UNP accuses Rajapakse Govt for acting on JHU, JVP advice

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 August 2006, 17:38 GMT]
The main opposition United National Party (UNP) in a statement issued Friday accused the Rajapakse government in Colombo for acting on the advice of the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) and the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) in ordering a military operation to capture LTTE controlled Maavil Aaru area "within 24 hours," disregarding the views of veteran military officers. After six days of fighting and suffering heavy casualties, the army has not yet reached the area, the UNP said. The UNP did not participate in the 6th All Parties Conference (APC) held Friday evening. Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse also holds the military portfolio as Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces of Sri Lanka.
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Water war

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 August 2006, 16:33 GMT]
"Defensive attacks" launched by Liberation Tigers four days ago with the surprise artillery attacks on Trincomalee naval base, and the sweeping attacks on Sri Lanka Army (SLA) camps and positions in Muthur and southern sector of Trincomalee, were interpreted as the Tiger response to the three-month-long humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in Muthur East, where 30 000 civilians were forced to live as Internally Displaced People (IDPs). Supply of drinking water, one of the most basic needs, emerged as a critical issue as wells dried in the hottest spell as August approached, says Trincomalee Parliamentarian K. Thurairatnasingham.
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"Expel Norway from Sri Lanka" – JVP

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 August 2006, 11:30 GMT]
Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), the extreme Sinhala nationalist ally of Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse, has resumed their demand that the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) must expel Norway from Sri Lanka. Speaking at a Media Conference Thursday, August 3, 2006 convened by the Patriotic National Movement (PNM) held at the Colombo Sri Lanka Assembly College, Sri Lankan parliamentarian and JVP Propaganda Secretary, Wimal Weerawansa called on Norway’s International Development Minister Eric Solheim to withdraw the statement he made last Wednesday. Sri Lanka being a sovereign nation, Solheim has no authority to give orders to GOSL claimed Wimal Weerawansa.
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Paramilitaries set fire to Tamil paper newsstand in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 August 2006, 11:27 GMT]
A paper distributor's shop located in the High Security Zone (HSZ) in Batticaloa town was completely burnt early morning Saturday, sources from Batticaloa said. Muruges and Son Stores which is on the Batticaloa Central Road was 75 meters from the Special Task Force (STF) troopers camp next to the Batticaloa Clock Tower. Batticaloa residents allege the shop was burnt by paramilitaries working in collaboration with the SLA. Paramilitary cadres have warned paper distributors to cancel two mainstream papers, Sudar Oli and Thinakkural, published in Colombo in Batticaloa Sri Lanka Army controlled areas. Meanwhile, Batticaloa Police said they suspected electric short caused the fire.
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"Objective accomplished, forces returned to CFA positions" - LTTE

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 August 2006, 11:04 GMT]
The militay spokesman of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Irasaiah Ilanthiayan, told TamilNet that the LTTE troops, by midnight Friday, returned to their original positions as per February 22, 2002 Ceasefire Agreement. 32 LTTE fighters, including a Lieutinent Colonel and another senior cadre of the Tigers were killed in the operation that excerted a military pressure to Colombo's military offensive to resolve a civilian dispute, Mr. Ilanthirayan said. Two SLN Dvora Fast Attack Crafts (FACs) were destroyed and sunk, 3 boats were damaged. Mortars, Light Machine Guns and ammunitions were seized.
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SLA shoots dead 5 intruders near Muhamalai

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 August 2006, 10:47 GMT]
Five men who attempted to infiltrate from LTTE controlled area into Jaffna district through the Forward Defense Lines (FDLs) near Muhamalai have been shot dead by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA), Kodikamam Police said.
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Handover of SLA bodies delayed

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 August 2006, 13:22 GMT]
Due to the urgent need of the administrative section of the Liberation Tigers in attending to the developing humanitarian crisis to provide safe passage to more than 10,000 residents of Muttur to safer areas, the transfer of more than 40 bodies of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troopers has been delayed, local LTTE officials in Sampur said.


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Sinhala villagers block ICRC food convoy to Muttur

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 August 2006, 11:09 GMT]
A food convoy led by the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) Friday morning from Trincomalee town to Muttur to supply food materials to civilians displaced due to the fighting between SLA and LTTE was stopped at Kantalai by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) on Friday afternoon around 1 p.m. The SLA refused permission for the convoy to proceed along Kantalai-Allai road to Muttur citing security reasons, ICRC sources in Colombo said.
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Sinhalese settlers demand evacuation from Somapura

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 August 2006, 06:52 GMT]
Thousands of Sinhalese settlers from the southern sectors of Trincomalee district have demanded safe evacuation from the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) controlled areas, civil sources in Somapura said. The local authorities have contacted the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) to facilitate evacuation from the southern sector where the SLA offensive towards Mavil Aaru was launched. Meanwhile, initial reports reaching from Kiliveddy said Muttur civilians, carrying white flags, have started to reach Kiliveddy area. However, the ICRC coordinator, Davide Vignati, in Colombo has told media that a formal cessation of hostilities for a limited time frame is yet to be established.
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SLA artillery fire kills further 12 Muslim civilians in school refuge

