Civilian killed in SLA artillery barrage

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 April 2008, 11:59 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Ma'nalaa'ru staged an artillery barrage targeting a civilian settlement in Nedungkea'ni in Vanni for two-hours from 9:50 a.m. Wednesday, killing a 52-year-old father of three and seriously wounding a 32-year-old mother of one, Tamileelam Police officials said.
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Medical student of Jaffna University shot dead

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 April 2008, 05:35 GMT]
Unidentified gunmen shot and killed a former medical student of Jaffna University from Pottpathi Veethi, Kokkuvil, in Jaffna at his house on Tuesday around 7:00 p.m, sources in Jaffna said. The victim is alleged to have been working for the Intelligence Unit of Sri Lanka Army (SLA), and said to have collaborated in the killings, and abductions in Jaffna peninsula, the sources added.
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Family man reported missing in Vadamaraadchi

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 29 April 2008, 15:27 GMT]
A family man from Puloali south in Vadmaraadchi is reported missing since Monday after going to the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) civil administration office near his house to obtain pass (travel permit) to go to Colombo, according to complaint lodged by his wife to Human Rights Commission (HRC) Jaffna office Tuesday. Neighbours who had seen the missing man entering the SLA office said that he did not come out of the office, the wife said in her complaint to HRC.
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UNP accuses ruling party of breach of East election rules

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 29 April 2008, 13:55 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s main opposition United National Party (UNP) parliamentarian, Laxman Kiriyella, charged that the paramilitary Pillayan group, Peoples Liberation Organization of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE), Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP) and Eelam Peoples Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF) that are jointly contesting Eastern Province Provincial (EPC) elections with the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA), for carrying arms besides other violations during the campaign for the forthcoming Easter Provincial Council (EPC) election, UNP sources said.
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Rajapaksa strengthens ties with Iran

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 29 April 2008, 10:24 GMT]
Iranian President Dr. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who arrived in Colombo Monday night on a two-day visit to Sri Lanka, after his 4-hour mission to Pakistan, was scheduled to inaugurate two major projects, a hydro power plant in Moneragala and an aviation oil refinery, in Sri Lanka with USD 2 billion funding from his country. Ahmadinejad is scheduled to meet Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during a brief five-hour visit en route from Colombo back to Tehran, on Tuesday, as media reports in India said that the Iran issue has cast a shadow over Indo-U.S. relations.
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Man released from protective custody of Jaffna Prison missing

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 29 April 2008, 00:33 GMT]
A 33-year-old man from Chaavakacheari in Thenmaraadchi, placed in the protective custody of Jaffna Prison due to death threats by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troops and SLA-backed paramilitaries, has gone missing, according to a complaint filed at the Human Rights Commission (HRC) Jaffna officials by relatives. The man, suffering from chickenpox, had been allowed by authorities a few days ago to stay with his relative for treatment, HRC sources said.
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Female corpse recovered in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 April 2008, 13:28 GMT]
Jaffna police recovered Sunday night the corpse of a young female with gun shot wounds and signs of torture in highly decomposed state from an abandoned house in a deserted area in Naavaanthurai, Jaffna. The National Identity Card (NIC) recovered from the body bears the name, Annalingam Anitha, 22, from Kokkuvil.
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Time bomb recovered at Galgamuwa bus stand

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 April 2008, 11:00 GMT]
A time bomb found in an abandoned parcel at Galgamuwa bus stand in Kurunagala district in the northwestern province was recovered Monday morning about ten minutes before it went off, media sources reported quoting Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Jayantha Jayasinghe.
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Youth shot dead in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 April 2008, 10:00 GMT]
Unidentified armed men shot and killed a youth Monday around 6:15 a.m in front of his house at Urumpiraai East in Jaffna. He was about to leave his house and step on to Jaffna-Palaali road when the killers opened fire on him.
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SLA occupation of Madu, triggers fears of renewed Sinhalicisation

[TamilNet, Sunday, 27 April 2008, 17:42 GMT]
The Madu Road junction located on Mannaar-Madawachchi Road, which branches off the main route to Madu shrine, situated in the middle of traditional Tamil area, became the center of a Sinhala settlement in the 1970s. The Sri Lanka Government had the agenda of transforming the area into a full-fledged Sinhala colony, by using the lands of a cashew farm between the Madu Shrine and the junction. However, the settlement was later abandoned, fearing repercussions following large-scale massacre and arson committed by the Sri Lanka Army in December 1984 after a landmine blast. The spectre of a Sinhalicised Madu area has now become a dangerous new reality with SLA's occupation of Madu shrine.
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SLA killed, 4 soldiers lose legs in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Sunday, 27 April 2008, 16:54 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) defensive units confronted the Sri Lanka Army in Paalamoaddai and Naavatku'lam in Vavuniyaa district on Sunday. At Paalamoaddai one SLA soldier was killed at 12:30 p.m. when the SLA attempted to advance, the Tigers said. Three SLA soldiers were wounded, two of them lost their legs. At Naavatku'lam Tigers seized a T-56 assault rifle, the Tigers said.
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Re-negotiate Kachchatheevu: CPI urges Indian Government

