Police commandos, Tigers exchange gunfire in Murunkan

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 February 2007, 18:01 GMT]
Murunkan Police reported exchange of gunfire between a road patrol of Police commandos and a group of Liberation Tigers Sunday morning at 8:30 a.m. at Pannavedduvan, 32 km southeast of Mannar. Police said that a Tiger cadre was killed and that the Tigers had taken the body of their dead cadre, but clamied to have located a T-56 automatic rifle after the clash. Five hours later, at 3:00 a.m. Sri Lanka Army fired artillery shells towards LTTE controlled Arippu, 20 km northwest of Pannavedduvan.
Full story >>

SLA, LTTE exchange mortar fire near Muhamalai FDL

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 February 2007, 17:54 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troopers and the Liberation Tigers exchanged artillery and mortar fire near Thenmaradchy Forward Defence Lines (FDLs) near Muhamalai from Sunday morning, residents living close to the area in Mirusuvil and in Usan said. Two shells fell within the SLA camp at Usan located behind the Forward Defence Line (FDL) positions, residents said. A shell fired by the Liberation Tigers exploded in areas close to Usan and Mirusuvil Camps of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Sunday, causing minor injuries to two civilians, sources close to SLA said


Full story >>

Jaffna at standstill on SL Independence Day

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 February 2007, 08:18 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army troopers fired mortar and artillery shells from Muhamalai Forward Defence Line (FDL) Sunday from 7:30 a.m. towards Iyakkachchi, Palai, Pooneryn and Vadamaradchi East villages in Liberation Tigers controlled areas as Jaffna stood at standstill and the people remained indoors. Roads were empty and silence prevailed in Jaffna. Even the cellular phones didn't ring in the peninsula as the mobile phone link to Jaffna was cut by the military at Palaly. SLA troopers were busy in the morning removing black flags from the environs of the University of Jaffna.
Full story >>

Rajapakse visits Vaharai

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 February 2007, 10:39 GMT]
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse Saturday morning visited Vaharai region together with his Commanders and the Defence Secretary, his brother, Gotabhaya Rajapakse. All the mobile phone links in Batticaloa district were disconnected before SLAF helicopters carrying Mr. Rajapakse and his commanders reached Vaharai. The visit, which comes a day before the Sri Lankan Independence Day on Sunday, is to be showcased as a symbol of military victory, before the celebrations in South, that target military recruitment.
Full story >>

SLA assaults Human Rights Advisor, SLHRC coordinator receives death threats

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 February 2007, 10:24 GMT]
The Legal Advisor of the Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission (SL-HRC) Jaffna office, Mudiyapu Remedias, an Attorney-at-law, registered a complaint Friday with the Jaffna Commanding Officer of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) that he was assaulted severely by a group of SLA soldiers near Stanley Road in Jaffna Town, Friday morning, when he was on duty. Meanwhile, S. Surenthirarajah, the Co-ordinating Officer of the organisation, also registered a complaint with the Jaffna police that he has been subjected to continuous threats to his life.
Full story >>

More flee LTTE areas fearing SLA offensive in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 February 2007, 02:22 GMT]
More than three thousand people have moved out of Liberation Tigers (LTTE) held areas in Batticaloa west and northwest regions into government controlled areas, within the last few days due to continuous mortar and artillery attacks by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA), sources in Batticaloa said. The displaced are given temporary shelters or are staying at the houses of friends and relatives.
Full story >>

Batticaloa GA visits Vaharai

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 February 2007, 00:44 GMT]
"Vaharai residents displaced due to the offensive of Sri Lanka army (SLA) will be resettled very soon, and displaced residents of Trincomalee district will follow soon after," said Sundaram Arumainayagam, the Government agent (GA) of Batticaloa district speaking to the press Thursday.
Full story >>

55 arrested after claymore attack near Eastern campus

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 February 2007, 18:07 GMT]
Fifty five people including 25 undergraduates and university employees were arrested Wednesday by Eravur police after the claymore bomb blast outside the premises of Eastern university located at Vantharoomoolai, Batticaloa, M.Pathmanathan, the acting Vice Chancellor told media. The arrested, including three female undergraduates, are being detained at Eravur police station for further questioning.
Full story >>

SLA soldier killed, two police men injured in Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 February 2007, 17:51 GMT]
Two Sri Lanka Police men were injured in a grenade attack on a police post at Pandarikkulam in Vavuniya, around 7 p.m., Thursday. Separateley, a Sri Lanka Army soldier was killed when a SLA foot patrol was hit by clay more mine attack at Maharambaikkulam, around 9:50 a.m., Thursday.
Full story >>

