SLA cordon, search Kokuvil area

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 January 2006, 11:03 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers stationed in Thavady cordoned and searched Nanathavil Champion Lane and surrounding areas in Kokuvil East between 6 a.m. and 11 a.m Friday, sources in Jaffna said. No one was arrested in the search.
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Sunkankerni SLA patrol attacked

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 January 2006, 10:54 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers from Sunkankerni Batticaloa camp on foot patrol came under fire from unknown gunmen at 8 p.m. Thursday night, sources said. The firefight lasted for more than 15 minutes. SLA sources said there were no SLA casualties.
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Ratwatte, sons released, 5 sentenced to death in Udathalawinne case

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 January 2006, 10:25 GMT]
High Court judges sentenced to death five Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers and released former Deputy Defense Minister, Anurudha Ratwatte, his two sons, Rohan and Chanuka in the Udathalawinne case the verdict of which was released Friday morning, legal sources said. Other eight SLA soldiers were also released.
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Tamil businessman abducted in Colombo

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 January 2006, 10:17 GMT]
A Mannar businessman involved in dried fish trade was abducted by an unknown group who came in a white van Friday morning at 8 a.m. in Crow Island Modara, Colombo, sources in Colombo said.
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Funeral of two Trinco civilians killed by SLA held

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 January 2006, 17:02 GMT]
The funeral of the two Tamil civilians killed in retaliation by security forces in Uppuveli area, about two km off north of Trincomalee town following a claymore mine attack on a Sri Lanka Navy (SLN)convoy was held Thursday afternoon. Several hundred Tamil people participated in the funeral procession and the burial at Allesgarden cemetary in Uppuveli, about 3 km off north of east port town, civil sources said.
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4 killed, 34 wounded in Claymore attack in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 January 2006, 15:34 GMT]
Three police constables and a sixteen-year old boy were killed and 17 Sri Lanka Army soldiers, 9 policemen and 8 civilians, including a woman, were wounded in a Claymore attack at Thandavanveli in Batticaloa town around 4:55 p.m. Thursday, police said. Two vehicles, an SLA truck and a bus, carrying soldiers and policemen for a clearing operation were caught in the explosion. The wounded soldiers were airlifted to Polonnaruwa and Colombo hospitals. Around 20 T-56 rifles and ammunitions, blown away from the hands of the troopers in the powerful explosion, were recovered by the SLA soldiers who rushed to the site following the attack. Tension prevails in Batticaloa town.
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10 civilians, 3 SLA soldiers, policeman wounded in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 January 2006, 15:23 GMT]
Ten civilians were wounded in a bomb attack on a Sri Lanka Navy Jeep and the retaliatory fire and assault on civilians by the troopers Thursday evening in Trincomalee district between Gandhinagar and Anuradhapura junction along the Trincomalee - Kandy Highway, 3 km southwest of east port town. SLA soldiers opened fire wounding civilians following the explosion. The bomb exploded Thursday around 4 p.m., according to the Police. Tension prevailed in the area.
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Search operation in Nanattan after grenade attack on army sentry

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 January 2006, 12:24 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army soldiers launched a cordon and search operation in Nanattan village Wednesday following a grenade attack on a sentry of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Tuesday night around 11:00 p.m. No one was injured in the attack by unidentified persons, SLA sources said.
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Mannar Sinhala medical officers demand security

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 January 2006, 16:15 GMT]
Ten Sinhalese medical officers working in the Mannar general hospital left for Colombo Tuesday evening stating that they would not return for work until their security is guaranteed. Their action follows the grenade attack on Sri Lanka Army (SLA) sentry located in the premises of the hospital which killed a SLA soldier, health department sources said.
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Vakarai residents complain of increased SLA harassment

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 January 2006, 12:47 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has constructed three additional checkpoints along the road leading to Vakarai in Batticaloa district and travellers to the Liberation Tigers' controlled area are being subjected to increased harassment during security checks at these checkpoints, civil society sources in Batticaloa said.
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SLN soldiers attack, injure five Karainagar fishermen

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 January 2006, 12:04 GMT]
Sri Lanka Navy (SLAN) soldiers who were patrolling the northern seas off Jaffna islets attacked and seriously injured five fishermen from Karainagar at 12 midnight Tuesday, sources from Jaffna said. The injured fishermen with broken limbs have been admitted to the Jaffna Teaching Hospital, medical sources said.
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Widening grenade attacks injure four SLA troopers in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 January 2006, 11:54 GMT]
Four Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers were injured in three different incidents of grenade attacks in Kodikamam along Kodikamam-Point Pedro road, Kunjarkadai along Jaffna-Point Pedro Road and in Chavakachcheri, Wednesday sources in Jaffna said.


