Claymore mine recovered in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 September 2006, 22:43 GMT]
A claymore mine exploded at Kiran Korakallimadu area along Eravur-Valaichchenai road in Batticaloa district Monday morning around 7 a.m. Sri Lankan troops on road patrol were targeted. But they escaped unhurt, security sources said.
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SLAF conducts air-raids over LTTE areas in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 September 2006, 16:27 GMT]
Sri Lankan Air Force (SLAF) Kfir fighters flew air sorties over areas near residential homes in the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) controlled territory in the Batticaloa district on Tuesday around 7 a.m, S. Seelalan, deputy head of the Batticaloa LTTE political wing said. Though two bombs were dropped simultaneously on Tharavi in Eerakulam region no one was hurt, Seelalan said.
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Four civilians shot dead in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 September 2006, 23:26 GMT]
Unidentified armed men shot and killed four Tamil civilians on Sunday afternoon and Monday morning in separate incidents in Jaffna district. Victims of the three incidents have been identified. The deceased in the fourth incident is yet to be identified.
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India opposes NE de-merger, wants truce, talks - report

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 September 2006, 21:21 GMT]
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Monday told Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse that only negotiations can resolve the island dragging ethnic conflict. “A political, and not military, solution is what Sri Lanka should aim at - this was India's message,” IANS reported from the Non-Aligned Movement Summit in Cuba. The Indian leadership had also pressed that the island's Tamil-majority Northeastern province should not be de-merged without a referendum and that such a referendum would only be possible when there was a 'conducive atmosphere,' IANS reported.
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Civilian killings soaring under Rajapakse - LTTE

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 September 2006, 19:26 GMT]
Pointing out that the killings of Tamil civilians by Sri Lankan security forces and Army-backed paramilitary groups have shot up since President Mahinda Rajapakse assumed power last year, the Liberation Tigers said this week that in keeping with the agenda of Sinhala extremist forces, Rajapakse is determined to pursue the military option to the ethnic conflict. “All attempts by the LTTE to value, abide by and protect the CFA have been undermined by the military option pursued by the Rajapakse regime,” the LTTE said in a statement Monday.
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SLA, LTTE exchange rocket fire in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 September 2006, 19:20 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army soldiers and Liberation Tigers exchanged rocket fire in the eastern Batticaloa in the early hours of Monday. Fighting broke out when Sri Lankan government troops attempted to move from ‘Karuthapaalam’ (Black Bridge) in Chenkalady, through Badulla road in to areas held by the Liberation Tigers, around 2:30 a.m., Monday.
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Two youths shot dead in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 September 2006, 18:10 GMT]
Two Tamil civilians were shot dead in Jaffna district Sunday and Monday. In the first incident Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troopers took away a Tamil youth from his house and shot him dead in front of Kondavil Hindu Maha Vidiyalayam Sunday around 8.30 p.m., according to his relatives. In the second incident another civilian was shot dead by unidentified armed men Monday morning around 10 a.m. at Karaveddi.
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Uncertainty haunts Vaharai IDPs, two children die of diarrhea

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 September 2006, 15:54 GMT]
A one-year-old baby girl and a 7-year-old girl, both children of Internally Displaced families from Muthur East, have died of diarrhea at Vaharai hospital. A displaced medical doctor from Eachilampattu, M. Varathan, working at Vaharai hospital says the IDPs in Vaharai are facing health hazards. A displaced person, Thangarajah, says that the IDPs were however not prepared to return home, "at least until a situation that prevailed prior to April 25, is returned to our areas."


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Muslim protestors stone STF over Pottuvil massacre

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 September 2006, 10:29 GMT]
Special Task Force (STF) personnel and Policemen who were deployed in Pottuvil fired several shots into the air to disperse the angry Muslim protestors who stoned STF and Police vehicles around 11:30 a.m. Monday following the massacre of 10 Muslim youths. All the slain Muslims were youths below 25 years. Two of the victims are 15-year-old boys. The bodies of the victims were taken to Periya Pallivasal Mosque in Pottuvil. Tension had re-surfaced in the area, a few days ago, when the dead body of a Sinhala person was brought to burial inside a Muslim cemetery, according to the sources at the Mosque.
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SLA arrests two Tamil youths in Mannar

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 September 2006, 07:23 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) arrested two Tamil youths Sunday afternoon at Mavilankerni in Mannar district. They have been identified as Mariyathas, 25 and Gnanaseelan Thavaseelan, 23 of Puthirakandal in Murunkan police division, civil sources said.
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Tigers blame Sri Lanka for Pottuvil killings

