Abducted man found dead in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 November 2006, 00:48 GMT]
The body of an elderly disabled man, who was abducted by three unidentified armed men Tuesday around 11:00 p.m from his house near Kanthaswamy Temple in Kopay north, was recovered Wednesday morning at Thirunelveli Dairy Farm area in Jaffna, with bullet wounds, civil sources said.
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SLA arrests eight men in Kottawa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 November 2006, 16:58 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers and police cordoned off and searched Kottawa area in Colombo Wednesday around 08:10 a.m arresting eight persons including six Tamils in connection with the recovery of a 40 mm hand grenade found on the top of a building in Kottawa area, said Kottawa police.
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FMM deplores SLA's censoring of Jaffna press

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 November 2006, 11:52 GMT]
The Free Media Movement (FMM) in a press release issued in Colombo Tuesday said that FMM is "deeply concerned that the media situation in the Jaffna Peninsula is extremely dire, with many media establishments and journalists now preferring an overt legal censorship of the media as opposed to frequent thinly veiled threats and intimidation by armed forces, including the Army."


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Sonobo Children’s Home in Vaharai attacked, 12 children injured - TRO

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 November 2006, 11:07 GMT]
Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO), engaged in emergency rescue work at the IDP camp in Kathiraveli school Wednesday evening, said TRO’s Sonobo Children’s Home located close to the school was also attacked by SLA artillery. 12 children were wounded. Forty bodies have been recovered including 6 babies between the ages of 3 and 6 months, the TRO statement said. 76 persons have been admitted to the hospital.
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TNA parliamentarians meet Wickremasinghe

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 November 2006, 10:54 GMT]
Nineteen of the twenty two Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians Tuesday met with Ranil Wickremasinghe, leader of the main opposition United National Party (UNP), at the latter's request and held discussions on the urgency of bringing normalcy in the North East, legalising the merger of the two provinces, and the opening of the land route A9 to Jaffna peninsula, political sources in Colombo said.
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SLMM Head, visiting Pooneryn, comes under artillery fire

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 November 2006, 10:04 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) fired artillery shells crossed over the Head of Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) Major General Lars Johan Sølvberg and his delegation who were visiting the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) controlled Pooneryn jetty Wednesday evening to undertake a feasibiity study on Colombo's latest suggestion in opening Pooneryin Sangupitty Road as an alternative to A9. SLA fired artillery shells exploded 200 meters behind in Pooneryn jetty area while the delegation was visiting the site for inspection around 3:15 p.m. The Norwegian Major General returned safely, LTTE officials told TamilNet. While returning, artillery shells exploded at 20 meter distance.
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40 civilian refugees killed in Sri Lankan artillery attack

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 November 2006, 08:17 GMT]
Emergency Rescue workers in Vaharai say scores of civilians were killed Wednesday around 11:35 a.m. when Sri Lanka Army fired Multi-Barrel Rockets and artillery shells targeting Kathiraveli, a coastal hamlet 15 km north of Vaaharai, hit a school where five thousand Internally Displaced People had sought refuge. 40 dead bodies have been recovered. Six babies below 6-month were killed, said medical sources stating that 30 dead bodies had been brought to Vaaharai hospital. SLMM officials and the ICRC visited the area where more than 120 houses were severely damaged. An area with 2 km perimeter was indiscriminately bombed. 60 severely wounded civilians were brought to Valaichenai hospital.
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Four injured in sectarian violence at Kathankudy

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 November 2006, 07:57 GMT]
Unidentified armed men, alleged to be orthodox Muslims, in a white van lobbed hand grenades and opened fire Tuesday around 8:00 p.m on Abdur Rauf Moulawi, the Islamic religious teacher belonging to Sufi sect, and some others standing in front of his office near Kathankudy Bathriya Mosque in Batticaloa district injuring four, said Kathankudy police.


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Artillery duel injures four women, hundreds flee Kudumbimalai

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 November 2006, 02:05 GMT]
Four women were injured when a mortar shell launched from Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) area targeting the Murkodanchenai Sri Lanka Army (SLA) camp fell and exploded on a house near the SLA camp Tuesday around 9:30 a.m., security sources from Batticaloa said. Meanwhile, hundreds of families from LTTE-controlled Kudumbimalai area sought shelter in adjoining jungles seeking safety from SLA fire from Valaichenai Brigade camp Tuesday night, LTTE sources said.
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Governor rejects appeals from trapped Jaffna workers

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 November 2006, 01:07 GMT]
Rear Admiral (Retd) Mohan Wijeyawickrema, Governor of the North East Province (NEP), rejected Tuesday an appeal made by government employees including teachers from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) held areas, now trapped in the Jaffna peninsula with the closure of A9 route since August 11, to let them stay in the peninsula due to unsafe conditions in their places of work, said civil sources from Jaffna.
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TNA calls on Sri Lanka to uphold 1987 merger