[TamilNet, Sunday, 27 April 2008, 09:41 GMT]
Communist Party of India (CPI) National Secretary D Raja urged the Indian Government to intervene in Sri Lanka's prolonged ethnic strife in view of the escalation of human rights abuses in the island nation. "Finding a solution to the ethnic crisis alone can bring about a solution to the problems of Tamil Nadu fishermen," he said. Recalling that the state Government of Tamil Nadu had protested when India ceded Kadchaththeevu to Sri Lanka in 1974, he urged upon the Indian Government to renegotiate the Kadchaththeevu Accord and facilitate Tamil Nadu fisherment to catch fish without any hindrance whatsoever.
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Mannaar Bishop demands open declaration of Madu as Peace Zone

[TamilNet, Sunday, 27 April 2008, 09:09 GMT]
Bishop of Mannaar, Rev. Dr. Rayappu Joseph, on Saturday told media that the warring parties should openly declare the Madu Shrine and its environs as Peace Zone in order to bring back Our Lady of Madu statue to the Holy Shrine. Meanwhile Sri Lankan Defence ministry in its official news on Sunday quoted Sri Lanka Army Commander Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka as saying: "those who were in charge of the statue have the responsibility of bringing it back". The SL defence ministry added that Madu "would be declared as a security zone," without specifying what it meant with the term, 'security zone.' Vicar General Rev. A. Victor Soosai on Saturday visited the Shrine for an inspection.
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Search operation at Katunayake, 10 arrested

[TamilNet, Sunday, 27 April 2008, 02:16 GMT]
Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) and Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Sunday early morning launched a cordon and search operation in areas surrounding the Katunayake airbase and arrested 10 civilians, majority of them Tamils. Police sources said they are being detained at police station and being interrogated as they failed to prove their identity and justify their stay in the location.
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15 Tamils arrested at Matale

[TamilNet, Sunday, 27 April 2008, 00:24 GMT]
Fifteen Tamil civilians were arrested at Matale town Sunday morning in a cordon and search operation conducted by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and police. The arrested are being detained at Matale police station and interrogated as they failed to prove their identity and justify the presence in the location, media sources said.
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Tigers launch air attack in Ma'nalaa'ru - SLA

[TamilNet, Saturday, 26 April 2008, 21:46 GMT]
Sri Lankan military officials in Colombo said Sunday that Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) had launched air attack on Sri Lanka Army (SLA) positions in Ma'nalaa'ru (Weli Oya) in the early hours of Sunday around 1:45. This is the second time, after the Black Tiger raid on Anuradhapura airbase in October 2007, the Tigers have deployed their air wing combined with the their ground forces.
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One million people in Sri Lanka may face starvation - WFP

[TamilNet, Saturday, 26 April 2008, 15:28 GMT]
“Scarcity of food items and the subsequent escalation in the cost of essential items may result in more than one million in the country facing starvation," Mohamed Saleheen, the resident representative of United Nations (UN) World Food program (WFP) in Colombo told the media Friday. As a result of the situation, the WFP country office in Sri Lanka is facing major crisis, he said, and urged donor countries to respond immediately to overcome the crisis.
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SLA launches offensive in Ma'nalaa'ru

[TamilNet, Saturday, 26 April 2008, 07:32 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) defensive units were confronting Sri Lanka Army (SLA) units that have launched a large-scale offensive push in Ma'nalaa'ru (Weli Oya) Saturday morning around 6:00, according to LTTE Military Spokesman Irasiah Ilanthirayan.
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Mavai Senathirajah meets Jaffna Military Commander

[TamilNet, Saturday, 26 April 2008, 03:06 GMT]
Mavai Senathirajah, Jaffna district Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian, arrived in Jaffna Friday to participate in the 31st Memorial Day of S.J.V. Chelvanayakam Saturday. The first TNA member to return to Jaffna since the assassination of TNA Jaffna MP, Nadarajah Raviraj, in 2006, he met Maj. Gen. G. A. Chandrasiri, Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Jaffna Commander, at the latter’s request Friday in Palaali SLA military complex, the MP told media.
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SLA enters Madu shrine

[TamilNet, Friday, 25 April 2008, 11:55 GMT]
Government of Sri Lanka on Friday officially admitted that the Sri Lanka Army had entered the Madu Shrine. Analysts in Colombo observed that the move, which comes in the wake of the SLA debacle in the Northern Front, was timed to divert increasing focus on recent SLA casualties prior to the provincial elections in the east. Meanwhile, Informed sources in Vanni told TamilNet that the SLA had been stationed 1.5 km away from the Shrine for weeks and it could have entered the Shrine at any time as LTTE defensive units were strictly kept away from the peace zone.
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