SLAF Kfir jets bomb Vaharai

[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 December 2006, 21:16 GMT]
Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) kfir jets flew four bombing sorties over Puliyankandalady in Vaharai in the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) held territory, Saturday around 9:00 a.m, forcing the civilians who had sought safety in the Vaharai hospital to flee in panic, seeking safety inside bunkers, sources from Vaharai said.


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Six civilians disappear in Jaffna last week

[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 December 2006, 16:14 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers and collaborating paramilitaries have abducted six civilians in the Jaffna district between 24th December, and 30th December according to complaints filed at the Jaffna Human Rights Commission (HRC), civil society sources in Jaffna said. The disappearances and arrests in Jaffna have escalated to alarming proportions in the last few months as part of the counter-insurgency campaign mounted by Colombo on the civilian population in the district, according to rights officials in Jaffna.
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Hindu Congress condemns attack on Verugal Murugan Temple

[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 December 2006, 16:07 GMT]
All Ceylon Hindu Congress (ACHC), which has its headquarters in Colombo, has condemned the aerial attack carried out by the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) Thursday on the historic Sithirivelautha Swami (Murugan) Temple located in Verugal in Eachchilampathu division, south of Trincomalee district.


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Jaffna dailies face closure due to newsprint shortage

[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 December 2006, 13:23 GMT]
Acute shortage of newsprint and printing ink in Jaffna may force closure of Tamil dailies, Uthayan, Yarl Thinakural and Valampuri, administrators at the papers' main offices said. After the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) closed A9 in 11 August, no printing material and ink were allowed into Jaffna district, officials added.
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MP slams aerial bombardment on water refinery

[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 December 2006, 10:37 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF), in its latest bombing raids in Vaharai on Thursday, completely destroyed a water refinery constructed by the UN agencies to remedy the drinking water shortage in the area near Verugal Murugan temple, charged S. Jeyanandamoorthy, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Parliamentarian from Batticaloa. In a press communiqué issued on Friday, the MP said: "the bombardment on the water refinery is not only a Ceasefire violation but is a human rights violation and a war crime too."
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SLA curfew on Thenmaradchi extended indefinitely

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 December 2006, 09:48 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) announced the official extension of curfew on Thenmaradchi in Jaffna peninsula with effect from 9:00 p.m Thursday until further notice without citing any reason, over its radio at the Palaly Army Head Quarters Thursday night. The curfew hours imposed on the rest of the Jaffna peninsula are extended by two hours from 8:00 p.m to 5:00 a.m, according to the SLA announcement, Jaffna sources said.


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De-populating Sampoor

[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 December 2006, 23:21 GMT]
Indian state owned National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) is set to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Colombo, on Friday, amid protests from Tamil parliamentarians who are voicing concerns that the Coal-Fired Power Plant project in Sampoor has a hidden political agenda to permanently evict Tamils from the Muthur east region. Around 30,000 Tamils were forced to leave the southern Trincomalee region into Vaharai when Sri Lanka military launched a major offensive and captured Sampoor from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in September.
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Tamil Law students protest discrimination in admissions

[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 December 2006, 13:18 GMT]
Tamil students who were denied admission to Law College staged a token hunger strike in Colombo outside the Law College on Wednesday morning at 10:00am protesting against discrimination in admission process. Colombo police officials at the scene warned the students that protests were banned inside the High Security Zone, and forcefully removed the students.
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1 SLA soldier, 1 student injured in Vadamaradchy grenade attack

[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 December 2006, 13:06 GMT]
One Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldier, deployed on road-side security duty near Madathady junction, 1 km west of Manthikai, along Point Pedro-Jaffna road, and another student passing-by were injured when unknown gunmen riding a motorbike hurled hand grenades at the SLA sentry point at 9:30 a.m. Thursday, sources in Vadamaradchy said.
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2 SLA troopers killed, 3 injured in Chavakacheri claymore attack

[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 December 2006, 12:52 GMT]
Two Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers were killed and three seriously injured when unknown assailants triggered a claymore mine targetting the pickup truck the soldiers were travelling in between Post Office Road and Dutch Road in Chavakachcheri in Thenmaradchy at 2:00 p.m. Thursday, sources in Jaffna said.
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Rajapakse pays surprise visit to Trincomalee naval base

