2 civilians seek protection with HRC Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 11 March 2008, 04:20 GMT]
Two civilians from Puththoor Navakkiri and Chaavakachcheari areas sought protection Monday with Human Rights Commission (HRC) Jaffna due to death threats by Sri Lanka Amy (SLA) troops and SLA-backed paramilitaries, sources in Jaffna said. Meanwhile, 44 persons placed in protective custody of Jaffna Prison have been taken to the SLA Special Rehabilitation Centre in the High Security Zone (HSZ) in Thellippa’lai, the sources added.
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5 civilians arrested in Wellawatte

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 11 March 2008, 03:10 GMT]
Five civilians, all said to be Tamils, were arrested Monday in Wellawatte area in Colombo city in a cordon and search operation conducted by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and police immediately after the time bomb explosion that took place near Roxy Theatre Monday morning around 7 a.m., media sources said quoting Wellawatte police sources.
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Allaippiddi IDPs reluctant to return despite concessions

[TamilNet, Monday, 10 March 2008, 16:11 GMT]
Sri Lanka government (GoSL) and Jaffna Government Agent (GA) are making efforts to resettle Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from Allaippiddi, displaced due to Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) offensives in August 2006, offering benefits and concessions with the help of International and local Non-government organizations, Jaffna Secretariat sources said. But 90% of the IDP fishing families are reluctant to return because fishing, their main means of living, is banned by SLN and the danger from land mines near civilian settlements have not been fully eliminated, IDP related welfare organization sources said.
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Claymore mine recovered, Pillayan votes with SLA protection

[TamilNet, Monday, 10 March 2008, 10:48 GMT]
Police recovered a Claymore mine near Chanthive'li voting booth Monday around 7:00 a.m. after a rumor spread that a mine was placed near the Chanthive'li Chitthi Vinaaykar School. At Kiraan, a grenade explosion was reported near a voting booth around 9:00 a.m., Police said. Meanwhile, key paramilitary operative of the TMVP group, Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillayan, cast his vote at Vaazhaichcheanai Vipulananthar school with Sri Lankan police protection.
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International leftists urge support for Tamil cause

[TamilNet, Monday, 10 March 2008, 02:50 GMT]
More than thirty international leftwing political parties and organisations who met last week as part of a conference organized by Fourth International in Amsterdam made an appeal to “left wing and progressive forces to come forward in defence of the just cause of the Tamil people.” In a public statement they demanded that the Sri Lankan government “stop imposing its will militarily on the Tamil people.”
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Danish MEP condemns Sivanesan killing

[TamilNet, Sunday, 09 March 2008, 22:42 GMT]
Danish Member of European Parliament, Søren Søndergaard, condemned the murder of K. Sivanesan, Sri Lanka's Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian calling on the Danish government and the entire International Community to condemn the killing of Tamil parliamentarians, and to take efforts to help Sri Lanka reach a just peace that could benefit people of all ethnic groups in Sri Lanka, media sources in Denmark said. He also expressed concern that Norway has carried a significant burden in shouldering peace mediation task with little assistance from others.
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Jaffna SLA Commander to relax travel restrictions

[TamilNet, Sunday, 09 March 2008, 22:21 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Jaffna Commander, Major. Gen. G. A. Chandrasiri, released a communique Sunday indicating he will take steps to relax restrictions faced by Jaffna residents when seeking SLA permission to leave the peninsula to attend urgent and important matters including medical treatment, civil society sources in Jaffna said. Jaffna residents said they were not optimistic of positive developments in this regard pointing to similar measures to ease travel restrictions previously announced by the Commander which still remain unfulfilled.
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20 SLA killed, 62 wounded in Mannaar - LTTE

[TamilNet, Sunday, 09 March 2008, 17:17 GMT]
Liberation Tigers Operations Command in Mannaar on Sunday said 20 Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers were killed Saturday in heavy fighting that lasted for 8 hours from 9:50 a.m. in Cheaththukku'lam in Mannaar. 62 SLA soldiers were wounded, the Tigers said.
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Artillery duel in Northern Front

[TamilNet, Sunday, 09 March 2008, 11:05 GMT]
An intense artillery duel was reported across Mukamaalai and Naakarkoayil in the Northern Front Sunday from 1:00 p.m. till 3:00 p.m., sources in Thenmaraadchi said. LTTE fired artillery shells had hit Sri Lanka Army (SLA) positions in Thenmaraadchi.
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Genocidal policies exposed, Colombo stands weakened - Nadesan

[TamilNet, Saturday, 08 March 2008, 22:49 GMT]
"Signs of desperation are evident in Sri Lanka’s defense hierarchy as the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) divisions stay bogged down within a few square kilometers in Mannaar, unable to advance for nearly a year. While SLA commanders are on foreign jaunts to build hurried military alliances, Colombo has also suffered politically with its racist policies in governance exposed internationally, and has earned opprobrium from international community for the escalating human rights violations," said B. Nadesan, head of political section of the Liberation Tigers addressing the event held in Ki'linochchi to pay last respects to the slain parliamentarian, K. Sivanesan, Saturday.
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LTTE leader pays tribute to Sivanesan MP

