SLA offensives towards LTTE bases in Mannaar foiled

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 January 2008, 00:17 GMT]
A massive ground operation, started by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) against Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) bases located in Paalaiku’li and Adampan in Mannaar area, was beaten due to fierce resistance by LTTE cadres, LTTE sources said.
Full story >>

LTTE attacks SLA DPU near Madu Church

[TamilNet, Friday, 18 January 2008, 18:32 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) combatants staged a surprise attack on Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troopers from the Deep Penetration Unit lying in ambush having planted claymore devices near Madu Church along Mannaar-Madu road in Mannaar district Thursday around 2.00 p.m causing SLA troops to flee, carrying the wounded, LTTE command in Mannaar region said.
Full story >>

Ki'linochchi schools close fearing SLAF attacks

[TamilNet, Friday, 18 January 2008, 18:29 GMT]
Two schools in Ki'linochchi were closed, while three other schools were without pupils Friday as many students chose to stay home near bunkers fearing another SLAF bombing raid. Four Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombs missed hitting Kanakapuram Maha Viththiyaalayam by 100 meters, and 790 schoolchildren and 22 teachers at the school narrowly escaped death. One civilian was killed and seven wounded in the air-strike.
Full story >>

SLAF bombing raid injures 3 civilians in Vanni

[TamilNet, Friday, 18 January 2008, 17:07 GMT]
Sri Lanka Air Force (SLA) fighter jets dropped 12 bombs in 3 sorties Friday morning on civilian settlements in Va'l'lipunam in Vanni, injuring three civilians including a woman, besides completely destroying a settlement, sources in Vanni said. An event enrolling new students to Grade I in Udaiyaarkaddu Mahavithtiyaalayam was disrupted when the bombs fell and exploded near by. Chentha'lir Children Home for girls, relocated from Mullaitheevu coast to Va'l'lipunam after Tsunami, narrowly escaped the air-strike.
Full story >>

SLA shoots dead Tamil youth in Chengkaladi

[TamilNet, Friday, 18 January 2008, 13:25 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troops shot killed a Tamil youth Friday around 4:30 a.m on Chengkaladi Main Road in Batticaloa district. The Senior Police Commissioner of Batticaloa claimed that the SLA troops opened fire on the youth when he was fixing a Claymore device along the road.
Full story >>

SLA launches large scale search in Valikaamam

[TamilNet, Friday, 18 January 2008, 08:29 GMT]
Sri Lanka Amy (SLA) in Jaffna launched an intensive large scale cordon and search operation from early morning in Valikaamam until evening Friday forcing people to gather in public places where they were subjected to lengthy interrogation, sources in Jaffna said.
Full story >>

3 seek protection with HRC Jaffna, youth reported abducted in Kaithadi

[TamilNet, Friday, 18 January 2008, 03:47 GMT]
Three family men sought protection with Human Rights Commission (HRC) Jaffna Thursday due to death threats by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troops and SLA-backed paramilitaries. Meanwhile, two unidentified armed men abducted a young man from his house in Meesaalay in Thenmaraadchchi, his wife complained to HRC Jaffna Thursday.
Full story >>

India admits helping Sri Lanka Navy

[TamilNet, Thursday, 17 January 2008, 20:47 GMT]
A day after Colombo praised the Indian Navy for its role in "breaking the LTTE's backbone", India on Wednesday acknowledged, for the first time in recent years, its active role in countering the Tamil Tigers. Sri Lanka Navy Vice Admiral Wasantha Karannagoda had told the Colombo Post on Tuesday that Tiger supply vessels and floating warehouses containing 10,000 tons of war-like material had been destroyed thanks to Indian help. His Indian counterpart, Admiral Sureesh Mehta spoke in sync and said, "We support by checking our activities on their coast and their activities on ours. In this way, we help ourselves by helping them."
Full story >>

Youth found dead with bullet wounds in Irupaalay

[TamilNet, Thursday, 17 January 2008, 19:26 GMT]
Koappaay police recovered the body of a youth with gun shot injuries Thursday around 11:00 a.m in a farmland in Irupaalay east in Koappaay east in Valikaamam where Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troops and Field Bike Unit had conducted a cordon and search operation Wednesday evening, sources in Jaffna said. The police informed Jaffna Magistrate that a weapon was found near the body.
Full story >>

SLA fires artillery on Northern Fronts

[TamilNet, Thursday, 17 January 2008, 18:33 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) launched heavy artillery and mortar attack Thursday from 5:30 a.m to 7:00 a.m in Mukamaalay, K’laali and Nakarkoayil areas in the Northern Defence Lines (FDLs), sources in Jaffna said.
Full story >>

