STF shoots dead 2 SLA soldiers, civilian in Ampaa'rai

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 April 2008, 18:10 GMT]
Sri Lanka Special Task Force (STF) commandos lying in ambush in a shrub jungle shot and killed 2 Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers and a civilian in Oo’ra’ni area in Poththuvil, Ampaa’rai district, Tuesday around 2:00 p.m. The SLA troops, gathering civilians, had gone to collect firewood when the STF commandos opened fire on them. An SLA soldier and a civilian injured in the shooting were admitted to Ampaa’rai hospital.
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Hand bomb recovered from Rajarata campus

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 April 2008, 14:16 GMT]
A hand bomb was found abandoned in the premises of the Rajarata University Campus located in Anuradhapura town in the north central province Saturday evening. The Mihintale police is conducting inquiries to find out how it was brought into the university campus compound through security checkpoint, reports from Anuradhapura said.
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A church in Madu destroyed, dreaded stage of ethnic cleansing, says TNA MP

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 April 2008, 13:03 GMT]
The Sacred Heart Church of the Madu Shrine complex has been destroyed in SLA shelling after the priests had taken away the image of Our Lady of Madu last Thursday, reveal the photos taken by K. Baskaran, a photographer who visited the Madu church on Sunday. "Any desecration of Madu is likely to be understood as an effort of the Sinhala Buddhist chauvinism to erase out the symbols of other religions and thus serving a spiritual blow which is the most dreaded stage in the process of ethnic cleansing," Vanni District Parliamentarian Selvam Adaikkalanathan told TamilNet Tuesday.
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"Sri Lanka at the brink"

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 April 2008, 12:26 GMT]
Advocating a "federal accommodation for Sri Lanka's Tamil minority," Dr Whitehall in an article on Australia's News Weekly says: "In the first eight months of 2007, an estimated 1,212 Tamils were murdered or disappeared, according to the Sri Lanka-based Law and Society Trust, which reports that Tamils to have been "overwhelmingly affected". Of these victims, 23 were aid and church workers, eight worked with the media, and 68 were children. Most of the abuses occurred in Jaffna, the historic capital of the Tamil region, which is now "occupied" by over 50,000 Sri Lankan troops. Many of the reported abuses have occurred within "high security zones" under the control of those troops."
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SLA soldier remanded for robbery in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 April 2008, 09:01 GMT]
A Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldier from an SLA camp in Kaithadi in Thenmaraadchi, arrested by Chaavakachcheari police who found stolen jewellery and cash in his possession in the camp, was produced before Chaavakachcheari Magistrate Courts, sources in Chaavakachcheari said. The police arrested the SLA troop on information provided by the family from Kaithadi who were robbed of their jewellery and cash worth millions of rupees.
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SLA conducts search operation in Gampaha, Kelaniya

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 April 2008, 17:10 GMT]
The cordon and search operation launched immediately after the killing of Minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle in Gampaha and Kelaniya divisions in western province on Sunday morning by soldiers of the Sri Lanka and police is still continuing Monday. Every house, shop and other buildings in the area is being checked by the security forces to find out strangers, media sources said.
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LTTE urges Norway to take steps to end military assault on Madu shrine

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 April 2008, 15:52 GMT]
Liberation Tigers Political Head B. Nadesan on Monday sent an urgent letter to Norwegian International Development Minister Erik Solheim, placing a request to the Royal Norwegian Government to take steps to immediately end the military assault of the holy Madu shrine in Mannaar district. "The international community together with the international institutions that are concerned about protecting the historical treasures of the world must be brought together and we hope the Royal Norwegian Government together with them will take the necessary actions to end the attacks on the church," Mr. Nadesan urged Norway.
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STF shoots dead 2 Tamils in Vavu’natheevu

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 April 2008, 08:57 GMT]
Special Task Force (STF) commandoes shot dead two Tamil civilians at 8:30 a.m in Paalcheanai area in Vavu’natheevu police division in Batticaloa district, following a Claymore attack on a STF road patrol unit in Paavatkodicheanai in Paalcheanai, sources in Batticaloa said.
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Lankan ploy of Buddhism for subversion in Tamil Nadu: Viduthalai Rajendran

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 April 2008, 06:08 GMT]
Circumstantial evidence supports the hand of the Lankan government’s National Intelligence Bureau in the Buddhist temple-building campaign in Tamil Nadu, observed political analyst TSS Mani in Win TV’s News and Views, reported Tehelka Magazine, on Saturday. It further quoted Viduthalai Rajendran, General Secretary of Periyar Dravidar Kazhagam (PDK), saying “ the temple-building a ploy to woo Indian Dalits and pit them against Sri Lankan Tamils on religious lines” A Sinhalese delegation of prominent Buddhist monks laid foundation stones for Buddhist places of worship in Tamil Nadu. Most of them are archaeological sites.
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30 booby traps explode in 5 days in Mannaar - LTTE