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 September 2006, 07:22 GMT]
Liberation Tigers Amparai District Political Head, Mr. Jeya, has blamed Sri Lankan military for "indulging in sabotage activities." In a statement issued in Tamil Monday, the Tigers charged that the Sri Lankan counter-insurgency Special Task Force (STF) was behind the slayings and "sabotage activities" aimed at creating tension between the Tamil and Muslim communities in Amparai district. Conveying condolences to the Muslim victims in Pottuvil and expressing sympathies to their families, Mr. Jeya, urged the civilians "not to fall prey to the calculated propaganda of the Sri Lankan military till the truth behind the slayings is uncovered."
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Claymore explosion injures four in Thampalakamam

[TamilNet, Sunday, 17 September 2006, 14:17 GMT]
A soldier of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA), a home guard and two civilians were injured in a claymore mine explosion that took place Sunday morning around 7.30 a.m. at Thampalakamam, a village located along Trincomalee Kandy highway about 24 km off southwest of east port town.
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IDPs cannot be resettled against their wishes - TNA

[TamilNet, Sunday, 17 September 2006, 13:01 GMT]
Internally displaced people (IDP) should not resettled in the government controlled territory against their wishes and to do so would be violating their human rights, stated P.Ariyaneththran, Batticaloa district Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian at a conference held Saturday morning in the Batticaloa district secretariat which discussed the urgent need of providing relief assistance to those families who fled from the government controlled area and sought refuge Vaharai division in Batticaloa district.
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SLA guns down father of four in Valaichenai

[TamilNet, Sunday, 17 September 2006, 10:08 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army troopers shot dead a family man, father of four, Saturday evening around 3:00 a.m. at Nasivanthivu in Valaichenai police division.
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CEB vehicle attacked, one killed, 2 injured

[TamilNet, Sunday, 17 September 2006, 06:06 GMT]
An employee of the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) was killed and two others were injured when armed men fired at the vehicle in which they were traveling, at Alukkai in Allaveddi, 11 km north of Jaffna town, around 8 p.m., Saturday. The vehicle was fired at about 200 metres from Sri Lanka Army check post at Alukkai.
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Bodies of three Varani victims exhumed, given decent burial

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 September 2006, 22:47 GMT]
Bodies of three civilians from Varani in Thenmaradchy district, two from the same family who died in artillery attack by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) on 11 August, and a youth who was shot dead by the SLA on 13th August, were exhumed and given a decent burial after proper post-mortem examinations were carried out, sources in Jaffna said.
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Bodies of two slain aid workers exhumed

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 September 2006, 22:04 GMT]
Investigators began exhumation of bodies of seventeen aid workers of the Action Contre La Faim (ACF-Action against Hunger) who were killed in execution-style in Muttur. Two bodies were exhumed on the first day in the Trincomalee Hindu Cemetery in the presence of the Anuradhapura Additional Magistrate. ACF officials and relatives of those killed, legal sources said.
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SLA accused of stealing belongings of Thenmaradchy displaced

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 September 2006, 17:14 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers in Thenmaradchy Forward Defense Line (FDL) areas have been accused of allegedly stealing millions of rupees worth of belongings left behind by the fleeing refugees from Thenmaradchy villages following clashes between the Government troops and the Liberation Tigers, civil society sources in Jaffna said. SLA troopers from Varani 52-4 Brigade Head Quarters located along Point Pedro- Kodikamam road have come under severe criticism from residents slowly returning back to their homes in villages surrounding the Varani camp for having ransacked their houses and stealing valuable property, residents said.
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Tamil Councillors to stage peace vigils across London boroughs

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 September 2006, 06:58 GMT]
British Tamil Councillors and Associates (BTCA) will be holding peace vigils across 32 London boroughs on the Inernational Day of Peace on Thursday, September 21, urging for "Peace with Dignity" for the Tamils of Sri Lanka, the cross-party Council members from Greater London region said in a Press Release. The organisation has called for a "peaceful resolution that recognizes the Tamil people's right to self-determination and fulfills the legitimate aspirations."
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Civilians brave Mannar seas to reach Jaffna by boat

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 September 2006, 01:07 GMT]
Thirteen Jaffna residents, stranded in Vavuniya due to the closure of the A9, took the perilous sea voyage in a hired boat from Thalai Mannar and reached the island of Delft on Thursday 14th night, civil sources in Jaffna said. The Delft police took the civilians into custody and transferred them to the Kayts police station on Friday, sources in Kayts said.
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