SLA bans Colombo bound heavy vehicles from east

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 August 2006, 19:40 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has imposed a total ban on heavy vehicles transporting cargo such as fish, and other perishable goods from the districts of Amparai and Batticaloa to Colombo. These vehicles are stopped at Welikanda and Ottamavadi and sent back to Batticaloa and Amparai. The ban has come into effect since Saturday, civil sources said.
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CHC provides emergency medical treatment for Wanni displaced

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 August 2006, 10:24 GMT]
Centre for Health Care (CHC) mobile medical team, on Saturday and Sunday conducted emergency medical clinics for the recent internally displaced civilians at the Punnaineeravi Mahavidyalayam and Udayarkaddu Mahavidyalayam, in Kilinochchi said health care workers.


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Former Norwegian Army Chief to head SLMM

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 August 2006, 09:55 GMT]
The next head of the international ceasefire monitors in Sri Lanka is former Norwegian Army chief, Maj. Gen. Lars Johan Sølvberg, diplomatic sources said Monday. Maj. Gen. Sølvberg will take over as head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) from Swedish Maj. Gen. Ulf Henricsson at the end of the month.
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Jaffna bound civilians stranded in Vavuniya for 11 days

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 August 2006, 09:31 GMT]
More than five hundred Tamil civilians bound for Jaffna district stranded in Vavuniya for the last eleven days Monday morning gathered in the Vavuniya district secretariat urging the civil authorities to take steps to send them to the peninsula.
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Police, SLA search operation in Valaichchenai, many detained

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 August 2006, 06:56 GMT]
Sri Lankan Army (SLA) troopers and police cordoned off and searched several villages falling within the Valaichchenai police division Sunday from 5:30 a.m. to 12 noon, arresting more than 200 men. The arrested residents were taken to Kalmadu army camp where they were photographed and interrogated. The Armed forces later released many of the arrested but are still holding an unknown number of residents in their base, said civil sources in Batticaloa.


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SLA directs artillery fire towards Batticaloa LTTE-areas

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 August 2006, 04:46 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Saturday night around 8:30 p.m. directed artillery and mortar bombs from its military installations in Vavunativu, Kommathurai, Kiran, Pulipainthakal and Meeravodai towards border areas held by Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Batticaloa district. The attack continued for about one and a half hours, residents said.
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Sivamaharajah assassinated

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 August 2006, 03:48 GMT]
Managing Director of Jaffna Tamil daily "Namathu Eelanadu" and the veteran chairman of Multi-Purpose Co-operative Society (MPCS) in Tellippalai, Jaffna, Sinnathamby Sivamaharajah, 68, was shot and killed at his temporary residence inside the High Security Zone of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Tellippalai Sunday night around 7:20 p.m. Mr. Sivamaharajah is a former parliamentarian (TULF) and a senior member of Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK), the main constituent party of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA).
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Eachchilampathu IDPs face dire shortage of food

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 August 2006, 03:18 GMT]
About 12 thousand internally displaced Tamils from 2956 families trapped in LTTE held villages in Eachchilampathu division in the Trincomalee district following continuous aerial bombardment and artillery fire directed by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) from its military installations in east port town and its suburbs have been facing starvation as food and essential materials are not supplied by non-governmental organizations and the government agencies since the fighting broke out, civil sources said.
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SLA arrests 3 brothers in Punkudutheevu

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 August 2006, 16:19 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers cordoned off and arrested three brothers from their house at 10th ward in Punkudutheevu, islet north of Jaffna, around 10:30 p.m., Saturday, according to a complaint made by theie relatives at the Human Rights Commission (HRC). SLA's Civil Adminstration authorities have, however, informed the relatives that they do not have any information about the arrest of the brothers.
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"Let civilians flee, allow relief through" - UNHCR

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 August 2006, 13:36 GMT]
"Some 15,000 to 20,000 people are now displaced in the Killinochchi area as a result of repeated [Sri Lankan] artillery shelling and air strikes," the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said this week. Calling on the Colombo government and the Liberation Tigers "to urgently allow aid workers free access to all parts of the island so that vital supplies can reach those cut off by fighting," UNHCR appealed for them "to permit freedom of movement to all civilians displaced by their conflict." Since April UNHCR says 162,000 people have become internally displaced, while 7,439 have become refugees in Tamil Nadu.
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Uyilankulam, Madhu check points' closure affects Tamil civilians

