HC applications filed on behalf detained Tamil fishermen

[TamilNet, Saturday, 31 March 2007, 11:03 GMT]
Habeas Corpus (HC) applications have been filed in Sri Lanka's Court of Appeal on behalf of five Tamil fishermen of eastern province arrested in Mannar Sea on 21 March 2006 by Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) for allegedly straying into the high security zone (HSZ), legal sources said. The fishermen are currently being kept in detention under the Emergency Regulations (ER) without being charged in court of law since their arrest.
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Eleven Tamil civilians arrested in Kohuwela

[TamilNet, Saturday, 31 March 2007, 10:55 GMT]
The Dehiwala Police took eleven Tamil civilians including two women into custody in a sudden cordon and search operation conducted Friday night at Kohuwela area, a suburb of Colombo. All of the arrested are natives of NorthEast, and had been staying with relatives and friends, sources said.
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Launch all-out war on LTTE, PNM tells Rajapakse

[TamilNet, Saturday, 31 March 2007, 02:59 GMT]
The National Patriotic Movement (NPM) urged the President Mahinda Rajapakse to conduct an all-out war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), sources in Colombo said. before it l "We should attack before the LTTE launches an air strike on Temple Trees residence in Colombo. No country has condemned the air strike by LTTE on country's main military air base in Katunayake," said NPM leader Venerable Dambara Amila Thera addressing a press briefing held Thursday in Sri Lanka Foundation Institute hall.
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Air-strike, a warning to SLAF- Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 March 2007, 13:25 GMT]
Liberation Tigers Political Head S.P. Thamilchelvan, stating that the air strike by the Tigers on the nerve centre of the Sri Lankan Air Force (SLAF) in Katunayake was "a one hundred percent successful mission," Thursday told media in Kilinochchi that the "precision air strike" by the Tigers on the SLAF was a "clear message" to the Sri Lankan state, to end the sustained bombardment of the Tamil homeland. "Within the last 6 months alone, the Sri Lankan Air Force has carried out at least 2 sorties every other day for more than 90 days. Hundreds of Tamil civilians have been killed, many wounded, and hundreds of thousands have been displaced due to the repeated bombardment," he added
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5 SLA troopers killed in claymore attack in Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 March 2007, 11:12 GMT]
Unidentified persons triggered a claymore device Friday afternoon at Parayanalankulam in Vavuniya district killing five Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troopers travelling in a tractor, military sources in Colombo said.
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Resettle, provide relief to East refugees, TNA urges UN

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 March 2007, 11:45 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA), in a letter to the United Nations representative in Colombo, urged the International Agencies to take steps to resettle displaced refugees, all Tamils, by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) offensive in the East. The TNA also complained most of the refugees's houses have suffered damages and that they be provided with compensation to rebuild their houses.
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HRW slams Sri Lanka’s support for Karuna Group

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 March 2007, 11:38 GMT]
Despite promises to investigate abductions of children by the pro-government Karuna group, Sri Lankan authorities have taken no effective action and abductions continue, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Thursday. “The Karuna group’s use of child soldiers with state complicity is more blatant today than ever before, ” Brad Adams, Asia director at HRW said in a statement. HRW also accused the LTTE of recruiting child soldiers. “The Karuna group is doing the government’s dirty work,” Adams said. “It’s time for authorities in Colombo to stop this group from using children in its forces.”
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Release abductees immediately, demands Colombo Rights Group

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 March 2007, 23:08 GMT]
Altogether seventy-eight persons have been abducted or gone missing in Colombo and its suburbs since August 2006. We demand they be released immediately and call upon the Sri Lanka Government to take steps to have them freed," said members of the Committee for Finding Missing Persons (CFMP), at the Satyagraha demonstration held in Hyde Park Corner in Colombo Wednesday from 10:00 a.m to 3:00 p.m, sources in Colombo said.
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India sidesteps LTTE air strike

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 March 2007, 19:07 GMT]
India treaded with caution and reserve Wednesday while reacting to the Tamil Tigers' air strike on the Sri Lankan Air Force base at Katunayake airport on Sunday, Indian press reports said. Indian Foreign Secretary Shiv Shanker Menon was quoted as saying India was concerned general escalation of violence in which the airstrike was one incident.
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Mirusuvil massacre case inquiry resumes

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 March 2007, 11:09 GMT]
The Colombo High Court Trial-at-Bar (TAB) inquiry into the Mirusuvil massacre case was fixed for June 25 when it was taken up before the specially constituted three member bench comprising Judges Mr.Upali Abeyaratne (Chairman), Mr.Deepali Wijesundara and Mr.Sunil Rajapakse last Monday, legal sources in Colombo said.
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Bogollagama meets with Co-chair Ambassadors

