3 civilians wounded in DPU Claymore attack on MPCS lorry

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 April 2008, 11:08 GMT]
Three civilians including the driver of a lorry loaded with supplies to the Cooperative Society in Poonakari (Pooneryn) from Vavuniyaa, was attacked by a Deep Penetration Unit of the Sri Lanka Army in the early hours of Tuesday at 1:30 a.m. at Aanaivizhunthaan on Akkaraayan - Vanneari Road. The lorry, carrying essential supplies worth 2.3 million Sri Lankan Rupees to the Poonakari Multi Purpose Cooperative Society (MPCS), which serves to the Internally Displaced People from Poonakari and Mannaar, was destroyed in the attack, according to the General Manager of the Poonakari MPCS, T. Ratnakumar, told TamilNet.
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Confrontations stepped up in Mannaar

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 April 2008, 18:49 GMT]
Liberation Tigers Operations Command in Mannaar told media in Ki'linochchi that the LTTE defensive formations confronted two offensive thrusts by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Mannaar on two fronts Monday morning and that the LTTE mounted an attack on SLA stationed in Koayilmoaddai. 7 SLA soldiers were killed and 21 wounded in the first confrontation at Kaaththaangku'lam between 5:30 and 10:00 a.m. and another confrontation lasted for 2 hours when SLA launched an offensive push from Thirukkeatheesvaram towards Paappaamoaddai.
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Paramilitary operatives clash in Aaraiyampathi, Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 April 2008, 18:18 GMT]
Five supporters of Tamil Democratic National Alliance (TDNA) were seriously injured by paramilitary operatives of Tamil Makkal Viduthali Puligal (TMVP) Monday afternoon in Thaa'langkudaa in Aaraiyampathi division of Batticaloa district.
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Jaffna lorry driver abducted in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 April 2008, 11:02 GMT]
Unidentified men arriving in a white van abducted Maruthiah Yogarajah, 51, from his sister's house located in Thaa'ndikkul'am in Vavuniyaa on April 11 Friday around 2.30 p.m. and his whereabouts are not known even after ten days, according to complaints lodged by his relatives with the Vavuniyaa Police, International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) and Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) on Sunday, civil society sources said.
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Paramilitary operative shot dead in Kalkudaa

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 April 2008, 12:56 GMT]
Two unidentified persons shot and killed a member of the paramilitary-cum-political party, Pillayan group (Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal, TMVP), Saturday night around 8:10 p.m in front of his house in Peaththaa'lai, Vaazhaichcheanai in Batticaloa district, Kalkudaa police said.
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Spectre of abductions scare Batticaloa residents

[TamilNet, Thursday, 17 April 2008, 13:04 GMT]
More than 300 Tamil youths from areas ranging from Poththuvil to Vaazhaichcheanai have been abducted in Batticaloa district in the past, allegedly by Special Task Force (STF) commandos and paramilitary groups, according to figures registered with Batticaloa Human Rights Commission (HRC) by the relatives of the missing. Of the 300 reported cases, eleven persons in January, eleven in February and fourteen in March are reported missing this year, HRC sources said. Most of the persons have gone missing in areas near government controlled Batticaloa city.
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3 Tamils abducted in Colombo suburb

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 April 2008, 16:22 GMT]
Three men in military uniform and two in civil clothes in a white van abducted a trader from his house in Kotahena (Koddaagncheanai) Wednesday around 6:00 a.m, according to complaint made by the victim's wife to Upcountry People's Front parliamentarian and Sri Lankan Deputy Minister, P. Rathakrishnan. Meanwhile, unknown men in white van abducted two family men Friday in Kotahena in front of Viyaakula Maathaa Church on New Chetty street, the relatives of the two men, who were from Jaffna, complained to Mr. P. Rathakrishnan and Western Peoples’ Front Colombo District Parliamentarian, Mano Ganesan.
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SLA vehicle fatally knocks down Tamil cyclist on A9 road

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 15 April 2008, 09:49 GMT]
A Tamil civilian was killed when an armored vehicle of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) knocked him down on the eve of Tamil-Sinhala New Year Day. The victim Kaalimuththu Ledchumanan, 44, of Paththiniyaar Makizhangku'lam was cycling towards home Sunday afternoon around 1:00 p.m. along A-9 highway from Thaandikul'am when the armored vehicle knocked him down fatally, media sources said.
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Liberate Calendar

[TamilNet, Monday, 14 April 2008, 23:57 GMT]
A Calendar is conceived and designed by logic and astronomy rather than emotions and myths of politics. If people don’t understand the calendar they follow, educate them. If any section of the society thinks that the calendar is its prerogative, liberate the calendar, rather than mutilating it or abandoning it. If there is any problem in the calendar it has to be investigated and corrected by a forum of astronomers, climatologists and environmental scientists, sitting along with traditional astronomers historians and Tamil scholars. Any society, which doesn’t care to investigate and understand its own heritage of science, is not going to make any progress. It will always remain in slavery.
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SLA shell kills family man in Poonakari