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 August 2006, 13:06 GMT]
Since the closure of Uyilankulam and Madhu checkpoints in Mannar district by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) from August 11 acute shortage for food, fuel and medicine is prevailing in LTTE held villages located in the divisions of Manthai West and Madhu as transport of such items is not allowed through these checkpoints.
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53 Division bears brunt of war

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 August 2006, 12:10 GMT]
Amid continuing heavy fighting in the northern Jaffna peninsula, hundreds of wounded Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers have been brought to hospitals in and around Colombo, with hundreds more awaiting transfer from Anuradhapura, medical sources in the capital said Saturday. While the government officially says 106 soldiers have been killed in a week of fighting, defence sources in Colombo said Friday the bodies of more than 400 soldiers had been brought to the south. They said the majority of the casualties have been borne by the SLA’s elite 53 Division.
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19 detainees released

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 August 2006, 10:18 GMT]
Nineteen Tamil youths who were arrested by Sri Lanka Army soldiers during a search operation in Chavakachcheri on Friday were relesed Saturday, Human Rights Commission officials said.
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Colombo aggravates humanitarian crisis in NorthEast – NGO forum head

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 August 2006, 15:32 GMT]
Head of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) forum in Kilinochchi, Mr Ganesapillai, speaking at a press conference Wednesday accused the Sri Lankan government of deliberately blocking food and other supplies to civilians living in Vanni and Jaffna. "The Sri Lankan Army (SLA) is not allowing supply vehicles to pass through the check posts located at the entry points to the Vanni region. Governments agents for Jaffna, Kilinochchi, and Mullaitivu have requested the GOSL to instruct the SLA to open the roads so that all supplies can pass through to civilians in Vanni and Jaffna but the Colombo Government has been withholding issueing such directive," said Mr.Ganesapillai.
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GoSL's aid delivery, inequitable - Rev. Dr. Jeyanesan

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 August 2006, 13:34 GMT]
Sri Lankan government does not treat alike the people of all communities, affected in war and Tsunami, in connection with relief distribution, and the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) is deliberately creating barriers to effective functioning of Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in delivering relief to the affected, said Rev. Dr. Jeyanesan, the Coordinator of South Indian Missionary for Batticaloa District.
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Paduvankarai faces misery

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 August 2006, 12:20 GMT]
Tamil people living in LTTE controlled Paduvankarai area in Batticaloa District face starvation and danger of health hazards due to the closure of all the entry points to the LTTE controlled area from Military controlled Eluvankarai area by the Sri Lankan Army (SLA) from 12 August, local residents said. "This act of collective punishment by the SLA has affected mostly the poorest civilians in the LTTE-controlled areas in Batticaloa," civil society sources in Batticaloa said.
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SLN slaps restrictions on civilian movement from Jaffna Islets

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 August 2006, 11:28 GMT]
Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) has barred all members except one in each family to travel to Jaffna mainland from Jaffna Islets from noon Friday, residents of Kayts said. Hundreds of families who were planning to relocate to areas in Jaffna mainland seeking safety are prevented from relocating even though the Security Forces have lifted the curfew for five hours from 12:00 noon to 5:00 p.m.
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Two men shot, killed by SLA in Karaveddy

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 August 2006, 11:12 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers shot and killed two men in early thirties in Vadamaradchy East, Karaveddy at midnight 12:10 a.m Friday, sources in Jaffna said. The bodies of the men, yet to be identified, are still lying in front of a business premises along Sengunthar Road, near Kalikovil.
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SLA troopers enter University premises in Jaffna, arrest student leader

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 August 2006, 07:05 GMT]
Large number of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers rounded up the Jaffna University, broke open the office of the Jaffna University Students Federation, arrested a student activist and took away the computers and documents, Friday, while the curfew was strictly observed, student sources said.


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Thousand civilians enter LTTE held Vanni region

[TamilNet, Friday, 18 August 2006, 15:48 GMT]
Stranded Tamil civilians in Vavuniya town for about six days were allowed to travel through Omanthai check point to the LTTE held districts of Killinochchi, Mullaitivu and Vavuniya North division in the Vavuniya district Friday. The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) reopened the Vavuniya-Omanthai check point Friday afternoon around 2.30 p.m for limited hours due to combined effort taken by Mr.Kishore Sivanathan, Vanni district parliamentarian and officials of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) and Vavuniya district secretariat.
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