Amparai farmers forced to evacuate

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 December 1998, 13:54 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Police in Akkariappattu, in the Amparai district, have ordered the villagers of Aaleemsenai, in Addanchenai, to vacate the village after a statue of lord Buddha was discovered there recently.
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Citizen's committee condemns attacks on civilians

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 29 December 1998, 18:35 GMT]
The Citizens Committee in the Vanni has urged the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to take steps to prevent Sri Lankan Army (SLA) attacks on innocent civilians.
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News in Brief:

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 29 December 1998, 18:32 GMT]
A house was damaged in shelling from the Elephant Pass SLA base. VoT announces LTTE losses. Sri Lanka meteorological sources say there has been heavy rainfall through out the island, and 300 houses built under the resettlement programme were handed over to residents.
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Eastern refugees languish in Mannar

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 December 1998, 15:13 GMT]
Ninety one civilians from the district of Trincomalee who had fled their villages to the Vanni as a consequence of the war since 1990 have been stranded in Mannar for more than a month due to bureaucratic apathy and bungling while attempting to return to the east.
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Body washed ashore

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 December 1998, 15:11 GMT]
A highly decomposed body washed ashore around 11 a.m. this morning in Erukkalampiddy in the Mannar island today. This is the third to wash ashore in the Mannar island since last week.
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Civilians move from Mulliyavalai

[TamilNet, Sunday, 27 December 1998, 05:02 GMT]
A large number of civilians from Mulliyavalai in the Mullaithivu district began moving towards Puthukkudiyiruppu since last night fearing another advance by the Sri Lankan Army (SLA).
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Ten civilians wounded in shelling

[TamilNet, Saturday, 26 December 1998, 08:35 GMT]
Ten members of a family, including five children, were wounded in the village of Koduvamadu early this morning around 4 a.m. when Sri Lankan security forces fired artillery towards the western hinterland of the Batticaloa district.
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Twelve Tigers killed in boat accident

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 December 1998, 22:32 GMT]
The Voice of Tigers (VoT) radio said today that 12 members of the Liberation Tigers, includig a Lt. Colonel were killed in a boat accident in the "Tamil Ealam waters" on December 12.
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Civilians clear protected vegetation

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 December 1998, 22:31 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) forced civilians in the Aarumukaththaankudiyiruppu area, north of Batticaloa, this morning to clear the thick rattan undergrowth on the roadside before the weekly convoy passed the area. The cutting of Rattan plant (cane, genera Calamus and Daemonothops) is strictly prohibited under environmental laws in Sri Lanka.
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Accident victims die

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 December 1998, 16:21 GMT]
A civilian who was injured when a Sri Lankan Police pickup truck hit his bicycle in Polihandy, a coastal village between Valvettithurai and Pt.Pedro in Vadamaradchi in Jaffna, on Saturday December 19 succumbed to his wounds today at the Jaffna hospital.
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SLA ambush kills five civilians - radio

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 December 1998, 22:46 GMT]
The Voice of Tigers (VoT) radio said in its night transmission that five civilians were killed in a Sri Lanka Army(SLA) ambush along the Nedunkerni - Mullaithivu road around 8.30 am today.
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28 civilians killed recently

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 December 1998, 22:43 GMT]
Twenty eight civilians were killed in the Vanni during the past 80 days in separate attacks carried out by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and Air Force (SLAF), human rights sources said. Over 30 other civilians were wounded.
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Civilian wounded in booby trap

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 December 1998, 18:15 GMT]
A villager was wounded badly and his left leg had to be amputated in Kilinochchi district when he stepped on a booby trap on Friday December 18. Sinnathurai Ganesamoorthy was wounded when he went to Kanagapuram to inspect his abandoned house.
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350 eastern villagers arrested

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 December 1998, 15:09 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Army (SLA) arrested more than 350 civilians in the villages of Kondaiankerny, Kinnaiady, Sungaankerni and Karuvaakerny near Valaichenai, 32 kilometers north of Batticaloa, this morning for interrogation in connection with the activities of the Liberation Tigers in the area.
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Oddusuddan residents relocated

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 December 1998, 12:28 GMT]
The SLA has brought 761 persons belonging to 216 families to Vavuniya from Oddusuddan, officials said today. About 40 persons are still remaining at Oddusuddan in the custody of the SLA, the sources added.
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Frustrated troops destroy property

[TamilNet, Friday, 18 December 1998, 10:09 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Army (SLA) burnt a grocery and barbershop last night in Kannankiramam, a village on the outskirts of Valaichenai, 32 kilometers north of Batticaloa.
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Shelling victim dies

[TamilNet, Thursday, 17 December 1998, 19:46 GMT]
An elderly civilian, M.Vadivel (74), who was wounded by a shell fired from the Sri Lankan Army (SLA) base at Elephant Pass, towards Muththyankaddu on December 3, died in a Colombo hospital, said sources.
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Action urged over Chemmani graves

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 December 1998, 19:13 GMT]
The Vanni Citizen's Committee has urged the UN Commission for Human Rights to intervene in the affair of the Chemmani mass graves and to bring pressure to bear on the Sri Lankan government to take appropriate action against those responsible for the killings of those buried in the graves.
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New cycle parts banned

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 December 1998, 18:47 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) units stationed at the checkpoint between government and LTTE held areas, at Uylankulam in Mannar district have denied permission for the civilians entering the LTTE-held Vanni to take new bicycle parts along with them, civilians from there said.
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Buddhist monk arrested in Amparai

[TamilNet, Monday, 14 December 1998, 16:36 GMT]
Kadiragamuwa Sri Ratna Himi, a Buddhist monk accused of stealing archaeological treasures in the south-eastern parts of Sri Lanka, was produced in the Amapara district court today.
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