[TamilNet, Saturday, 08 March 2008, 18:46 GMT]
The leader of the Liberation Tigers, Velupillai Pirapaharan, on Saturday, paid tribute to the slain Jaffna District Tamil National Alliance MP Kiddinan Sivanesan in the Vanni. LTTE's Intelligence Wing Chief Poddu Ammaan, Political Head B. Nadesan and the Head of Financial Division Thamizheanthi were also present with LTTE leader to pay homage to the slain MP at an undisclosed location in Vanni.
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Search operation in Anuradhapura

[TamilNet, Saturday, 08 March 2008, 14:06 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and police Saturday launched a cordon and search operation in Anuradhapura and took several persons for questioning. Police said they launched the operation after receiving information from a civilian on the presence of a claymore mine weighing about 10 kg close to a tank.
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Sinhala daily: Sri Lanka tops Asian countries in number of NGOs

[TamilNet, Saturday, 08 March 2008, 11:18 GMT]
Around 600 Non Government Organisations (NGOs) are officially present in Sri Lanka, while 400 more NGOs are also engaged in Sri Lanka without official presence, Divayina, a Sinhala language daily reported on Saturday. Highlighting that Sri Lanka had become a lucrative country for peace agencies, the paper pointed out that more than one hundred organisations were engaged in peace-related business, benefiting from the CFA. The newspaper criticized 8 organizations for managing to get foreign funding to the tune of 20 million rupees per year and further alleged that these organizations, which claimed to be researching about peace, were in fact supplying "false information" to foreign actors.
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Heavy fighting erupts in Parappaangka'ndal, Mannaar

[TamilNet, Saturday, 08 March 2008, 09:11 GMT]
Heavy fighting has broke out between the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) in Parappaangka'ndal area in Mannaar from early morning Saturday. The main road linking Mannaar and Mathavaachchi was blocked from 10:00 a.m. till noon when ambulances were busy transporting casualties to Anuradhapura from Uyilangku'lam junction and a Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) helicopter was engaged in air-ambulance sorties from a landing pad near Tha'l'laadi.
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4 SLA killed in Moneragala ambush - LTTE

[TamilNet, Saturday, 08 March 2008, 07:34 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) Military Spokesman Irasiah Ilanthiraiyan said four Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers were killed in a Claymore ambush attack that targeted a SLA tractor at 53 Mile Post near Chellak-kathirkaamam in Moneragala district, around 9:45 a.m., Saturday. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka Police said 6 soldiers were wounded in the attack and one of the wounded solider succumbed to his injuries at Kataragama hospital. 2 SLA soldiers were wounded in the attack, according to the Tigers.
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Diaspora groups demand international action over MP’s slaying

[TamilNet, Saturday, 08 March 2008, 02:52 GMT]
Tamil Diaspora organisations Friday condemned the killing of Tamil parliamentarian K. Sivanesan Thursday in a fragmentation mine attack blamed on Sri Lankan commandos and called for international action against the Colombo government. Pointing out that Mr. Sivanesan is the latest Tamil MP to be murdered by suspected Army-backed paramilitaries or members of the security forces in recent years, expatriate organisations from Australia, Canada and Britain called for the Sri Lankan government to be held accountable and for international sanctions to be imposed.
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Karaveddi civilians pay homage to slain MP Sivanesan

[TamilNet, Saturday, 08 March 2008, 00:25 GMT]
Amidst tension in the village of Keava'lai in Karaveddi East due to heavy presence of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troopers, thousands of civilians paid homage Friday to the slain Jaffna District Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian K.Sivanesan assassinated Thursday in a claymore mine attack allegedly carried out by a Deep Penetration Unit of the Sri Lanka Army, south of Maangku'lam on A-9 Road in Vanni. The body of the slain parliamentarian was taken to his home town in Karaveddi East to enable the public to pay their last respects.
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GoSL lacks will to bring justice – IIGEP

[TamilNet, Saturday, 08 March 2008, 00:16 GMT]
A lack of will on the part of the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) was one factor in the International Independent Group of Eminent Persons (IIGEP) terminating its operations in Sri Lanka, Prof. Sir. Nigel Rodley, representing Britain in the International Independent Group of Eminent Persons (IIGEP), told BBC Tamil service in an interview Thursday.
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SLN, Police instruct Vanni IDPs away from Mannaar island

[TamilNet, Friday, 07 March 2008, 18:52 GMT]
Sri Lanka Navy and Police officials in Mannaar island have instructed the civil authorities at Mannaar District Secretariat not to accommodate refugees who arrive to the Island from Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) controlled areas in recent days by boats within the Mannaar island. 28 persons from 8 families who have arrived by boat from Moon'raam piddi, Valaippaadu and Naachchikkudaa from LTTE controlled areas by boat to the Mannaar island were taken by the SL forces to Naanaaddan in the mainland to an old rice mill building.
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SLA, LTTE clash at Paalamoaddai, Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Friday, 07 March 2008, 17:33 GMT]
Liberation Tigers Operations Command in Vavuniyaa Friday said the Tigers confronted the Sri Lanka Army at Paalamoaddai in Vavuniyaa - Mannaar border, forcing the SLA to withdraw its forces to its FDL Friday afternoon.
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