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 November 2006, 15:20 GMT]
Saying that the Sri Lankan state’s recognition of the Tamils’ historical existence as a people living in the Northeast of the island was realised in the establishment of the Northeast province in 1987, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), charged Tuesday that it was the duty of President Mahinda Rajapakse’s government to uphold the merger as it constituted a recognition of Tamil grievances. The TNA is expected to pass a resolution as Sri Lankan Prime Minister is reported to have told the Parliament Tuesday that a "future merger" would be dependent on a referendum in the East.
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SLA Intelligence officer shot, injured in Nelliady

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 November 2006, 13:07 GMT]
A Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Intelligence officer was seriously injured near Nelliady junction in Vadamaradchy when unknown gunmen shot at two SLA officers riding in a motorbike at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday. The injured officer was first taken to Manthikai Government Hospital, located 3 km northeast of Nelliady, and was later taken to Palaly Military Hospital, sources in Jaffna said.
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SLA shoots dead two youths, civilian killed in Araly

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 November 2006, 11:13 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers shot dead two youths in Thirunelveli area in Jaffna at 8:30 p.m. Monday, sources in Jaffna said. SLA alleged that the youths were cadres of Liberation Tigers and that they recovered weapons from the youths. Meanwhile, a civilian was shot dead in Araly at 5:30 p.m. Monday by unknown gunmen.
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Mannar women complain of body searches by SLA male soldiers

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 November 2006, 09:36 GMT]
In a complaint made to the Mannar Consortium of Humanitarian Organisations (CHO), Tamil women in Mannar said that Sri Lanka Army (SLA) male soldiers routinely conduct body searches on their way to Chetiyar Kaddai at Adampan, sources said. Body search by opposite sex amounts to rights violation and "sexual assault," said human rights officials in Mannar.


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SLA censors Heroes' Day coverage

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 November 2006, 21:25 GMT]
"It is an outright violation of the freedom of press by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) 512nd Division high officials to threaten the Editors of the Jaffna peninsula Tamil dailies not to publish any news related to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), and not to publish LTTE leader Pirabakaran's photo or his annual November Heroes' Day message," S. Gajendran, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian for Jaffna district, told TamilNet Monday.
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LTTE reiterates SLMM access to Northern FDL, Vaharai region

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 November 2006, 15:01 GMT]
Colombo should allow the neutral Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) officials to inspect the forward defence line (FDL) areas and provide the SLMM access Vaharai region to undertake independent verification of the ground situation, instead of producing "baseless allegations of LTTE attacks," in Colombo media, LTTE's Military Spokesman Irasiah Ilanthirayan said Monday night. Sri Lankan armed forces have intensified the attacks with a "military intention" of launching another offensive aiming to escalate the armed hostilities, the Tigers spokesman told media from Kilinochchi.
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Critically injured baby awaits ambulance in Vaharai, 5 wounded in SLA shelling

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 November 2006, 14:38 GMT]
A six-month-old baby girl, critically injured in indiscriminate Sri Lanka Army artillery shelling that targeted a transit camp of Internally Displaced Persons in Palchenai School in Vaharai region Monday, is waiting for ambulance transportation from Vaharai hospital to Batticaloa, medical sources in Vaharai said. The only ambulance of the hospital is yet to return from Batticaloa after a trip Sunday and the shelling was continuing, the sources added. Five civilians were wounded in SLA shelling, three of them, including the baby were criticially injured.
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Tamils forced to leave homes at Habarana

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 November 2006, 13:22 GMT]
Many Tamils, living in the Habarana area where more than 100 Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) troopers were killed in a blast of a pickup truck loaded with explosives on October 16, are moving out of their homes as many Tamils are being arrested in the frequent cordon and search operations held in the area by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and the police.
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Tamil officers removed from SL President's security detail

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 November 2006, 12:50 GMT]
Twenty Tamil Sri Lanka police security officers accompanying Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapakse to a public function at Veerahetiya, an upcountry town, Sunday were sent back to their stations on suspicion raised on the bonafides of the officers by the Veerahetiya Sinhala residents, sources from Hatton said.
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SLAF bombs Vaharai, IDPs flee SLA shelling

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 November 2006, 11:42 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) launched artillery attacks from Valaichenai SLA camp and Karadikulam SLA camp towards Vaharai intensified since Sunday night amid troop deployment at Gajuwatte SLA camp. LTTE's Military Spokesman Irasiah Ilanthirayan Monday said Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) carried out 2 sorties of aerial bombardment in Paalchenai and Vammivedduvan in Vaharai region in Batticaloa district Monday noon. "All communication and transportation facilities towards Vaharai has been cut off. Even the small amount of humanitarian supplies reaching the region twice a week, has been blocked by the Sri Lankan military," Mr. Ilanthirayan told TamilNet.
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