(Photos) Journalists condemn attacks

[TamilNet, Friday, 07 April 2000, 09:01 GMT]
The Vanni Journalists Association has condemned recent attacks on journalists, a news statement said. On Sunday a grenade was thrown at the house of a senior journalist in Batticaloa Mr Aiyathurai Nadesan, and yesterday, BBC's Sinhala Service correspondent Elmo Fernando was assaulted in Colombo. The association has urged the government to take immediate steps to prevent violence acts on media personnel.
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(Photos) BBC reporter assaulted at rally

[TamilNet, Thursday, 06 April 2000, 16:43 GMT]
The BBC's Sinhala service correspondent in Colombo was assaulted this afternoon by protestors in the Sri Lankan capital agitating against Norwegian mediation to end the country's ethnic conflict and peace talks with the Liberation Tigers. The rally of Buddhist monks and Sinhala nationalist organisations also burnt the Norwegian national flag in front of the heavily guarded Royal Norwegian Embassy in Colombo.
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Release refugee says Tamil group

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 05 April 2000, 04:25 GMT]
A Tamil group in Colombo called on the international community today to persuade the Sri Lankan government to let the refugees held up at Kilali in Jaffna by the Sri Lanka army proceed to safer areas in other parts of the northern peninsula.
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Claymore hits navy convoy

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 April 2000, 08:12 GMT]
Seven sailors of the Sri Lanka Navy were wounded and one killed when the bus in which they were traveling from Trincomalee was hit by a claymore mine this morning around 11.30 a.m. The navy convoy comprising three buses was attacked at Kittuoothu, about 54 kilometers west of Trincomalee, on the main trunk road to Colombo.
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Court orders compensation payout

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 April 2000, 06:44 GMT]
The Supreme Court has ordered the State to pay Rs.50,000 as compensation to Methodist Church Minister John Christopher Solomen of Kandy for unlawful detention by the police.
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Case against CMEV withdrawn

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 April 2000, 20:49 GMT]
The criminal defamation suit filed against the Centre for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV) by Chandrasiri Gunawardene, a People's Alliance (PA) member, has been withdrawn on a directive by the Attorney General, said legal sources in Colombo.
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Anti-mining protest in Colombo

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 March 2000, 20:11 GMT]
Several hundred people picketed out side the Fort railway station in Colombo today, protesting against leasing of phosphate mines at Eppawela, in the north-central province, to foreign companies.
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Military flight crashes

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 March 2000, 06:54 GMT]
An army flight with 36 Sri Lankan security forces personnel including four junior officers from Jaffna, and four Russian crew members crashed near Anuradhapura, 206 kilometers northeast of Colombo, around 11.40 a.m. this morning army sources in Colombo said. Soldiers wounded in the fighting in Pallai were also on board the flight.
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Tamil Nadu fisherman dies in custody

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 March 2000, 12:42 GMT]
A Tamil Nadu fisherman arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy (SLN) last month near Kachchathivu died in custody today. Ms. Maheswary Velayutham, a human rights lawyer who went to see his body at the government hospital in Colombo today charged that he died due to neglect of the injuries sustained when SLN personnel assaulted him during arrest in the high seas.
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SLA battles to keep life-line open

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 March 2000, 18:17 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) headquarters sources in Colombo said this evening the Liberation Tigers were holding in the Pallai sector a section of the Main Supply Route (MSR) from Jaffna to the Elephant Pass base. Meanwhile, the Voice of Tigers (VoT) said in its night news bulletin today that new fighting formations of the LTTE were continuing the Unceasing Waves III offensive into the Jaffna peninsula.
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SLA vacates Amban

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 March 2000, 07:28 GMT]
The SLA vacated its camp at Amban around noon today as the Liberation Tiger continued their assault on the garrisons in Maamunai and Thalaiyadi on Jaffna's southeastern coast. Residents fleeing the war zone said that the Tigers had blasted three culverts on the Pt.Pedro-Maruthankerni road at Kudarappu, Punnaiyadi and Maamunai.
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SLA commandos arrested in botched heist

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 March 2000, 17:28 GMT]
Two Special Forces commandos of the Sri Lanka army who took part in a botched robbery of a rural bank south of Colombo were arrested by the Police this afternoon. Police sources in Colombo said that this is the first instance in which elite special forces commandos in active service have been taken into custody for gang robbery.
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Bomb detected in Colombo bound train

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 March 2000, 09:28 GMT]
A powerful parcel bomb was detected in the Colombo bound night mail train from Vavuniya just before it was scheduled to leave the station yesterday, said sources. The bomb was removed from the compartment and was diffused opposite the Railway station by the SLA bomb disposal team.
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Tigers attack SLA sentry

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 March 2000, 08:56 GMT]
A soldier was killed and another wounded when the Liberation Tigers attacked a sentry post near the Kinnaiyadi Sri Lanka Army (SLA) camp around 9 p.m. last night, Police sources in Batticaloa said.
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Protest in Batticaloa against SLAF order

[TamilNet, Thursday, 23 March 2000, 12:48 GMT]
More than a thousand people picketed in front of Manmunai North Divisional Secretariat this morning around 8.30 protesting against Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) acquiring their temple, school and cemetery along with a substantial portion land adjoining its base in Batticaloa.
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Swedish officials visit Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 March 2000, 19:38 GMT]
The Charge d' Affaires of Swedish Embassy in Colombo Mr.Borge Mattsson and the second secretary of the mission, Ms Stina Karltun, visited Batticaloa today. They participated in a function held at DERBA auditorium organized by the Batticaloa Municipal Council.
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TID arrests five in Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 March 2000, 16:41 GMT]
Five civilians including four employees of the main Post Office in Vavuniya were arrested by a special team of the Terrorism Investigation Division (TID) of the Sri Lankan Police from Colombo today. Two Sub Post Masters, K.Kugathasan and A.Subramaniapillai and two minor employees, Thirunaavukkarasu and Raveendran were arrested while they were on duty at the Vavuniya main post office said sources.
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International airport security tightened further

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 March 2000, 13:20 GMT]
Persons going to bid farewell to passengers at Sri Lanka's heavily secured international airport will no longer be able to enter its departure terminal according another security measure announced today jointly by the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Civil Aviation.
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British High Commissioner visits Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 March 2000, 20:45 GMT]
The British High Commissioner Ms.Linda Joy Duffield arrived in Jaffna this afternoon by ship from Trincomalee on a four day official visit to the northern peninsula. The Deputy High Commissioner of the Australian embassy in Colombo, Ms.Cathy Klugman, also came in the same vessel with the mission's press officer Mr. Rukshan Ratnam (formerly of the Colombo FM station, Capital Radio).
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Amunugama takes northern rehabilitation

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 March 2000, 14:23 GMT]
Mr.Sarath Amunugama, the member of Parliament who crossed over from the United National Party last year with four of his powerful colleagues in the opposition to the People's Alliance (PA) late last year was appointed Minister for Rehabilitation and Reconstruction for the North by the Sri Lankan President today.
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