Two Tigers killed in ambush north of Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 August 2004, 11:13 GMT]
Mr. Bawa, a senior member of the Liberation Tigers from the Amparai District and an LTTE rehabilitation affairs official were killed in an ambush near a Sri Lanka army camp at Kayankerni, 36 kilometres north of Batticaloa, Friday around 2.15 p.m. Mr. Bawa was riding a motorbike with Mr. Yoga, an LTTE official in charge of rehabilitation work, when gunmen ambushed them triggering a claymore mine and opening fire at Pullaavi junction in Kayankerni, an area controlled by the Sri Lankan military. A female cadre travelling with them was seriously injured. She was earlier believed dead.
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Murder convict said organizer of Sri Lanka conference in Oslo

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 August 2004, 05:20 GMT]
A man convicted of murder is the joint organiser of a conference on Sri Lanka in Oslo, the Norwegian multicultural newspaper Utrop said in its online edition Friday. The conference, which begins Friday, brings together Sinhala nationalist hardliners and Sinhala Buddhist extremists from around the world. The Norwegian, the joint organizer of the Sinhala nationalist conference, was convicted for murdering an immigrant restaurant owner in Oslo and sentenced to preventive detention for ten years in 1997, according to Utrop.
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Maj. Gen. Tennekoon made Jaffna SF commander

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 August 2004, 13:38 GMT]
Major General Sunil Tennekoon has been appointed the new Sri Lankan Security Forces Commander for Jaffna, military headquarters in Colombo said Thursday. He was the General Officer Commanding the Sri Lanka army's 22 Division in Trincomalee. Maj. Gen. Tennekoon replaces Maj. Gen. Susil Chandrapala who has been made commander of SLA's Volunteer Force.
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SLA, police in Jaffna against hoisting of LTTE flag

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 August 2004, 02:27 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army and Police in Jaffna district have been exerting pressure on the organizers of public and sports events in the Vadamarachchi division not to hoist the Tamil Eelam national flag, which is also the flag of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). During the weekend, the LTTE flag was hoisted at four sports events in the Vadamaradchchi division. The SLA and police rushed to the sites and ordered the organizers to remove the flags. But the people gathered at the events refused, sources said.
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SLA, Police cordorn, search Valaichenai

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 August 2004, 14:10 GMT]
Hundreds of Sri Lanka army soldiers and Policemen cordoned off and searched Valaichenai town and environs, 32 kilometres north of Batticaloa, from early morning Wendnesday. Soldiers and Policemen questioned residents about their contacts with the Liberation Tigers and paramilitaries opposed to the LTTE, sources in the town said. Some Muslim homes in the area were also searched, according to the sources.
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Army officials' committee holds inquiry into Tamil journalist's complaint

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 August 2004, 13:39 GMT]
A three-member committee comprising military officials of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) commenced inquiry Tuesday into the complaint made by journalist Mr.Velupillai Thavachelvam that he had been threatened with death by a military officer when he was covering the visit of a leading Buddhist prelate to Jaffna during the early part of this year.
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Drug smuggling ring arrested in Mannar

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 August 2004, 11:28 GMT]
Sleuths from Sri Lanka's Anti -Narcotics Bureau arrested four persons with 4.5 kilograms of pure heroin in Mannar, Police in the island town said Tuesday. The arrest was made on information provided by a man from Mannar and two Indian nationals with 1490 grams of pure heroin who were taken into custody by Police from the Anti Narcotic Bureau last Thursday in Thillayadi in Puttalam. Mannar has emerged as a key transit point for drug smuggling from South India to Colombo.
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Tellipalai cancer hospital to get a new lease of life

[TamilNet, Monday, 16 August 2004, 16:46 GMT]
The abandoned Cancer Hospital in Tellipalai, which is located in the Palaly high security zone in Jaffna district, is likely to function with effect from September 15. On this date the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) is to hand over a set of renovated buildings of the hospital to the provincial health ministry, hospital development sources said.
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SLA numbers IDP occupied houses in Palaly HSZ

[TamilNet, Monday, 16 August 2004, 16:42 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Monday started numbering the houses in villages Pannalai and adjacent areas located in the Palaly high security zones (HSZ) where internally displaced families have resettled after signing the ceasefire agreement. The SLA authorities say that they do the numbering enabling them to easily identify the occupants.
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Tigers reiterate stand, say Tamils losing peace hope