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 March 2007, 14:59 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister, Rohitha Bogollagama, met with the Ambassadors of the Co-Chair countries at the Foreign Ministry building in Colombo Tuesday, diplomatic sources from Colombo said. The discussions centered on the threat to Sri Lanka's security by the demonstrated capability of the Air-Tigers to penetrate air-defences of Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) and to strike at Sri Lanka's military nerve centers, sources close to the meeting said.
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LTTE Air Strike, no terrorism- SAAG

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 March 2007, 12:16 GMT]
B. Raman, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, South Asia Analysis Group (SAAG) Chennai, says in his analysis: "The TAF's [Tamileelam Air Force's] air strike was well-planned and equally well-executed. It was a night operation taking advantage of the weak capability of the SLAF for night operations. It was a precision attack, which carefully avoided causing any casualty or damage in the international airport, which could have roused international ire. There were no civilian casualties----targeted or collateral. As a result, it would not be possible to characterise the attack as an act of terrorism. It was pure and simple a conventional air strike."
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2 Tamil civilians arrested in Colombo after air strike

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 March 2007, 10:14 GMT]
Sri Lanka Police took two persons, both Tamils, into custody in Colombo and its suburbs on Monday in cordon and search operations conducted in connection with the air strike on Katunayake air base by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), military sources said.
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Sri Lanka blackout on Air Force losses

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 March 2007, 22:24 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s President held an emergency meeting of the country’s security leadership Monday as the government imposed a total blackout on the Liberation Tigers' bombing raid on Katunayake, the island’s main airbase in the early hours. Whilst the government says only two helicopter gunships were slightly damaged, airmen coming off duty told reporters in Colombo that several SLAF jet bombers were put out of action by fierce fires which broke out in the hangars struck by the LTTE aircraft. Up to 40% of the SLAF’s strike capability has been knocked out, they said.
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UNP demands parliamentary debate on air attack

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 March 2007, 21:13 GMT]
Ranil Wickremasinghe, leader of the main opposition United National Party (UNP), has requested the Prime Minister, Ratnasiri Wickremanayake to summon the parliament immediately to discuss the current security situation in Sri Lanka following the Monday predawn air strike by the air wing of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on the Katunayake airbase.
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Sri Lankan MIG bombers attack coastal villages in Mannar, Mullaitheevu

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 March 2007, 13:23 GMT]
Four Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) Russian made MIG bombers Monday noon attacked Vellankulam, located north of Iluppaikkadavai in Mannar district and Pokkanai in Puthukudiyiruppu in Mullaithivu district in the evening around 5:30 p.m. Both the locations bombed were civilian areas.
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5 Tamil fishermen held without charges

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 March 2007, 11:23 GMT]
Five Tamil fishermen, arrested on 21 March 2006 by Sri Lanka Navy for allegedly straying into the high security zone in Mannar sea, are still being detained in Colombo magazine prison under the Emergency Regulations (ER) without any charge, as relevant documents not reviewed by Attorney General's department for more than a year, legal sources said. The fishermen were produced defence before the Colombo Chief Magistrate last Friday.


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Colombo International Airport resumes air traffic

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 March 2007, 06:45 GMT]
The Colombo BIA Airport has resumed air traffic, according to Sri Lankan Airlines officials in Colombo. The flights, diverted to other airports due to the attack on military controlled area of the airport, will now reposition to Colombo, the officials added.
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Air-Tigers attack Katunayake military airbase

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 March 2007, 20:06 GMT]
Two attack air-crafts belonging to Liberation Tigers carried out bombing raids at the Sri Lanka Air Force airbase at Katunayake at 12:45 a.m. early morning Monday and returned safely to Vanni, military spokesperson of the LTTE, Irasaiah Ilanthiraiyan told TamilNet. The targets for the air attack were the SLAF's Kfir and MiG-27 hangars at the military base located adjoining the Katunayake International Airport (KIA), Ilanthiraiyan said. Meanwhile, military officials in Sri Lanka's capital Colombo said 3 Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) personnel were killed and 15 wounded in the attack.
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CID to question Samaraweera

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 March 2007, 12:35 GMT]
Media reports in Colombo said Mangala Samaraweera, one of the three-sacked ministers by Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse in a major cabinet reshuffle last month, is likely to be taken in for questioning regarding an alleged malpractice during his tenure as minister. Mr. Samaraweera was foreign minister when he was dismissed from the cabinet, sources said.
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