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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SLA soldier reported missing in Muttur

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 March 2007, 11:15 GMT]
A soldier of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has been reported missing since Friday in Kinniya, police sources said. He disappeared while travelling with a group of soldiers from Palathoppur military detachment in Muttur division to Upparu in Kinniya division in Trincomalee district. He has been identified R.P.S.R.Wickramasinghe, 24, of Nawalapitya, police sources said.
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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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Two SLAF personnel killed in road accident

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 March 2007, 12:14 GMT]
Two Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) personnel, a group captain and a sergeant, were killed Sunday early morning when their vehicle ran off the road and hit a bridge at Weerawila in Hambantota district in the southern province. Six more SLAF personnel were injured in this accident, police sources said.
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Jaffna city terrorized, armed men kill three businessmen

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 March 2007, 08:07 GMT]
A fruit seller, an ice cream bar owner and a worker at the bar in Jaffna city were shot and killed by armed men who walked into their businesses Sunday noon. Armed men with hand guns chased the fruit seller who was selling grapes in the pavement of Hospital Road, opposite the bus stand, and shot him dead while he was running for his life calling for help. Later, an owner of an ice-cream bar and his assistant were shot and killed, 200 meters away, behind the bus stand on Jaffna Power House Road. Tension prevails in Jaffna city following the killings in broad daylight in the heart of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) High Security Zone (HZS).
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Mannar police recovers grenade near Telcom building

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 March 2007, 16:10 GMT]
Mannar police recovered a grenade at a site located opposite the telecommunication office along Mannar railway station road Saturday evening around 5 p.m., sources in Mannar said. The grenade was diffused by the bomb disposal squad of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA).
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Bomb attack kills SLA soldier in Jaffna, civilian wounded in retaliation fire

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 March 2007, 07:34 GMT]
Unidentified attackers lobbed a powerful hand bomb into a Sri Lanka Army checkpost located near the SLA 51-2 Brigade Command in Jaffna city Saturday killing a SLA soldier and wounding four around 10:45 a.m. A civilian was wounded when SLA soldiers opened fire after the attack on the checkpost located along Navalar Road near the railway cross.
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2 teens, one married youth abducted within 24 hours in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 March 2007, 00:09 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troopers, arriving in Buffel Armoured Personnel Carrier and motorbikes accompanied by armed men in a white van, forcibly abducted a youth and a 16 year old student at gunpoint from the youth's house at Vayatkarai Lane in Vannarpannai, Jaffna, Thursday night, according to family members of the abductees.
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SLA offensive thwarted, civilians saved - LTTE

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 March 2007, 18:19 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troopers who had taken more than 120 civilians as "human shields" against Tiger artillery fire and advanced into Liberation Tigers territory in Vavuniya-Mannar border Friday morning were forced to pull back their soldiers from Thampanai and Sinna Pandivirichchan at around 10:30 p.m after 15 hours of heavy fighting Friday. Liberation Tigers officials said they had defeated the two pronged offensive, without harming the civilians who were in the hands of the SLA. Around 60 SLA soldiers were killed, the Tigers claimed. Official figures from Colombo released Saturday said 14 soldiers were killed and 42 wounded.
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SLA holds Tamil journalist, says RSF

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 March 2007, 15:10 GMT]
Reporters sans frontières (RSF) said in a press release issued Friday that Sri Lanka Army (SLA) was involved in the abduction and disappearance of Subramaniam Ramachandran, a journalist working for Tamil daily, Yarl Thinakural. Ramachandran disppeared on 15 February after being questioned at the Kalikai junction, Vadamaradchy SLA camp, and RSF said his collegeues believe that he is being held in an SLA camp.
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SLA attempt to invade LTTE territory beaten- Seeralan

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 March 2007, 15:08 GMT]
S. Seeralan, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Batticaloa District Deputy head of Political wing, said the attempt by SLA to invade into LTTE territory, from their camps in Unnichai and Vavunathivu, has been successfully thwarted.
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Civilians flee artillery barrage east of Madu, 1 killed

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 March 2007, 07:28 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army launched heavy artillery and Multi Barrel Rocket Launcher fire on Periya Pandivirichchan 2 km east of Madu church. An MPCS worker attached to the Madu Multi Purpose Co-Operative Society (MPCS) secretariat was killed in the artillery fire, initial reports said. Civilians are caught in tension as they couldn't determine where to flee. Artillery shells exploded near the Central Dispensary in Periya Pandivirichchan village.
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SLA takes human shields in Vavuniya Mannar border - LTTE

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 March 2007, 05:00 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam officials in Kilinochchi Friday charged that more than 300 Sri Lankan Army (SLA) troopers had breached 2 km into LTTE territory and taken more than 120 villagers of Periyathampanai, around 10 km southeast of Madu, in Vavuniya Mannar border, as human shields Friday morning around 7:30 a.m.
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SLA forces civilians to rebuild burnt mini-camp

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 March 2007, 04:10 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troopers cordoned off and searched areas in Chullipuram in Valigamam where an SLA mini-camp was set on fire Wednesday morning by unknown persons, and directd residents to gather at public place for interrogation, sources in Chullipuram said. All traffic and other activities in the area came to a standstill during the interrogation which lasted for several hours, the sources added. The SLA troopers forced the passers by to rebuild the burnt camp.
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Abductee left for dead by SLA troopers, survives

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 March 2007, 21:16 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troopers abducted a labourer from his house Wednesday around 8:00 p.m at Mandan, Karaveddy in Vadamaradchy, knifed and strangled him, and dumped the body in Valaiveli area thinking he was dead. People who went in search of him Thursday morning found him severely injured fighting for life and brought him home, sources in Karaveddy said. The abductee, testifying before Point Pedro Magistrate, said that he was abducted at gunpoint by SLA troopers and that he can identify abductors.
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Medical shop assistant shot dead in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 March 2007, 12:16 GMT]
A woman employee of a pharmacy located in front of Jaffna Teaching Hospital along Hospital road within the High Security Zone (HSZ) demarcated by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) was shot dead at 9:45 a.m. Thursday by two unknown gunmen who arrived in a motor cycle and pretended to buy medicine, sources in Jaffna said.
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SLA denies arresting youth in Vadamaradchy

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 March 2007, 11:58 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troopers arrested a youth during a cordon off and search launched at the school area near the church at Sakkottai in Vadamaradchy north Wednesday around 1:00 p.m, fisheries society sources of the area said. The SLA officials, however, did not acknowledge arresting the youth when contacted for information about the youth, according to relatives.
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6 Jaffna residents, abducted within last seven days, still missing

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 March 2007, 00:08 GMT]
Six civilians, arrested by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) or abducted by SLA and SLA-backed paramilitaries between Wednesday 14th March to 21st, have disappeared without any trace, sources in Jaffna said. The disappearnces occured in Alvai, Kudathanai in Vadamaradchy, and Velanai, Punkankulam and Chulipuram in Valagamam.


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SLA mini-camp set on fire in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 March 2007, 12:04 GMT]
Unknown persons set fire to the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) mini camp located at Chullipuram area in Valigamam Wednesday morning when the troopers were out on patrol, sources in Chullipuram said. Additional troops have been deployed at the site while the camp continues to burn, eyewitnesses who had fled from the site said.
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