Road writing provokes STF wrath

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 26 April 2000, 10:45 GMT]
Seventeen civilians who were severely assaulted by the Special Task Force (STF) commandos were admitted to the Batticaloa hospital today. They had been beaten up during a search operation in Kirankulam where writings hailing the Tigers for overrunning the Elephant Pass base had appeared on the Batticaloa - Kalmunai highway yesterday.
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Tigers hand over SLA bodies

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 25 April 2000, 06:53 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers handed over the bodies of 126 soldiers who were killed at Elephant Pass to the International Committee of the Red Cross at kilinochchi around 12.30 p.m. today. ICRC spokesman Harsha Gunawardena said that the bodies are being transported to Vavuniya and that it is expected that the convoy would cross the lines late this evening.
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SLA admits loss of Iyakkachchi

[TamilNet, Monday, 24 April 2000, 20:47 GMT]
Addressing the first press conference since the fall of the strategic Elephant Pass base this evening in Colombo, the commander of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA), Lt. General Sri Lal Weerasooriya, said that his troops withdrew from Jaffna's gateway garrison on April 22 to an area northwest of Iyakkachchi and that this was done to safeguard Jaffna.
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ICRC discusses body handover

[TamilNet, Monday, 24 April 2000, 15:26 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers have approached the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) regarding the handing over of the bodies of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troops killed in the fighting at Yakachchi-Elephant Pass, an ICRC spokesman told TamilNet Monday.
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Tigers list captured weapons

[TamilNet, Monday, 24 April 2000, 09:08 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers gave details Monday of weapons captured from the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) base at Iyakkachchi-Elephant Pass which was overrun Saturday. Captured equipment included three 152 mm. long-range artillery pieces and an undisclosed number of tanks, according to a statement issued by the LTTE today.
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Elephant Pass overrun - LTTE

[TamilNet, Saturday, 22 April 2000, 10:52 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) base complex at Yakachchi and Elephant Pass was overrun by the Liberation Tigers Saturday following two days of heavy fighting, the LTTE said in a statement from its London offices. Over one thousand SLA troops were killed in the ferocious battle and the remaining troops of the 54 division fled in disarray, the statement said. “The fall of this crucial base at the gate of Jaffna will facilitate the LTTE to gain its strategic goal of liberating Jaffna,” the organisation said.
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Fall of Yakachchi "imminent" - LTTE

[TamilNet, Thursday, 20 April 2000, 15:20 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) base at Yakachchi is "on the verge of collapse" following a multi-pronged assault by the Liberation Tigers in which several peripheral camps were overrun, the LTTE said in a statement issued from its London offices Thursday.
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ICRC medical supplies blocked

[TamilNet, Thursday, 20 April 2000, 12:25 GMT]
Sri Lankan troops this week prevented the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) from taking its MoD authorised medical supplies for its mobile and primary health clinics in the Vanni, the ICRC spokesman Harsha Gunawardena told TamilNet Thursday. He expressed concern for the civilians in the Vanni who relied on the ICRC facilities.
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Second MSR breach isolates Yakachchi - LTTE

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 19 April 2000, 19:07 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers said Wednesday that they had overrun several Sri Lanka Army (SLA) camps in their latest offensive which began in the Thenmaradchi sector of the Jaffna peninsula Tuesday and had completely cut off the SLA's base complex at Yakachchi with the capture of six kms of the A9 highway. A division of SLA troops were isolated and "in crisis" the LTTE said in a statement from its London offices.
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Ex. Jaffna Commander heads northern authority

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 19 April 2000, 19:04 GMT]
Major General (Rtd) Sarath Munasinghe has been appointed the chairman of the Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Authority of the North (RRAN) by the Sri Lankan government.
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Tripartite agreement necessary - Indian Foreign Minister

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 19 April 2000, 14:40 GMT]
The devolution of power in Sri Lanka should be done with the consensus of a tripartite agreement between the government, the United National Party and the Liberation Tigers and this is necessary for devolution of powers in Sri Lanka, said India's Foreign Minister Mr. Jaswant Singh.
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Ranil to brief Indian PM

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 18 April 2000, 13:57 GMT]
The leader of Sri Lanka's main opposition party, Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe, will hold talks with Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee in New Delhi this week, a spokesman for the United National Party (UNP) said today. Mr. Wickermesinghe will brief the Indian PM on the current dialogue between his party and the Sri Lankan government about evolving a consensus on constitutional change aimed at solving the island's ethnic conflict. He will be arriving in Delhi tommorrow.
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SLA blocking essential medical supplies - MSF

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 April 2000, 12:51 GMT]
Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF), the international aid agency said Monday Sri Lankan security forces were preventing it from taking urgently needed medical supplies into the Vanni region. The shortage of essential drugs in the region had become "critical" MSF said in a statement.
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Firefight at Muhamaalai

[TamilNet, Sunday, 16 April 2000, 19:17 GMT]
A firefight erupted between the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers and the Liberation Tigers in Muhamaalai at about 10 p.m. last night and continued until 5 a.m. this morning said residents in Eluthumadduval, a village by the strategic A9 highway southeast of Jaffna.
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Bomb damages inter-city train

[TamilNet, Sunday, 16 April 2000, 18:35 GMT]
The engine compartment of a Colombo-Vavuniya Inter-city train was damaged when a bomb placed inside exploded at 10.30 pm today, said sources in Vavuniya.
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Death stalks Mannar fishermen

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 April 2000, 16:29 GMT]
The body of a young fisherman with gunshot wounds that was found floating in the sea between Nachchikudah and the isle of Iranathivu was buried by his relatives who identified the body as that of Chrishtie Cruz, 26, of Panangkattikottil, a coastal village near Mannar. Cruz had set out to sea on April 10.
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Soldier arrested for waylaying women

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 April 2000, 15:08 GMT]
A Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldier was arrested by the Police yesterday for allegedly robbing two houses on April 11 and way laying four women on April 10 in Thampalakamam in the Trincomalee district. The arrest was made following a protest march by a large number of civilians in Thampalakamam on April 13.
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Three soldiers missing in Valaichenai

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 April 2000, 11:46 GMT]
Two soldiers have been reported missing from the Sri Lanka army camp in Kalkudah, 35 km. north of Batticaloa, since Tuesday April 11, Police sources in Valaichenai said today. There is no indication of their whereabouts despite investigations by the army, according to them.
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Eight SLA killed in Vavuniya attack

[TamilNet, Friday, 14 April 2000, 07:56 GMT]
Six Sri Lanka army soldiers were killed and fifteen wounded when the reinforcements which were rushed to the Police sentry post at Arawantalawa that was attacked by the Liberation Tigers this morning were hit by a claymore mine this morning around 11.45 a.m.
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Thirty-three SLA wounded in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 14 April 2000, 07:27 GMT]
Thirty-three Sri Lanka army soldiers were injured and one was killed when the Liberation Tigers shelled SLA's current defence positions on the southeastern coast of Jaffna yesterday according to a press release of the Operational Headquarters of Sri Lanka's Ministry of Defence this morning.
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