[TamilNet, Friday, 11 April 2008, 16:33 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) launched artillery shells on civilian settlements Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) controlled areas in Aththaai, Poonakari Friday around 2:45 p.m., killing a family man and destroying two houses completely.
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Mother, daughter seek protection with HRC Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 11 April 2008, 16:01 GMT]
A mother, with her 9-year-old daughter, sought protection Friday with Human Rights Commission (HRC) Jaffna due to death threats by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers and SLA-backed paramilitaries, sources in Jaffna said.
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Gun men rob grocery stores in Vanthaarumoolai

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 April 2008, 00:16 GMT]
Unidentified armed men robbed two business establishments one at Chiththaandi and another at Vanthaarumoolai in Batticaloa district Sunday night sources said.
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Lankan ploy of Buddhism for subversion in Tamil Nadu: Viduthalai Rajendran

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 April 2008, 06:08 GMT]
Circumstantial evidence supports the hand of the Lankan government’s National Intelligence Bureau in the Buddhist temple-building campaign in Tamil Nadu, observed political analyst TSS Mani in Win TV’s News and Views, reported Tehelka Magazine, on Saturday. It further quoted Viduthalai Rajendran, General Secretary of Periyar Dravidar Kazhagam (PDK), saying “ the temple-building a ploy to woo Indian Dalits and pit them against Sri Lankan Tamils on religious lines” A Sinhalese delegation of prominent Buddhist monks laid foundation stones for Buddhist places of worship in Tamil Nadu. Most of them are archaeological sites.
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1342 to contest in Eastern Provincial Council elections

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 April 2008, 17:25 GMT]
1342 candidates representing political parties and independent groups are to contest in the forthcoming Eastern Provincial Council (EPC) in the districts of Batticaloa, Trincomalee and Ampaa’rai. Meanwhile, three nominations in Batticaloa, four in Trincolamalee and seven in Ampaa’rai districts were rejected by the Election Officer while 91 were accepted, sources in Batticaloa said.
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Hizbullah crosses over to UPFA

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 April 2008, 16:20 GMT]
M.L.A.M Hizbullah, an executive committee member of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), on Tuesday, crossed over to Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa's ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) strengthening Rajapaksa's alliance in the forthcoming Eastern Provincial Council elections. Meanwhile, informed sources in Colombo said that TMVP, the paramilitary-cum-political party, which had invited all its nominees in Eastern Provincial elections to hotels in Colombo was disappointed as Rajapaksa's promise on Chief Minister post and allocation of number of seats in Trincomalee district as it had demanded, faded away with Hizbullah's cross over.
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KMF rejects ruling party’s request for support in East elections

[TamilNet, Monday, 31 March 2008, 15:17 GMT]
Representatives of Kaaththaankudi Mosques Federation (KMF) rejected the request by the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) ruling party ministers to support the ruling party in the forthcoming Eastern Provincial Council election when the parties met Monday around 11:00 a.m at KMF's office in Kaathaankudy, KMF Secretary, Asheik S. H. Sabeel said.
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Sinhala sea cucumber divers under threat to leave Ampaa'rai

[TamilNet, Monday, 31 March 2008, 02:57 GMT]
Unidentified armed group of local residents of Kalmunaikkudi, Ampaarai are forcing Sinhala divers who have been in involved in harvesting sea cucumbers (Beche-de-Mer) for the past 19 years, to leave the area, the Union of Divers in Sri Lanka complained in a letter addressed to the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquatic resources, spokesmen for the Union said.
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Tamil civilian shot dead in Ka'luvaagnchikkudi

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 March 2008, 17:19 GMT]
Unidentified armed men in a white van shot and killed Saturday evening a young Tamil family man in Onthaachchimadam area in Ka'luvaagnchikkudi police division in Batticaloa district, sources in Batticaloa said.
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Thaandikulam students' murder inquiry stalls

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 March 2008, 14:37 GMT]
The Vavuniyaa High Court Thursday put off the inquiry into the Thaandikulam students' murder case for June 30 when the State Counsel informed court that an application has been made to transfer the case to Anuradhapura High Court, legal sources said. A police constable has been indicted with the killing of five students and injuring 11 students by shooting on 16 November 2006 inside the Vavuniyaa Agricultural College located at Thaandikulam.
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Family man abducted in Jaffna High Security Zone

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 26 March 2008, 17:21 GMT]
A young family man was abducted Tuesday around 5:00 p.m at Paa’ndiyan Thaazhvu, Ko’lumbuththu’rai in Jaffna, an area within the High security Zone (HSZ) of Sri Lanka Army (SLA), according to complaint made by his wife to Human Rights Commission (HRC) Jaffna, sources in Jaffna said. The man had earlier been placed in the protective custody in Jaffna Prison due to death threats by SLA troops and SLA-backed paramilitaries, the sources added.
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