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Nordic countries condemn attack on Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 January 2006, 07:30 GMT]
The contributing countries to Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, have condemned the attack on the Batticaloa district office of SLMM on Friday 13 January. Four vehicles parked in front of the SLMM office were damaged in the explosion. Batticaloa office of the SLMM is located on Lake Road, 50 meters from the paramilitary Razeek Group camp, which is attached to a Sri Lanka Army camp. The area, a high security zone of the SLA, also houses other paramilitary camps and ex-militant offices of EPRLF (Varathar faction), PLOTE and EPDP.
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State terrorism rising in NorthEast, say Tamil MPs

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 January 2006, 15:31 GMT]
"Violence and terror unleashed by the State armed forces is on the increase in the North East province. Fifty Tamil civilians have been abducted in the Jaffna district within few months. From December 1 to January 12 the State armed forces and para military groups in Jaffna have killed thirty-one Tamil civilians. Forty-two Tamils have been killed in other districts of the province," said leaders of Tamil political parties addressing a press briefing after their protest in parliament Tuesday morning.


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Mannar playgrounds out of bound for sportspersons

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 January 2006, 13:02 GMT]
For more than six months the Mannar public playgrounds has been declared out of bound for students and youths because of the occupation of State armed forces. The gymnasium constructed in the playgrounds at a cost of about 2.5 million rupees with valuable sports equipments is idling as sports loving persons in the town fear to go there for practice, sports activists said.
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Deputy Solicitor General leads evidence in slain students' inquest

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 January 2006, 12:22 GMT]
Deputy Solicitor General Mr.D.Livera with two senior State Counsels on the direction by the Attorney General led the evidence of witnesses into the murder of five Tamil students allegedly by the government troops on January 2 night along the Trincomalee sea beach when the inquest proceedings resumed before Mr.V.Ramakamalan, Trincomalee Magistrate Monday morning, legal sources said.
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Muslim businessman beaten to death in Akkaraipattu

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 January 2006, 12:11 GMT]
Mr Ahamedlebby Abthul Bahir, 35, was beaten to death and his friend Nahurthamby Athambaba Lebby, 25, was seriously injured by unknown tamil group on Wednesday evening 3.30 p.m. at Periyakalai in Akkaripattu, police sources said.
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Balasingham to visit Vanni next week

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 January 2006, 11:33 GMT]
Mr. Anton Balasingham, the chief negotiator and political strategist of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), will visit the LTTE held region of Vanni, northern Sri Lanka, on 23rd January in a fresh effort to resume the peace process. Mr. Balasingham will assist the LTTE leader, Mr. V. Pirapaharan, during the forthcoming meeting next week between Mr. Erik Solheim, the Norwegian Minister of International Development, and the LTTE leadership.
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Mannar hospital staff protest against SLA presence

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 January 2006, 11:25 GMT]
Nearly 250 employees including few medical officers Tuesday morning staged a walkout in protest demanding the withdrawal of State armed forces from the premises of the Mannar district hospital and to stop soldiers visiting the wards of the hospital with arms and other weapons. The protest was held from about 10 a.m. till 11 a.m., sources in Mannar said.
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Ground conditions will dictate process forward - Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 January 2006, 10:09 GMT]
Unless there is a marked change in the ground conditions currently dominated by violent conduct by the Sri Lankan Armed forces and the paramilitaries, the patience of the Tamil population, facing killings on a daily basis in the SLA controlled Tamil homeland, will be put on a serious test, LTTE's Political Head S.P. Thamilchelvan, told media following the meeting in Kilinochchi with the Norwegian Ambassador to Sri Lanka Hans Brattskar and the Head of the Scandinavian truce monitors in Sri Lanka, Hagrup Haukland. LTTE Political Head further said that the LTTE leader V. Pirapaharan would convey LTTE's stand to the Norwegian Special Envoy Erik Solheim at the end of January.
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