SLA mortar fire kills teenager in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 March 2007, 15:51 GMT]
A fourteen year old boy succumbed to injuries caused by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) mortar fire launched towards Vantharumoolai west area in Eravur police division in Batticaloa district from Mavadivembu SLA camp Thursday around 9:00 a.m.


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Mannar Education Officer succumbs to injuries

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 March 2007, 12:39 GMT]
Divisional Education Officer in Mannar, Christian Rajakone, 47, succumbed to injuries early morning Thursday at the Kilinochchi hospital, hospital sources said. Rajakone sustained in the claymore mine attack by the Deep Penetration Unit (DPU) of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) on Tuesday in the LTTE held area in Mannar district.
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SLAF bombs civilian area in Vanni

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 March 2007, 07:50 GMT]
Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) Kfir bombers Thursday morning around 8:30 a.m. dropped at least 8 bombs in a civilian settlement including a farmland in Therankandal in Thunukkai DS division in Mullaithivu district.
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SLAF training aircraft crashes, 2 dead

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 March 2007, 07:49 GMT]
A Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) flying instructor and a SLAF pilot trainee died instantly when a PT6 training aircraft crashed into the airfield in Anuradhapura airbase Thursday around 12:10 p.m., according to Sri Lankan military sources in Colombo.
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Batticaloa families flee SLA shelling

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 March 2007, 00:43 GMT]
Hundreds of families from Liberation Tigers controlled villages of Vavunathivu, Mankikattu, Eechchenthivu, Navatkadu and Vilavedduvan in Manmunai West division fled to Government controlled areas due to heavy shelling by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) from the 23-3 Brigade Head Quarters of Batticaloa, Valaichchenai Paper Factory Camp and Mylambavely Army Camp since Tuesday night, sources in Batticaloa said.
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SLA shoots dead civilian in Chavakachcheri

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 February 2007, 12:08 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers on a foot patrol along A9 highway, 300 meters from Chavakachcheri town in Thenmaradchy, shot dead a civilian at 6:00 a.m. Wednesday, sources said. The soldiers panicked and opened fire when the man suddenly emerged from a lavatory adjoining his house, relatives said.
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SLN destroys suspicious boat in the seas off Matara

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 February 2007, 04:49 GMT]
Sri Lankan military officials in Colombo have claimed that the Sri Lanka Navy destroyed a suspicious boat 230 nautical miles off Matara on Sri Lanka's southern coast around 8:30 a.m. Wednesday. Sri Lankan officials later said that the incident occurred 180 nautical miles from Dondra Point.
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SLA search, act of reprisal, students say

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 February 2007, 16:32 GMT]
Several student organisations in Jaffna peninsula including Tamil Student Union strongly accused Sri Lanka Army's (SLA) cordoning off and searching Jaffna Hindu College and surrounding areas Tuesday morning as reprisal against the student community and a preplanned measure to disrupt their educational activities.
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SLA cordons, searches Jaffna Hindu College

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 February 2007, 11:30 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers cordoned off Jaffna Hindu College and surrounding areas, asked the students and staff to assemble at the School play ground, before conducting search of the school premises, administrative officials of the school said. The SLA ordered school closed and sent the students home after the search. Local residents said that they heard sounds of gunfire near the school Monday night, and this may have triggered the SLA search.
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LTTE condemns GoSL for endangering the lives of foreign diplomats

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 February 2007, 05:31 GMT]
Military Spokesman of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Irasiah Ilanthirayan, expressing deep regret for the injuries caused to the foreign diplomats who landed in the military airfield of the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) in Batticaloa and the Weber Stadium where 23-3 Brigade Commander's military headquarters is located, condemned the Government of Sri Lanka for having endangered the lives of foreign diplomats bringing them into the artillery launchpads inside the military zone without following diplomatic procedures.
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U.S., Italian Ambassadors wounded in shell fire in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 February 2007, 05:13 GMT]
U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Richard O'Blake, and the Italian Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Pio Mariani, were slightley injuried by shrapnel of shells fired at Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) airfield in eastern Batticaloa, around 8:40 a.m, Tuesday. Reports said the diplomats were getting off a helicopter in which around 15 diplomats and senior officials flew to the eastern town when the shells hit the air field. Meanwhile, 2 SLAF helicopters that landed in Weber Stadium in Batticatoa city carrying Sri Lankan Disaster Management Minister narrowly escaped from 122 mm shell fire, according to military sources in Colombo.
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Hoax bomb call causes panic at Vavuniya banks