[TamilNet, Monday, 16 August 2004, 12:13 GMT]
''We explained to the European Union envoys the LTTE leadership's stand that we are ready to restart negotiations with the Government of Sri Lanka on the basis of the Interim Self Government Authority proposal which was endorsed by the Tamil people at the general elections", said Mr. S. P Thamilchelvan, head of LTTE 's political division, speaking to the press after meeting a top EU delegation from Colombo Monday in Kilinochchi.
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British, Dutch, EU envoys meet LTTE

[TamilNet, Monday, 16 August 2004, 07:47 GMT]
The British High Commissioner for Sri Lanka and the ambassadors of European Union and Netherlands met the head of the LTTE's political division, Mr. S. P Thamilchelvan, Monday in Kilinochchi for discussions about the island's long deadlocked peace talks. The visit of three envoys comes in the wake of the Liberation Tigers saying last week they will re-enter peace negotiations only if the Interim Self Governing Authority (ISGA) is institutionalised first.
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Devotees throng Keerimalai to fast

[TamilNet, Sunday, 15 August 2004, 18:52 GMT]
Large crowds of Hindu devotees who lost their fathers Sunday thronged the Keerimalai Sea, which is located in the high security zones of the Sri Lanka Army in the Jaffna district, to perform Adi Amavasai 'theertham' (Water cutting religious ceremony held in 'July' according to the Tamil calendar). Soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army who are located in the vicinity had subjected the devotees and their belongings to checks for security reasons before allowing them to enter the Keerimalai area, civil sources said.
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SLA blocks LTTE political activists in Trinco

[TamilNet, Sunday, 15 August 2004, 18:45 GMT]
Soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army Sunday evening surrounded a group of political activists of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) at Mc Heyzer road in Orr's Hill, a suburb in Trincomalee town, and blocked their movement. Later they were allowed to go by the SLA at the intervention of monitors of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) in Trincomalee following a strong complaint lodged by Mr.S.Elilan, Trincomalee district political head of the LTTE, against the action of the SLA, sources said.
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Record crowds attend Madhu Church festival

[TamilNet, Sunday, 15 August 2004, 15:32 GMT]
The annual festival of Madhu Church concluded Sunday with three Bishops - Thomas Soundaranayagam (Jaffna), Malcolm Ranjit (Ratnapura) and Rayappu Joseph (Mannar) - jointly holding Holy Mass. About three hundred thousand devotees from all parts of the island participated in the final day of the festival of the Madhu Church, which is also called Jungle Shrine, revered by Tamils and Sinhalese, sources said.
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UNHCR to provide permanent houses for Nagarkovil IDPs

[TamilNet, Sunday, 15 August 2004, 05:01 GMT]
The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has come forward to construct permanent houses in Point Pedro to those who were displaced from Nagarkovil in Vadamaradchchi division in Jaffna district due to the war. As a first step, 85 permanent houses will be constructed in Punithanagar, a coastal village in Katkovalam area located in Point Pedro, sources said.
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SLA soldiers chase out tourists from Katkovalam beach

[TamilNet, Saturday, 14 August 2004, 15:36 GMT]
Soldiers located in the Katkovalam beach in Vadamaradchchi division Saturday chased out several local tourists who went there to enjoy their weekend, civil sources said.
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Sri Lanka faces fuel distribution crisis

[TamilNet, Saturday, 14 August 2004, 11:13 GMT]
Sri Lanka is facing a major fuel distribution crisis after trade unions of the state owned Ceylon Petroleum Corporation went on strike against a proposed plan to sell a major share of the institution to an Indian oil company. Panicked drivers jammed fuel filling stations in many parts of the island as distribution of petroleum products stopped after the strike started Friday afternoon.
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Madhu Church festival begins

[TamilNet, Saturday, 14 August 2004, 03:05 GMT]
Large numbers of devotees are flocking to the Madhu Church in Mannar to celebrate the annual festival of the Church. The roads leading to the Church will remain open 24 hours from August 13 to August 18, according to Mr. Rupu Gunaratne, the Sri Lanka police officer in charge of the roads.
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SLMM-SLA meeting held in Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Saturday, 14 August 2004, 02:38 GMT]
Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission’s officials coordinating security met with the Commander of the Sri Lanka Army for the Vanni region, Maj. Gen. Sisira Wijesooriya, at the SLMM office in Vavuniya Friday, military sources said.
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IDPs to launch two-prong campaign to retrieve their properties

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 August 2004, 13:55 GMT]
Internally displaced families from Valigamam division in Jaffna district have decided to launch two-prong campaign to retrieve their houses and lands from the occupation of the Sri Lanka Army. SLA currently occupies houses and agricultural lands of the several thousands internally displaced people in the Jaffna district in the name of high security zones, IDPs Federation sources said.
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