Vavuniyaa Tamil youths arrested in Badulla

[TamilNet, Saturday, 18 October 2008, 17:43 GMT]
The police arrested two Vavuniyaa Tamil youths on Tuesday for allegedly taking photograph of the Badulla police station with their hand phone cameras. They are now being detained in the Badulla police station and being interrogated by the Intelligence Unit of the Police, media sources said.
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Shelling blocks access route, UN convoy returns to Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 October 2008, 13:59 GMT]
28 lorries in a humanitarian convoy that included the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) supplies, which left Oamanthai entry point to Vanni at 2:30 p.m. Thursday returned back to Vavuniyaa, unable to proceed into Vanni due to artillery shelling. Two shells exploded near the convoy, according to the officials who returned back with supplies to Vavuniyaa. Meanwhile, humanitarian oficials in Vanni said that the Sri Lankan Ministry of Defence (MoD) and the Sri Lankan Army (SLA) Vanni Command were fully aware of the itinerary of the convoy and blamed the SLA for sabotaging humanitarian supplies by firing shells on the access route. The same tactic was adopted earlier by the SLA in Vaakarai in Batticaloa district, they further charged.
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Medical, health crisis looms in Ki'linochchi

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 October 2008, 12:01 GMT]
120 refugees were admitted after snake-bite during the past 7 days alone in Ki'linochchi district's hospital functioning at Tharmapuram. One of the patients, a girl, has died and another, a 53-year-old woman, was being treated at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the hospital, according to Dr. P. Brighton, the assistant Deputy Provincial Director of Health (DPDH) on Tuesday. He said three lorries with urgently needed medicines to treat snake-bite and diarrhea have not entered Vanni despite three repeated attempts to cross the entry/exit point at Oamanthai in Vavuniyaa. Meanwhile, ambulance-transport for patients in need of urgent medical treatment at Vavuniyaa hospital has become increasingly difficult.
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Bus driver shot dead in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 October 2008, 16:33 GMT]
A 38-year old driver of the Vavuniyaa depot of the Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB) was shot dead by unidentified armed men Sunday evening near Pa'ndaarikkulam Amman Temple in Vavuniyaa. Armed men waylaid him and shot the driver when he was riding home in his motorbike after work, witnesses said.
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Sri Lankan forces blast bridge on humanitarian access route in Vanni

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 October 2008, 02:44 GMT]
Pearaa'ru bridge, located on Maangku'lam - Oddisuddaan Road, which branches off from the A9, the access route which was used by the World Food Programme (WFP) humanitarian convoy to Vanni during the first week of October has been destroyed by the Sri Lankan forces in joint attacks carried out since Sunday. In the meantime, rain has started to fall in densely populated areas in Vanni on Tuesday. Many of the refugees living under the trees were forced to seek shelter in buildings, temples, churches and with the neighbouring houses.
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UNP organiser in Vavuniyaa shot dead

[TamilNet, Saturday, 11 October 2008, 15:51 GMT]
Unknown armed men shot and killed United National Party (UNP) Vavuniyaa organiser, 53-year-old Mahesh Thavachelvam, at his residence in Vavuniyaa around 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, Police said.
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Diaspora Tamils in Germany exhibit humanitarian aid

[TamilNet, Saturday, 11 October 2008, 08:54 GMT]
More than 3,000 Eelam Diaspora Tamils in Germany, organised by 16 Tamil organisations, demonstrated on Friday through a central part of Berlin, exhibiting humanitarian supplies that they have collected to be sent to their kith and kin in Vanni, urging the International Community to facilitate transport from Colombo to Vanni.
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Vanni IDPs struggle with inadequate humanitarian supplies

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 October 2008, 17:45 GMT]
Humanitarian supplies that reached Vanni in the first week of October were only adequate to cover rice for 7 days, dhal for 5 days, flour for 4 days and per registered IDP families, according to the Government Agent of Ki'linochchi, N. Vethanayakam, who collected reports from the workers engaged in coordinating the supplies at Ka'ndaava'lai Divisional Secretariat in Ki'linochchi district on Thursday. In the meantime, the supplies expected this week didn't reach Vanni on Friday amid reports of heavy shelling blocking the A9 road.
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SLA shelling blocks A9 again