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 February 2007, 12:05 GMT]
Hoax caller warning of bombs placed inside premises of the Peoples Bank and Bank of Ceylon branches in Vavuniya town at 9:45 a.m. Monday caused panic among the staff and customers as they vacated the buildings, sources in Vavuniya said. Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers and Police cordoned off the area and searched the buildings. No bombs were found inside the bank buildings.
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American Tamils call for Recognition of Tamil Sovereignty for NorthEast Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 February 2007, 11:46 GMT]
Pleading to the international community that "the just aspirations of the Tamils should not be held hostage by fictitious claims of protecting the territorial integrity and sovereignty of a failed state," a consortium of Tamil organizations in the US, in a press release issued Monday, urged the International Community to "recognize the current de-facto Tamil state should their authentic representatives exercise the right to external self-determination," and called upon fellow Americans "to stand with the Tamil Americans in support of the inalienable right of self-determination."
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Two teenage students reported missing in Vadamaradchy

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 February 2007, 19:40 GMT]
Two 15 year old students of Udupiddy American Mission College are reported missing since Saturday 1:30 p.m at Udupiddy, Vadamaradchy, while they were riding bicycles to attend class at a local private education centre, according to complaints made by family members at Valvetithurai police and Human Rights Commission (HRC) Jaffna office.
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India donates second warship to Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 February 2007, 19:24 GMT]
India is to grant the Sri Lanka Navy another ocean-going warship as part of greater cooperation between the two countries, media reports in Colombo said Sunday.
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Jaffna faces shortage of critical medicines

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 February 2007, 13:19 GMT]
Jaffna Teaching Hospital, Manthikai Government hospital in Point Pedro and other hospitals in Jaffna district are unable to perform surgeries as stocks of saline drip and other essential medicines have depleted, medical sources in Jaffna said. Government supplies of medicines earmarked for the first quarter of year 2007 has not been shipped from Colombo to Jaffna, hospital sources said. Residents of Jaffna peninsula requiring critical medicines are forced to pay up sometimes up to ten times the normal market value from private traders who have small amount of stocks left, according to Jaffna residents.
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SLA intensifies attack on LTTE territory in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 February 2007, 21:35 GMT]
Batticaloa district plunged into darkness due to interruption of electricity supply following a 15 minute heavy artillery and Multi Barrel Rocket Launcher (MBRL) barrage by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) from Batticaloa Brigade camp and Mylambaveli SLA camp on Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) held territories , Saturday from 6:30 p.m., sources in Batticaloa said.
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SLA alleges discovery of arms at Kopay Training College

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 February 2007, 18:28 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) at Palaly announced Saturday that troopers conducting a sudden search in the premises of Kopay Training college on Friday found a T-56 type rifle concealed in the roof of the students hostel. Last week the troops claimed that telecommunication equipment and hand grenades were found in a room in a catholic church near the residence of Bishop of Jaffna. Civil society sources, however, suspect that the claims are without substance, and intended to silence the dissenting voices of the Catholic clergy and the Education officials in Jaffna.
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SLA imposes day time travel restrictions in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 February 2007, 18:26 GMT]
The high command of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) from Palaly announced Friday that in addition to the 11 hour night time curfew already in place, there will be further restrictions of civilian movement during day time. SLA directed general public to avoid certain roads during a three and a half hour period, morning between 10:00 a.m. and 12.00 noon and again between 3:00 pm- and 4:30 pm in the afternoon, sources in Jaffna said.
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SLA strips bare houses in Vaharai, Sampoor - MP

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 February 2007, 15:45 GMT]
Batticaloa District Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian S. Jeyanandamoorthy charged Saturday that Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers are dismantling civilians homes and stripping them of furniture and equipments in the recently captured Vaharai area. The internally displaced people (IDPs) who fled Vaharai before the SLA entered the area, have been prevented from entering the area by the soldiers guarding the entry points, the parliamentarian said. Meanwhile, the refugees from Sampoor had complained that the roofs of their houses have also been removed by the SLA.
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