SLA shoots dead a civilian in Mannar

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 November 2006, 09:37 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troopers shot dead a civilian during a cordon and search operation conducted by the SLA Thursday around 6:30 a.m at Theevupitty in Sooriyakaddaikaadu village in the Mannar district when some unidentified persons lobbed a hand grenade on the SLA troopers seriously injuring a SLA captain, Murungan Police said.


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Kilinochchi remembers Raviraj

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 November 2006, 00:07 GMT]
"Nadaraja Raviraj went to the doorsteps of his people, observed their living conditions, understood the daily struggle of our people, and exposed the atrocities and human rights violations committed against the Tamil people by the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL). His activities were a threat to the extremists who have succeeded in taking his life," said C. Ilamparithi, the Jaffna political head of Liberation Tigers, Wednesday in an event held to remember the slain parliamentarian, held at Kilinochchi Cultural Hall, 11:00 a.m. Wednesday, sources in Kilinochichi said.
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Collegues vow to carry on policies of slain MP

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 November 2006, 18:31 GMT]
Speaking in the presence of large number of civilians gathered in Jaffna on Wednesday to pay their last respects to Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP Late Raviraj Nadaraj, fellow parliamentarian Suresh Premachandran accused an armed group linked to Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) as directly responsible for the killing of Raviraj,sources in Jaffna said.
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NorthEast mourns for Raviraj

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 November 2006, 16:51 GMT]
The people of Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Mulaithivu, Mannar, Vavuniya, Batticaloa, Amparai and Trincomalee districts observed hartal (general shut down) Wednesday mourning the loss of Raviraj, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian allegedly assassinated by Eelam People Democratic Party (EPDP) cadres operating with the Sri Lankan Army (SLA). The shut down was organized to condemn Raviraj's assassination and the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) artilery fire killing of nearly forty-two Tamil civilians including children in Vaharai in Batticaloa.
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SLMM backs UN envoy on SL troops’ child conscription

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 November 2006, 15:05 GMT]
International monitors overseeing Sri Lanka’s shaky truce this week endorsed a UN envoy’s findings that government security forces were conscripting children for their paramilitary allies against the Tamil Tigers. The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) says it also possesses evidence of military complicity.
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Jaffna bids farewell to slain MP, relatives reveal assassination attempt

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 November 2006, 13:17 GMT]
A key EPDP paramilitary operative with a handgun had been searching for Nadarajah Raviraj when the late Tamil parliamentarian visited his hometown last month, revealed relatives who attended the funeral of late MP in Jaffna. The entire Jaffna peninsula was at a standstill as the funeral procession paraded through the streets of Chavakachcheri to the cremation grounds located at Sri Lanka Army High Security Zone. Journalists were harassed by Sri Lankan soldiers after the funeral.
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Vaharai starves

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 November 2006, 10:43 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers staffing Mankerny check post continuously refuse to allow food being taken to the Internally Displaced People (IDP) in Vaharai area creating urgent humanitarian crisis with severe shortage of food, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Parliamentarian P. Ariyanenthiran accused Tuesday. Four lorries with emergency food items had procured permission from the Ministry of Defence (MoD) permission, Mankerny SLA still denied permission to proceed to Vaharai saying that the area was under attack, Mr P. Ariyanenthiran said.
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Stranded Jaffna residents await sea transport from Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 November 2006, 10:42 GMT]
300 Jaffna district residents, stranded in Vavuniya since the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) closure of the A9 route when clashes between the SLA and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) erupted August 11, were taken by bus Tuesday to Trincomalee to be sent by ship to Jaffna, Vavuniya Secretariat sources said.


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India trains jet bomber support crews

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 November 2006, 09:46 GMT]
India is training a third batch of six Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) personnel at Chandigarh, Punjab to support Colombo’s plans to expand its jet bomber fleet, the Times of India reported this week. Sri Lanka plans to purchase four more jet bombers from Russia and, in preparation, SLAF personnel are being put through three months of instruction. The latest group began training on October 14, despite outrage in Tamil Nadu over the targeting of civilians by SLAF bombers in which over a hundred people have been killed this year.
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SLA soldier injured in grenade attack in Kommathurai

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 November 2006, 00:11 GMT]
A Sri Lankan Army (SLA) soldier was injured when two unidentified persons came in a motorbike threw a hand grenade at the group of soldiers on guard duty at Uma Mill junction, Kommathura, in Eravur Police division in Batticaloa district around 4:30 pm Tuesday.
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Hartal observed in Batticaloa, Amparai to protest Raviraj killing