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 December 2006, 20:16 GMT]
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse paid a surprise visit to the SL Naval Base in Trincomalee Wednesday morning and inspected the naval installations and participated in a passing out parade held in the naval base. This was his first visit to Trincomalee after assuming the executive presidency in December last year. Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse is the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces of Sri Lanka.
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8 white van abductions in Jaffna in 5 days

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 December 2006, 19:43 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers and collaborating paramilitaries have abducted eight youths, including two students, in the Jaffna district between 20th and 25th December, according to complaints filed by the relatives with the Jaffna Human Rights Commission (HRC), civil society sources in Jaffna said. SLA troops arrive in Buffel armoured cars with paramilitaries in white vans, and abductions take place either on streets in broad day light or at the victims' houses during night, the relatives of those abducted said.
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Two SLA troopers injured by LTTE fire in Vaharai

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 December 2006, 11:25 GMT]
Two Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troopers from the Kadjuwathe SLA camp were seriously injured when the Liberation Tigers retaliated to the intensive mortar and artillery barrage launched by the SLA from its camps at Mankerny, Kadjuwathe and Valaichenai Paper Factory on Vaharai area in the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) held territory, Wednesday from 7:30 a.m until 11:00 a.m, sources from Vaharai said.


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Two youths abducted in Valaichenai

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 December 2006, 11:06 GMT]
Unidentified armed men abducted two youths displaced from Vaharai area, from their relatives house at Union Colony, Valaichenai in Batticaloa district, Tuesday around 9:30 p.m police said. The two abducted youths were forcibly taken away by the armed men who said the youths have to be interrogated, police added.
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Low-key tsunami anniversary memorials held in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 December 2006, 23:20 GMT]
With Sri Lanka Army (SLA) imposed restriction of free movement of people in force, the second anniversary memorial events on the coastal villages of Jaffna peninsula were held Tuesday in several places of worship quietly, sources from Jaffna said. A tsunami sculpture carved by a famous sculptor from Tellipalai was unveiled today by the Government Agent Jaffna, with several civil society leaders and public participating in the event.
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SLAF Jets bomb Vaharai, disrupt tsunami memorial event

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 December 2006, 12:46 GMT]
Sri Lanka Airforce (SLAF) kfir fighter jets bombed Tuesday morning Kathiraveli and Palchenai residential areas in Vaharai in the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) territory, and Sri Lanka Army (SLA) launched artillery and rocket fire from SLA camps in Mankerny, Kadjuwathe, during the second anniversary memorial prayers were being held for the tsunami victims at Vaharai Vigneswara temple around 9:25 a.m Tuesday. Five houses were badly damaged but no one was hurt when shells fell and exploded on residential areas, Vaharai sources said.
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80% tsunami displaced in NorthEast, still in temporary shelters- TRO

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 December 2006, 12:19 GMT]
"Almost 80% of the Tsunami displaced in some districts of the NorthEast of the island, which sustained 65% of the tsunami destruction and deaths, continue to languish in Temporary Shelter Camps or have been displaced once again due to military offensives, bombing, and shelling," said Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) in its two-year tsunami report, issued in Colombo, Tuesday.
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4 civilians wounded in alleged SLA grenade attack in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 December 2006, 08:41 GMT]
Four civilians, two women and two brothers employed at a shop, were severely wounded in a grenade attack near a Sri Lanka Army (SLA) post close to Sathira Juction on Hospital Road in Jaffna town Tuesday noon. No SLA soldier was wonded in the grenade attack reported amid repeated threats by the SLA troopers to the shop owners in the area, to close down their establishments near the army post.
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6 killed, 9 injured in Jaffna clashes - SLA

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 December 2006, 08:09 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army authorities in Jaffna said that 6 LTTE members were killed and 9 SLA soldiers were injured, two of them seriously, in clashes at Kakaithivu in Navanthurai, a suburb of Jaffna town, around 8:30 p.m, Monday.
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Tsunami survivors carry 'deep scars' - LTTE

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 December 2006, 07:56 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), in a statement issued Monday, marking two year remembrance of the Boxing Day Tsunami disaster, said the assistance to the people devastated by the tsunami has not progressed beyond the temporary shelter-stage in Tamil areas as Colombo scuttled the internationally promoted joint mechanism signed between the parties. Tamils were "deeply hurt" as Colombo continued to find comfort in using the label of a "sovereign" government, the Tigers said.
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