Abducted youth found dead in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 February 2007, 12:02 GMT]
Kopay police recovered Thursday morning the body of a youth, near LTTE's Heroes Cemetery in Rasaveethy, Kopay, sources in Jaffna said. The youth's family members had earlier complained to Human Rights Commission (HRC) in Jaffna that the youth was abducted by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers Tuesday while he was riding on his motor cycle near Nallur temple. The body bears signs of torture and gunshot injuries, Jaffna Teaching Hospital sources said.
Full story >>

Jaffna MPCS President assassinated

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 February 2007, 06:59 GMT]
President of the Jaffna Multi Pupose Co-Operative Society (MPCS) and an active social worker in the Jaffna Peninsula, S. T. Gananathan, 64, was shot dead near Mampalam junction Sri Lanka Army camp in Ariyalai, a suburb of Jaffna, around 6:30 a.m., Thursday.
Full story >>

Seven youths arrested by SLA, reported missing in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 February 2007, 00:05 GMT]
Seven youths arrested by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troopers and collaborating paramilitaries in Jaffna since Sunday, have been reported as missing by their relatives with the Human Rights Commission (HRC) Jaffna offices, civil sources said. Three youths were arrested in Vadamaradchy Sunday, three youths on Tuesday and another on Monday from other parts of peninsula are listed as missing at the HRC.
Full story >>

Telephone link to Vanni, most of peninsula, cut off

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 31 January 2007, 20:36 GMT]
Telephone lines to Vanni and most of Jaffna have remained cut for more than four days since Saturday 10:55 p.m. Financial transactions in many branches of the banks have been paralyzed, fundamental services such as hospital ambulances, civil services and media, dependent on telephone communication have been severely affected. Vanni, without celluar link, remains completely cut off for communication. A group of Sri Lanka Army soldiers who visited Vavuniya Telecom Saturday evening had instructed the technicians to accompany them towards the communication exchange at Madukanda, 4 km southeast of Vavuniya town, and shut down the telephone link to Vanni.
Full story >>

Two youths shot dead in Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 31 January 2007, 12:34 GMT]
Vavuniya Police recovered two bodies with gunshot wounds Wednesday night in Maharambaikulam in Vavuniya, police sources said. These latest killings bring the total number of homicides in Vavuniya district during the first month of the new year to 59.
Full story >>

SLA trooper killed in bomb blast in Vaharai

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 31 January 2007, 10:53 GMT]
A Sri Lanka Army (SLA) trooper was killed in a bomb blast around 4:00 p.m Tuesday at Kathiraveli in the SLA seized Vaharai area in Batticaloa district during duty time, Batticaloa Senior Superintendent of Police Max Proctor said.


Full story >>

Acute shortage of newsprint in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 31 January 2007, 09:51 GMT]
International Independent Journalist Organization and Sri Lanka Organization for Freedom of Expression in Jaffna have sent letters to the Ambassadors of donor countries and International media agencies, informing the severe shortage of news print and ink in the Jaffna peninsula. The shortage has forced the publishers of Tamil dailies to reduce the number of pages and the number of copies published, the publishers said.
Full story >>

Abducted TRO officials remembered

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 31 January 2007, 08:40 GMT]
The one-year remembrance of the abducted seven employees of the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) was observed in front of the TRO head office in Kilinochchi Tuesday. The relatives of the abducted and the employees of TRO gathered around 9:00 a.m. and remembered the persons abducted by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and Karuna Group at Welikanda one year ago while they were traveling to Vavuniya from Batticaloa. The President of TRO, V. Sivanadiyar, read a memorandum addressed to the Commissioner of Human Rights for United Nations to secure the release of the persons.
Full story >>

7 policemen, 3 SLA troopers, civilian killed in Claymore attack

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 31 January 2007, 08:09 GMT]
Seven police constables, three army personnel and a civilian were killed and seven army personnel, five policemen and three civilians injured in claymore mine attack in Batticaloa Wednesday around noon. The claymore mine was triggered along the roadside near the Eastern University premises targeting a bus transporting army and police personnel, around 18 km north of Batticaloa city.
Full story >>

Mortar attack prompts search operation in Morawewa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 January 2007, 18:38 GMT]
Soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) with police Tuesday morning conducted a combined cordon and search operation in Morawewa area located about 24 km Northwest of Trincomalee along Trincomalee-Anuradhapura road. The operation followed a mortar attack on the SLAF camp located in Morawewa by LTTE cadres Tuesday early morning, security sources said.
Full story >>

Irate civilians smash travel office in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 January 2007, 10:41 GMT]
More than six hundred prospective passengers who were planning to travel out of Jaffna peninsula by private planes and queuing outside the air line office on Stanley Road on Monday, turned angry when they were told that only one hundred would be given tokens for issue of air tickets. The irritated civilians smashed the windows of the air line office and also caused damages to air-line property inside the building, sources in Jaffna said.
Full story >>