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 August 2006, 13:20 GMT]
Twelve Muslim villagers in Al Nuriah Muslim school in Thoppur were killed Thursday evening when Sri Lanka Army (SLA) fired artillery shells hit the school, civilian sources in Thoppur said. At least five persons were wounded. Meanwhile, Police sources in Trincomalee said the policemen entrapped in Muttur town were evacuated to Trincomalee. One policeman was killed and fourteen policemen were wounded, according to initial reports.
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SLA fires on Ambulance, 3 Tamils killed

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 August 2006, 06:56 GMT]
Sri Lankan troopers in Seruvila opened fire on an ambulance of the Muttur district hospital, transferring patients to Trincomalee general hospital, through Allai-Kantalai Road, Wednesday. Two Tamil civilians were killed on the spot. The driver of the ambulance who was critically wounded in the shooting succumbed to injuries while being taken to the Colombo general hospital. Sri Lankan Police on Thursday said the ambulance was caught up in a "cross-fire."
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8-year-boy killed in mortar fire in Muttur church, 3 wounded

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 August 2006, 10:36 GMT]
An 8-year-old boy was killed on the spot and 3 women were wounded in Muttur town when an artillery fell inside the premises of St. Anthony's Church where more than 600 Tamils have taken refuge since the fighting broke out between the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) last night. The wounded women, unable to be taken to hospital, were being treated at the church as the fighting resumed after a brief lull, civilian sources said.
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LTTE says operations ‘to defend civilians’

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 August 2006, 06:53 GMT]
The LTTE said Wednesday that its recent military activities in Trincomalee, including the operation against Sri Lankan military camps in the early hours were intended to disrupt Sri Lanka’s indiscriminate onslaught against Tamil civilians. The LTTE’s military spokesman, I. Ilanthirayan, said that amid the indiscriminate bombing and shelling of civilian areas by the Sri Lankan armed forces as part of their offensive in the Mavil Aru region, there was an "urgent humanitarian need" that had compelled what he described as "defensive actions."
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Raising Tiger flag not illegal in US - Embassy

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 August 2006, 03:00 GMT]
Staff at Sri Lanka state-run daily in Colombo, Daily News, were given a civic lesson when they confronted US Embassy's press officer, Evan Owen, on the legality of American Tamils hoisting the Tamileelam flag in a New York sports festival, and diaspora parents teaching their offsprings Tamil. The press officer responded that hoisting of the Tiger flag had not breached US law, and that "the right to assemble and freedom of speech is upheld," by their [US] constitution, the Daily news reported.
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Tigers overrun four SLA camps in Trincomalee, enter Muttur

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 August 2006, 02:35 GMT]
Fighting formations of the Liberation Tigers have overrun four key locations in Trincomalee district after fierce artillery shelling since 2:00 a.m. Wednesday. Sri Lanka Army (SLA) camps in Kaddaiparichchan, Palathoppu, Pachchanoor and Mahindapura have been overrun, civilian sources said. Heavily armed LTTE fighters were seen entering Muttur town. Military sources in Colombo remained tightlipped and declined to comment on the ground situation. Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) Kfir jets continued to bomb LTTE controlled Sampoor area. Fierce fighting is also reported near Kallaru where attempt by SLA forces to capture the Mavil Aaru sluice gates was averted, according to initial reports.
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SLN ship under siege off Pulmoddai coast

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 August 2006, 15:13 GMT]
The Jetliner ship, which escaped Trincomalee attack Tuesday afternoon has come under attack again in the Pulmoddai sea from 6:00 p.m. Tuesday, military sources in Colombo said. Pulmoddai is located 49 km northwest of Trincomalee and 41 km southwest of Mullaithivu.
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Shells hit Trinco navy base, 14 killed, Dvora destroyed

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 August 2006, 09:44 GMT]
Artillery shells began hitting the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) Trincomalee Naval base as a ship transporting more than 800 Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troopers approached the naval base around 2:25 p.m. Tuesday. More than 36 shells have hit the naval base. At least 6 naval personnel were killed when the shells hit navy college inside the Naval complex. Five sea-borne LTTE vessels destroyed a Dvora boat killing eight SLN troops, naval sources said. The Trincomalee naval headquarters has sustained heavy damage.
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Tamil Americans protest in front of US Capitol

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 August 2006, 09:37 GMT]
More than two hundred American Tamils from Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka held a protest in the West Front park of US Capitol building Monday between 12:00 noon and 4:00 p.m. urging the US Government to take action against Colombo for its war crimes against the Northeast Tamils. The rally also remembered the civilians killed in the Black July 1983 pogrom against Eelam Tamils.
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ICRC war surgery workshops held in North East

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 August 2006, 02:58 GMT]
The International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) held a series of three war surgery workshops for Sri Lankan doctors during July, in Jaffna, Killinochchi and Batticaloa, sharing the experience the organization acquired in the field of war surgery, the ICRC said in a press release issued Monday evening.
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Blast at Kalutara armoury

[TamilNet, Monday, 31 July 2006, 19:37 GMT]
A blast was reported at Sri Lanka Army's armoury in Kalutara, south of Colombo, Monday night. SLA spokesman, Brig. Prasad Samarasinghe said that the fire brigade has doused the fire.
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