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 November 2006, 22:33 GMT]
General shut down was observed in Batticaloa and Amparai districts on Tuesday as a mark of protest against the killing of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian for Jaffna district Nadarajah Raviraj and remembering his services to the society, civil sources in Batticaloa said. The hartal organized by Batticaloa-Amparai Tamil National Forum and Student Consortium.
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Sri Lanka Army moves into Tiger territory in fresh offensive

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 November 2006, 15:52 GMT]
Sri Lankan troops have moved into Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam controlled Vakarai region, beyond no-go zone, Tuesday morning, amid heavy artillery shelling, according to civil sources in Vakarai.
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Three SLA troopers killed in claymore attack in Mannar

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 November 2006, 14:20 GMT]
Unidentified persons detonated a claymore device Tuesday afternoon killing three Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troopers at Mathottam area in Uylankulam Murungan in Mannar district, Murungan police said.


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One SLA trooper dead, another injured in claymore attack in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 November 2006, 14:02 GMT]
Unidentified persons triggered a claymore device Tuesday around 8:30 a.m on the Jaffna-Pt.Pedro road at Sirupitty in Valligamam east, killing a Sri Lanka Army (SLA) trooper on the spot and seriously injuring another of the SLA Road patrol unit going along the road, sources from Jaffna said. Following the attack, SLA troopers ordered the hundreds of passengers out of their vehicles which happened to pass the site of attack and assaulted them indiscriminately. The glass shutters of the vehicles the passengers were travelling in were smashed by the infuriated SLA troopers.


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4 youths killed by 'White Van' squads in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 November 2006, 12:31 GMT]
Bodies of four youths, abducted earler by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) trooper and collaborating paramilitaries driving white vans, were found in Jaffna district Tuesday morning, civil society sources in Jaffna said. White van abductions, subsequent killings, and harassment of civilians by SLA soldiers riding in field bikes, have increased at an alarming rate in Jaffna, where amidst prevailing dire economic conditions residents are also gripped with fear from SLAs brutal counter-insurgency campaign, civil society sources and human rights activists in Jaffna said.
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People of Jaffna pay last respects to Raviraj

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 November 2006, 10:20 GMT]
People of Jaffna peninsula, in their thousands, paid their last respects to the remains of Ravirarj, the slain Tamil National Alliance (TNA) for Jaffna district, whose body was flown from Colombo to Palaly air base in Jaffna Tuesday around 11:00 a.m and later kept at Jaffna Municipal Council (JMC) at Nallur. Special Commissioner JMC S. Sarvanabavan took charge of Raviraj's remains around 11:30 a.m which was kept in the JMC precincts for people to pay their last respects.


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Thousands pay homage to Raviraj in Colombo

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 November 2006, 01:58 GMT]
"Raviraj was a leader who fought for Tamils' rights and gave a democratic voice to their struggle. The Sri Lanka Government should hold itself responsible for Ravraj's assassination," said Rajitha Senaratne, United National Party parliamentarian for Colombo, addressing a public meeting organised by the Anti-War Front at Vihara Mahadevi Park in Colombo held Monday evening around 4:20 p.m held to pay homage to the slain Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian Raviraj, sources Colombo said.
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Two youths found dead in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 13 November 2006, 22:13 GMT]
An unidentified burnt body of a youth, was recovered Monday near Urumpirai junction, residents of Urumpirai said. Sounds of gunfire were were heard Sunday around midnight from the place where the dead body was found, sources added.
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Three men abducted by 'White Van' squad in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 13 November 2006, 14:22 GMT]
Armed men arriving in white van have abducted three youths in Chunnakam, Jaffna Sunday night, officials of the Human Rights Commission in Jaffna said. Relatives of the abducted say that Sri Lanka Army (SLA) operating from the Atchelu Army camp are responsible for the abductions.
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UN: Sri Lanka military ‘recruiting child soldiers’

[TamilNet, Monday, 13 November 2006, 13:15 GMT]
A United Nations official Monday accused Sri Lankan government security forces of recruiting child soldiers on behalf of an allied paramilitary group which is also fighting Tamil Tigers. The special advisor to the UN Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, Allan Rock, told reporters in Colombo that he had evidence of direct involvement of troops in forcibly enlisting children for the paramilitary group.
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