SLA launches new offensive towards Vaharai

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 October 2006, 05:21 GMT]
Sri Lankan forces have launched a new offensive towards Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) controlled Vaharai region Friday morning. Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troops from Mankerni SLA camp advanced into LTTE controlled territory south of Vaharai with heavy artillery shelling, Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombardment and rocket fire from the Sri Lanka Navy gunboats, according to civilian sources. Thousands of civilians, most of them recently displaced from Trincomalee, were struggling to flee to safer areas. Civilian casualty figures are yet to be reported. "An inhumane war has been thrust upon 61,000 civilians," says Trincomalee District parliamentarian Thurairatnasingham.
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SLA trooper killed in Vavuniya claymore attack

[TamilNet, Thursday, 05 October 2006, 20:04 GMT]
A Sri Lankan Army (SLA) soldier was killed and two others injured in a claymore explosion targeted at the SLA foot patrol in Nampankulam area in Vavuniya at 7:50 a.m. Thursday, Vavuniya Police said.
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Sri Lanka doubles defence spending

[TamilNet, Thursday, 05 October 2006, 10:46 GMT]
Sri Lanka's hardline government plans to double defence spending next year, Reuters reported Thursday. Defence spending will rise 100 percent next year to 139.6 billion rupees from 69.5 billion budgeted for 2006, the appropriation bill seen by Reuters ahead of its presentation to parliament showed.
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18 Tamil youths arrested in Colombo

[TamilNet, Thursday, 05 October 2006, 03:25 GMT]
Sri Lanka Police, went on board the Vavuniya-Matara train at Fort station in Colombo on Tuesday morning and checked each compartment until the train reached Matara where they arrested 10 Tamil youths travelling in the train, sources said. Police, boarding the Colombo bound train from Galle at Panadura, took into custody 8 Tamil youths when the train reached Fort Station on the same day, Deputy Police Commissioner Mr. Poojitha Jayasundara said. The searches on trains were conducted after the Police were tipped that youths suspected of links to terrorism are travelling in the trains, the commissioner added.


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Mannar Tamil student released on surety bail

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 04 October 2006, 13:31 GMT]
A Tamil student arrested by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Tuesday afternoon during a search operation following the discovery of a ten kilo weighed claymore mine at a site located closed Uyilankulam SLA camp was allowed in surety bail by the Additional Mannar Magistrate T.J.Pirapaharan.
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SLAF Kfir jets bomb Vadamaradchi East

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 04 October 2006, 04:24 GMT]
Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) Kfir bombers flew over Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) controlled Kudarappu in Vadamaradchi East and dropped at least nine bombs in the area around 9:15 a.m. Wednesday. Four Tsunami reconstructed houses were destroyed in the bombardment, according to residents.
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Armed robberies increase during curfew hours in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 04 October 2006, 00:58 GMT]
Seven armed masked men robbed more than Rs. 100,000 in cash, and jewellery worth many hundred thousands rupees Monday night from residents in five houses located in the Kachchery-Nallur road region inside Jaffna Municipality during the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) imposed 'dusk to dawn' curfew hours, sources in Jaffna said. During the same night unidentified gunmen beat to death a 75 year old woman at Elalai North located close to the High Security Zone (HSZ) before disappearing with valuables from her house.
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Civilians turn to SLHRC for protection amid death threats

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 04 October 2006, 00:06 GMT]
More than 15 internally displaced families from Maduvil north in Thenmaradchchy complained that they have been receiving death threats from the Sri Lanka Army (SLA), and sought protection from the Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission (SLHRC) Jaffna office, civil society sources in Jaffna said Tuesday. IDPs say they fear for their lives if they return to their homes in Thenmaradchy without security guarantees, the IDPs said.
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SLAF bombs Vanni as Special Envoy meets Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 October 2006, 11:07 GMT]
Three Kfir jet bombers of Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) flew over Vanni and attacked Pooneryn as Norwegian Special Envoy Jon Hanssen-Bauer met the Liberation Tigers Political Head S. P. Thamilchelvan in Kilinochchi to discuss the modalities for creating a conducive environment for talks, LTTE sources in Kilinochchi said. Mr. Thamilchelvan told media after the meeting that Colombo was continuously engaged in "offensive aggression," despite the assurances given to the Norwegian facilitators following the call by the Co-Chairs to cease all violence. Tigers were still extending support to unconditional talks as urged by the International Community, the LTTE political head told TamilNet.
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Jaffna fisher familes driven to abject poverty, starvation - NPFC

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 October 2006, 10:25 GMT]
The International community should immediately intervene to help prevent the fisher families in the Jaffna peninsula from being driven close to starvation due to the total ban on fishing enforced by government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) in the peninsula, said the President of Northern Province Fishermen Consortium (NPFC) Mr. C. Thavaratnam, in an urgent appeal made to the International Community Monday, in Jaffna.


