cordon and search operation following complaints by the villagers. A private media corporation that broke the story is facing proscription by the authorities following a cabinet decision, initial reports further said.
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Key spy plane amongst SLAF’s $40m losses - reports

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 October 2007, 02:17 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Air Force lost over $40m dollars worth of aircraft and equipment in the Tamil Tiger ground and air attack Monday, international press reports quoting Sri Lankan officials said. Amongst the losses was a specialized surveillance aircraft ordered by the UNP government just before its peace talks with the LTTE, the reports said.
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