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 October 2008, 14:27 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has stepped up artillery shelling targeting the A9 road from Vavuniyaa to Maangku'lam where traffic is diverted east of the A9 road into Mullaiththeevu district. The entire strip of the A9 highway between Vavuniyaa and Maangku'lam has been blocked after a bus narrowly escaped from the shelling on Wednesday. The reports of SLA blocking the route comes a day before humanitarian supplies are expected to arrive in Vanni.
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Two youths shot dead in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 October 2008, 15:01 GMT]
Bodies of two youths, with ages estimated to be between 25 and 35 were found shot dead Tuesday morning, one at Kalnaatinankulam junction in Vavuniyaa police division and other at Sithambarapuram junction, with gun shot injuries and their hands tied from behind, sources in Vavuniyaa said.
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Tamil youth strangled to death in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 October 2008, 11:07 GMT]
Corpse of a Tamil youth was found Saturday morning along Fifth Lane at Vaiaravappuliyangku'lam in Vavuniyaa police division. The youth was murdered by strangulation after being tortured severely.
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Armed men shoot Tamil woman dead in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 September 2008, 10:46 GMT]
Unidentified armed persons shot dead a 44-year-old Tamil woman Aruljothy Sivanesawari Saturday night around 11:00, in her house at Paddaimadichchapu'liyangku'lam in Vavuniyaa police division, according to complaints lodged with the Vavuniyaa Police Sunday morning.
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Ethnocentric military dictatorship in the making in Colombo - Vanni MP

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 September 2008, 09:47 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance parliamentarian for Vanni, Selvam Adaikkalanathan, who blamed Sri Lanka Army commander Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka for his Sinhala ethnocentric comments to a Canadian paper, said Sunday that the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, as Commander-in-Chief and the Executive President, should instruct the SLA commander to apologise for the statement. Fonseka's statement not only undermined democracy by justifying an ethnic majoritarian rule in the island of Sri Lanka, but also alluded that a military dictatorship was in the making in Colombo, he said. Meanwhile, Rauff Hakim, the leader of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress, also blamed that the "attack on the minorities " by the SLA commander "bordered on racism."
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1 killed, 9 wounded in bomb explosion in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 September 2008, 01:23 GMT]
A civilian was killed, 4 police personnel, 3 Sri Lanka Army soldiers and two civilians were wounded in a bomb explosion near Vavuniyaa bus stand around 3:20 p.m. Sunday, Police said.
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Protests in Tamil Nadu gain momentum, Jayalalithaa extends support

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 September 2008, 00:50 GMT]
In a significant move amid the building momentum in Tamil Nadu where Tamil leaders are voicing their support to the Eezham Tamils as the Sri Lankan forces intensified their attacks on Vanni, the former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and the Leader of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, J. Jayalalithaa, Saturday extended her support to a fasting campaign being organised by the Communist Party of India (CPI). In a letter to D. Pandyan, the general secretary of the CPI in Tamil Nadu, Ms. Jayalalithaa said her party extended wholehearted support to the success of the campaign, which highlights the problems and urges to safeguard the lives, properties and the rights of the Tamils in Sri Lanka.
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5 bodies washed ashore in Jaffna islets indentified

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 September 2008, 12:02 GMT]
The bodies of five persons washed ashore recently along with three other corpses in Analaitheevu, Nedunththeevu and Pungkudutheevu islets of Jaffna, were identified by a relatvie Monday in the presence of Oorkaavattu'rai (Kayts) Magistrate Ms. Joy Mahadeva at the Jaffna Teaching Hospital, hospital sources said. The five persons belonging to the same family died when their boat capsized mid-sea while returning to Mannaar to escape unbearable living conditions in the Tamil Nadu refugee camp, sources in Jaffna said.
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Two Tamil females shot dead in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 September 2008, 09:38 GMT]
Unidentified armed persons, who arrived in a three-wheeler, shot two Tamil working girls dead in Vairavappu'liyangku'lam in Vavuniyaa Monday night close to their houses. The victims succumbed to their injuries on admission to the Vavuniyaa general hospital by volunteers of the Sri Lanka Red Cross, according to medical sources.
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Fuel shortage threatens provision of drinking water in Vanni

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 September 2008, 10:45 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Ministry of Defence (MoD) has instructed the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) not to allow Humanitarian Convoys to the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) Ki'linochchi district with food items provided under the United Nations World Food Programme, as a "punishment" for the people of Ki'linochhci district for not "obeying" its instruction to leave Ki'linochhi to Vavuniyaa, according to an official attached to Vavuniyaa District Secretariat. Meanwhile, North East Secretariat on Human Rights (NESoHR) in a press statement issued on Saturday said fuel shortage has severely affected the provision of drinking water to the internally displaced civilians.
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Armed men shoot dead Tamil civilian in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 September 2008, 14:59 GMT]
Unidentified armed men shot dead a Tamil man in his house on Wednesday morning around 10:30 a.m. at Vasanthan Kudiyiruppu in A'n'naa Nakar in Vavuniyaa police division. The victim, a married man, was identified as 30-year-old Sivalingam Ronald.
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3 killed, DPU Claymore targets bus on A9

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 September 2008, 06:33 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Deep Penetration Unit (DPU) infiltrators Thursday morning triggered a Claymore mine targeting a passenger bus, which was on its way from Pu'liyangku'lam to Ki'linochchi on A9 Road, killing at least three civilians, including the driver of the bus on the spot, accordingo to initial reports from the Tamileelam Police. Meanwhile, medical sources reported that five civilians were rushed to hospitals after the blast.
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