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Jaffna students boycott enters seventh week

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 October 2006, 10:23 GMT]
Schools in the Jaffna peninsula remain closed as students continued their boycott of schools, and higher institutes of learning, as the boycott entered seventh week, sources in Jaffna said. Student Association members said that they will resume educational activities only if the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) creates an atmosphere of normalcy conducive for education.
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12 Tamils arrested in Colombo

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 October 2006, 02:55 GMT]
Twelve Tamils were arrested in Colombo suburbs of Dehiwela, Bambalapitya, and Colpetty during a search conducted by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers and Sri Lanka Police Monday afternoon lasting four hours, sources in Colombo said.
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Sectarian violence re-surfaces in Muslim town, Kattankudy

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 October 2006, 17:37 GMT]
Clashes between orthodox Muslims against an Islamic sect that preaches pantheism resurfaced in Muslim town Kattankudy Sunday and continued for the second day, in which 32 houses and a van were damaged and 3 motorbikes burned down. Police curfew was re-imposed Monday.
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Sri Lanka expels MSF from Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 October 2006, 15:56 GMT]
Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) expelled three medical specialists of Médecins Sans Frontiérs (MSF) (France) serving in Point Pedro Manthikai Government hospital in Vadamardchchi Sunday, medical sources said. The hospital fell inside newly extended High Security Zone (HSZ) declared by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) after Aug 11 when clashes erupted in the Jaffna peninsula between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the SLA, said Manthikai hospital sources.
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ICRC hands over bodies of slain LTTE cadres

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 October 2006, 11:49 GMT]
Liberation Tigers Batticaloa District Commander Col. Ramesh, who had taken command recently, attended the funeral of three of the eleven Tiger cadres who were killed in an alleged Sri Lankan Special Task Force (STF) ambush inside the LTTE territory in Batticaloa. The bodies of the 11 Tiger cadres killed Saturday dawn in the counter-insurgency Special Task Force (STF) attack, were handed over to the Tigers by the Representatives of the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) Sunday around 3.30 p.m, according to Batticaloa District LTTE Deputy Political Head, S. Seeralan.
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Five civilians injured in SLA rocket fire in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 October 2006, 00:04 GMT]
Barrage of rockets fired by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) from Valaichenai Paper Factory and Murakodanchenai camps between 6:00 p.m and 7:40 p.m. Saturday have seriously injured five civilians including three women in the villages of Thihilivettai, Pondukalchenai, Navalpitty and Tharavai in LTTE-controlled northeast areas of Batticaloa district, sources said. The injured were rushed to the Medical Centre run by the LTTE where they are being treated, residents said.
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Former RAW chief protests India’s ‘ambivalence’ over LTTE

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 October 2006, 11:41 GMT]
India’s former spy chief has criticised Delhi for not engaging with the both the Liberation Tigers and Sri Lanka’s government to prevent the slide into conflict. "India's inability to fully comprehend the ground realities in Sri Lanka and, hamstrung by the past, its reluctance to do business with LTTE to help evolve an equitable settlement may prove to be a monumental foreign policy blunder,” J.K. Sinha, former head of India’s external intelligence agency said.
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Sri Lanka sets new conditions for talks - reports

[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 September 2006, 22:40 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s government has imposed new conditions for talks with the Liberation Tigers, Minister Keheliya Rambukwella, chief spokesman on defence matters told the Sunday Times. The paper says the conditions are: “a specific time frame should be provided by the LTTE to resume and conclude peace talks; the LTTE should give an assurance to the international community and Donor Co-chairs of the peace process that it will not use sea routes to smuggle into Sri Lanka any military hardware and the LTTE should make a commitment that it would not resort to any violence during the period of the talks.”
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SLA ban on building materials to Vaharai stays- Basil Rajapakse

[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 September 2006, 17:00 GMT]
Basil Rajapakse, brother and Senior Advisor to Sri Lanka's President Mr Mahinda Rajapakse, informed a delegation of Batticaloa District Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians that no building materials can be transported into LTTE-held Vaharai area north of Batticaloa until further notice, during a meeting held at the office the Srilankan President Friday at 11.00 a.m., sources in Colombo said.
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SLA trooper, youth shot dead in Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 September 2006, 16:40 GMT]
A Sri Lanka Army (SLA) trooper riding in a motorbike was shot dead by unknown gunmen Friday night in Vavuniya Kovil Kulam area, Vavuniya Police said Saturday. Also in Vavuniya Tharanikulam area, an unidentified body of a youth, alleged to be a Sinhalese from Nedunkulam was recovered at 9:00 a.m. Saturday, sources in Vavuniya said.
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