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 April 2008, 16:46 GMT]
30 Sri Lanka Army soldiers were either wounded or killed in random explosions in no-go zone between the LTTE and SLA controlled areas in Mannaar district, according to LTTE's Operations Command in Mannaar. Meanwhile, 3 SLA soldiers were gunned down by the LTTE snipers near Adampan on Sunday, according to the LTTE.
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Two pronged SLA offensive attempt thwarted in Vavuniyaa - LTTE

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 April 2008, 14:57 GMT]
At least 9 Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers were killed and more than 13 SLA soldiers wounded when Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) confronted the SLA on two fronts at Paalamoaddai in Vavuniya - Mannaar border Sunday. Heavy fighting raged from 8:30 a.m. till 5:40 p.m. until the SLA troops were withdrawn, according to LTTE's Operations Command in Vavuniyaa. Due to heavy artillery barrage, the remaining 32 families in Koayil Kugnchukku'lam and Kungnchukku'lam have displaced from their villages.
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No bus service for Delft residents

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 April 2008, 12:53 GMT]
The single bus belonging to Sri Lanka Transport Board the provides public transport within the islet of Delft spends more time in the depot undergoing repairs than time on the road forcing local residents who live close to the western shores of the islet to walk more than four miles to reach Mavilthurai jetty or to travel to local hospital, sources in Jaffna said.
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War exercise turns Va'rani into battleground

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 April 2008, 11:49 GMT]
More than one thousand Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troopers participated in a war exercise in Ka'ndalkaadu area in Va'rani, Thenmaraadchy from 8:00 p.m Friday to 9:00 a.m. Saturday, residents in Va'rani said.
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SLA's security measures keep Jaffna uncleared of mines

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 April 2008, 06:44 GMT]
As Landmine Danger Awareness Week is observed in Jaffna peninsula, 95,75,958 sq.ms of the district remain infested with landmines due to Sri Lanka Army’s (SLA) refusal to permit demining activities in the High Security Zones (HSZ) and other areas, Jaffna Secretariat sources said. In addition, killings and abduction of the demining personnel belonging to Danish-demining organization and Halo Trust, allegedly by SLA troops and SLA-backed paramilitaries, have also forced these organizations to limit their services in the peninsula.
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Military convoys hinder civilian use of public roads in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 April 2008, 01:29 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA), have been blocking the public from using key roads in Jaffna while transporting troops and weapons to the Northern Front Defence Lines (FDLs), causing severe hardships for the public who are kept waiting for several hours until the convoys pass through, sources in Jaffna said. Requests by civil society organizations to SLA authorities in Jaffna to reduce hardships to the public remain unattended, sources added.
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SLA trooper stabs fellow soldier in Point Pedro

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 April 2008, 12:24 GMT]
A Sri Lanka Army (SLA) trooper stabbed a fellow soldier after a hostile verbal exchange near Maniyangkadai Junction in Point Pedro Friday morning and injured him seriously, sources in Point Pedro said.
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Moothoor resettled lack basic facilities-TNA

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 April 2008, 11:29 GMT]
Resettled families sheltered in schools at Pallikudiruppu and Amman Nagar in Moothoor east in Trincomalee district are undergoing serious difficulties without basic facilities and other relief, since their return, K.Thurairatnasingham, Trincomalee district Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian said in a complaint to Resettlement Minister Rishard Badiudin. About 200 families have been resettled in Pallikudiduruppu and 70 families at Amman Nagar close to Arafat Nagar, about one km off from Moothoor east.
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The temporal and spiritual conquest of Tamils: Mahinda's book of dreams

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 April 2008, 07:18 GMT]
More than security concerns, the sentiments of Tamil Christians and their mistrust of Sri Lankan State seem to be the impelling force behind the decision of taking away Our Lady of Madu from her abode. Those who could look at how Kathirkaamam was confiscated from the predominance of Tamils and how the ancient temples behind the Tamil Saiva myth are inside ‘High Security Zones’, could understand the fear of Tamil Christians. The question is whether the International Community and India, which contribute to the military option, don’t understand or don’t want to understand the fact that if there is anything to be defeated militarily in Sri Lanka, it is the chauvinism of the Sri Lankan State.
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740 disappearances in Jaffna peninsula in two years

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 April 2008, 05:11 GMT]
The number of persons reported missing has reached 740 during the period from December 2005 up to the present, according to complaints registered with the Human Rights Office (HRC) in Jaffna. The number of persons disappeared is more than 740 as many parents and family members of the disappeared persons do not complain at the HRC Jaffna for fear of falling victims to Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troops and SLA-backed paramilitaries, alleged to be the abductors, sources in Jaffna said.
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SLA delays WB official access to school in Thellippazhai HSZ

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 April 2008, 15:10 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troops deployed at the entrance to the High Security Zone (HSZ) in Thellippazhai initially refused to allow the World Bank (WB) resident representative for Sri Lanka and Education Directors to enter Thellippazhai Union College located in the HSZ Tuesday. They were let in only after the World Bank representative said that he may have to refer the matter to the Secretary of Defence, sources in Jaffna said. The team of officials, after attending a meeting Tuesday on alleged malpractices in the free meal scheme of World Bank at the Jaffna Secretariat, were on their way to inspect the site of the scheme in Union College.
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