790 schoolchildren escape SLAF attack

[TamilNet, Thursday, 17 January 2008, 13:09 GMT]
790 schoolchildren and 22 teachers at the Kanakapuram Maha Viththiyaalayam school escaped the jaws of death when four Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) fighter jets dropped bombs barely 100 meters away from their school in the Ki'linochchi suburb Thursday morning. A repeat of the gruesome Chegnchoalai massacre was avoided as civilians sought shelter inside bunkers, managed to flee the area and anti-aircraft fire disturbed the SLAF mission. One civilian was killed and seven wounded in the air strike.
Full story >>

SLA withdraws from Mu'l'likku'lam - LTTE

[TamilNet, Thursday, 17 January 2008, 04:28 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) officials told media in Ki'linochchi that a Sri Lanka Army (SLA) unit that was lured into a booby-trapped minefield in Mu'l'likku'lam in Mannaar abandoned its ground movement Wednesday around 3:30 p.m. Meanwhile, a group of SLA soldiers engaged in setting up Claymore mines in the area were counter-attacked by the Tigers.
Full story >>

SLAF bombs Ki'linochchi suburb, 1 killed, 7 wounded

[TamilNet, Thursday, 17 January 2008, 04:09 GMT]
Liberation Tigers anti-aircraft guns fired at Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) warplanes that bombed a civilian area with a mechanic workshop near Kanakapuram Maha Viththiyaalayam school at Kanakapuram, a suburb of Ki'linochchi town, Thursday morning. A 32-years-old man who sought safety inside a bunker was wounded and succumbed to his injuries. Seven civilians were wounded in the SLAF attack. Nine houses were damaged in the bombardment that was launched at 9:30 a.m. and carried out four times.
Full story >>

Norwegian Tamils march against abrogation of CFA

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 January 2008, 21:56 GMT]
Abrogation of the CFA by the Government of Sri Lanka has removed the only reporting body of human rights and humanitarian law violations that take place in Sri Lanka, said K. Sivapalan, a senior attorney-at-law from Trincomalee, addressing four hundred participants, mainly members of the Tamil diaspora, who participated in a march carrying torches towards the Norwegian Parliament in Oslo, expressing solidarity with the Tamils in the homeland Wednesday evening.
Full story >>

SLAF bombers attack civilian settlements in Vanni

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 January 2008, 16:48 GMT]
Four Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) Kfir jet fighters bombed Thursday 2:25 p.m. civilian settlements in Udaiyaarkaddu in Vanni for nearly 45 minutes, dropping more than 16 bombs in eight sorties and injuring an old man besides damaging four houses and crops in the area, sources in Vanni said.
Full story >>

SLMM bids farewell

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 January 2008, 12:41 GMT]
In a press statement issued by the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), the Nordic Monitors whose functions were terminated by the unilateral termination of the CeaseFire Agreement (CFA) by Sri Lanka Government, Maj.Gen Solvberg, the Head of Mission, thanked the GOSL and the LTTE for inviting SLMM to serve them, and said "Future heroes in Sri Lanka will be those who recognize the complexity of the situation, and prove able to manage this complexity in a way that reduces rather than increases human pain, fear and hopelessness – those capable of respecting people with different perceptions, and bringing them together."
Full story >>

British Group urges Tamils to boycott Sri Lankan Airlines

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 January 2008, 12:21 GMT]
British Tamil Forum (BTF), an umbrella community organization, in a press conference held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Central London to coincide with the Thai Pongal day Tuesday at 2:00 p.m. urged Tamils to boycott Sri Lankan Airlines, Sri Lanka's national carrier, claiming that its profits fund Colombo's war against Tamils. Ivan Pedropillai, chairing the meeting said, the abrogation of the CFA by the government of Sri Lanka is a precursor to an "unfettered and all out war on the Tamils living in the North of Sri Lanka. The Tamils from Sri Lanka cannot and will not continue to pay in Foreign Exchange for this deplorable war upon their own kith and kin."
Full story >>

SLA disrupts Thaippongkal Day in Thenmaraadchi

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 January 2008, 10:36 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troops in Kaithadi in Jaffna forcibly took more than 600 local residents Tuesday early morning, disrupting their Thaippongkal rituals, to the playgrounds and schools in the area and held them for interrogation until evening. The SLA troops also assaulted the people going along Jaffna-Kandy road in Kaithadi during the extensive SLA cordon and search operation conducted in Kaithadi area on Thaippongkal Day.
Full story >>

Moneragala district terrorized, 2 farmers killed

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 January 2008, 09:32 GMT]
Two Chena cultivators were killed by a group of armed men Wednesday morning in Okkampitiya GS area in Buttala division of Moneragala district, Police sources said. Tension prevails in the district where three attacks were reported in the morning. Schools were closed until further notice in the district.
Full story >>

3 SLA wounded in Galge in Buttala, Claymore blast

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 January 2008, 04:59 GMT]
Three Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers were wounded in a Claymore attack on a 'Buffel' Armored Personnel Carrier (APV) at Galge in Buttala in Moneragala district, around 10:00 a.m. Wednesday, Police said.
Full story >>