3 Sinhala leftist journalists, activists abducted

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 February 2007, 06:40 GMT]
A former journalist with the leftist Hiru paper, Lalith Seneviratne, was abducted at his home Monday night. Meanwhile, a trade union activist and editor of the monthly Akuna (Thunder), Sisira Priyankara, was reported missing from his work at an electrical workshop and another activist Nihal Serasinghe, who worked with the monthly was also abducted Monday evening. Leftist activists have alleged that the three friends were kidnapped by an abduction squad operated by the Sri Lankan military.
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Two killed, civilian injured in Batticaloa firefight

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 February 2007, 02:08 GMT]
Two unindentified youths were killed and one civilian critically injured when Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) cadres and members of Karuna group engaged in a firefight in Kaluthavalai in Kaluwanchikkudy Police division in Batticaloa district around 6:00 p.m. Monday.
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42 Tamil civilians arrested in Kohuwela

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 February 2007, 19:44 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Government security forces in a cordon and search operation conducted Sunday night in Kohuwela in Colombo arrested 42 Tamil civilians including girl students, sources in Colombo said.
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Four commuters arrested in Trinco-Colombo train

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 February 2007, 10:31 GMT]
Four civilian commuters traveling in Trincomalee bound Colombo train were taken into custody Sunday during a search operation conducted by the Sri Lanka security forces in the train, sources from Trincomalee said.
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Rajapakse to visit Maldives

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 February 2007, 10:30 GMT]
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse is to pay a two-day official visit to Maldives this week. He is expected to leave for Maldives on February 10 or 11, government sources said.
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Colombo arrested to be sent to Boosa camp

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 February 2007, 10:26 GMT]
The Colombo Magistrate Monday allowed an application by the police to send Tamil civilians arrested in cordon and search operations conducted in Fort and Pettah areas in Colombo on Saturday and Sunday to Boosa detention camp located in the southern province, sources said.
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More UNP defections expected this week

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 February 2007, 10:37 GMT]
Ten more United National Party dissident parliamentarians are expected to cross over to the UPFA-government in the coming days, according to informed political sources in Colombo.
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Colombo under tight security on Independence Day

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 February 2007, 03:56 GMT]
Security has been stepped up further in Colombo city Sunday for the Independence day celebrations. Several hundreds of troops of three armed forces and police personnel have been deployed in Galle Face Green where the 59th Independence Day celebration is to be held Sunday morning, sources said.
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300 Tamils arrested in Colombo ahead of Independence Day celebrations

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 February 2007, 03:04 GMT]
More than 300 persons, majority of them Tamils, were arrested during a combined cordon and search operation conducted by Sri Lanka security forces in Fort and Pettah areas in Colombo, Sunday morning.
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Chirac highlights civilian suffering on Sri Lanka's Independence Day

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 February 2007, 01:35 GMT]
France's President Jacques Chirac, in a message to Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse on the occasion of the Sri Lanka's Independence Day on February 04, said he wished that a dialogue would start again and that a political solution to the conflict that is tearing Sri Lanka apart would be found. In his message to Mr. Rajapakse, Mr. Chirac noted that "numerous civilians are suffering in a very difficult humanitarian situation," since the fighting resumed beween the Sri Lankan military and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
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Rajapakse visits Vaharai

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 February 2007, 10:39 GMT]
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse Saturday morning visited Vaharai region together with his Commanders and the Defence Secretary, his brother, Gotabhaya Rajapakse. All the mobile phone links in Batticaloa district were disconnected before SLAF helicopters carrying Mr. Rajapakse and his commanders reached Vaharai. The visit, which comes a day before the Sri Lankan Independence Day on Sunday, is to be showcased as a symbol of military victory, before the celebrations in South, that target military recruitment.
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266 Tamils arrested in search operation in Colombo

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 February 2007, 07:57 GMT]
Sri Lanka Police said 266 Tamils, including 53 women, were arrested in a dawn to noon house-to-house search operation, conducted by hundreds of police and armed troops in Fort area and its suburbs in Colombo city, Saturday. They are detained in Fort Police Station and are being interrogated by specially appointed police investigation teams, the police said. The police said the arrested are permanent residents of Jaffna district.
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Fishing hamlet fears backlash after Navy arrests

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 February 2007, 12:40 GMT]
Residents of a fishing hamlet north of Colombo say their community has been dangerously stigmatised after the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) last Saturday blew up one of their boats, seized two others and arrested nine people alleging complicity in a Sea Tiger attack on Colombo port. Munnakkarai is a mixed ethnicity fishing community of around 5000 people, located 1 km southwest of Negombo.
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"White van" armed men abduct two men in Colombo

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 February 2007, 20:11 GMT]
Unidentified armed men in white van abducted two persons in the City of Colombo in two separate places Wednesday night, sources from Colombo said.
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Union: Navy destroyed fishing boats, not Tiger craft

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 31 January 2007, 11:36 GMT]
On Saturday Sri Lanka’s military said it had foiled a Tamil Tiger attack on the Colombo port and that three Sea Tiger boats had been destroyed. The navy said nine people had been arrested in connection with the attack. However, the All Ceylon Fisheries Union (ACFU) Tuesday contradicted the military and said the Navy had fired on fishing boats and arrested fishermen. An alleged black out on news had censored details of an attack said to have destroyed four Sri Lankan vessels in Colombo Harbour last Saturday. A flotilla of five attack boats and four explosions were registered by eyewitnesses.
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UNP to expel dissident MPs

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 31 January 2007, 11:19 GMT]
Dissident parliamentarians of the main opposition United National party (UNP) will be expelled from the party and removed from parliamentary membership after disciplinary inquiry, UNP general secretary Tissa Attanayake, has told media in Colombo Wednesday.
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7 policemen, 3 SLA troopers, civilian killed in Claymore attack

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 31 January 2007, 08:09 GMT]
Seven police constables, three army personnel and a civilian were killed and seven army personnel, five policemen and three civilians injured in claymore mine attack in Batticaloa Wednesday around noon. The claymore mine was triggered along the roadside near the Eastern University premises targeting a bus transporting army and police personnel, around 18 km north of Batticaloa city.
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SL new Foreign Minister visits India

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 31 January 2007, 06:11 GMT]
Rohitha Bogollagama, new Foreign Minister of Sri Lanka left Colombo Tuesday on a two-day stay in New Delhi. This is his first official visit after he took over the new ministry Sunday. He would be leaving to Germany after concluding his Indian visit, government sources in Colombo said.
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Eleven civilians arrested in Nugegoda

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 31 January 2007, 03:31 GMT]
Eleven civilians, majority of them Tamil, were arrested in a house-to-house cordon and search operation conducted by the Sri Lankan security forces in Nugegoda, a suburb in Colombo city, Tuesday night, sources in Colombo said.
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Eastern university reopens with VC still held captive

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 January 2007, 21:05 GMT]
Even though Prof.S.Raveendranath, former Vice Chancellor(VC) of Batticaloa Eastern University abducted in Dec 15 has not been released, the university reopened on Monday 29 after being closed for more than a month, and lectures resumed in all faculties, campus officials said. University Senate recently made the decision to reopen the campus. M.Pathmananathan, acting Vice Chancellor appealed to all parties to extend their co-operation for the smooth functioning of the university activities.
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