New Vanni access procedures

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 July 1999, 13:03 GMT]
Travellers from areas not controlled by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA), coming into Vavuniya will be thoroughly screened at Peyaadikoolankulam 3 km. north of Vavuniya town along the A 9 trunk road and people wishing to cross back are to be checked at Thandikulam about 2 km. north of Vavuniya town, according to the new plans adopted to open up a new route to the Vanni, sources said.
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Work underway on new route to Vanni

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 July 1999, 11:58 GMT]
Arrangements are underway to open a new supply route to the areas held by the LTTE said Mr.K.Ganesh, the Government Agent of Vavuniya. A team of four government officials comprising GA Vavuniya, Mr.S.Ragunathapillai, the Additional GA Vavuniya, and S. Sri Skandarajah, the Project Engineer at the Vavuniya Kachcheri and a technical officer visited Mankulam yesterday to inspect the proposed site for 'cross loading', sources said.
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One civilian killed

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 July 1999, 10:30 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers fired mortars at the Kiran Sri Lanka Army (SLA) camp, 26 km. north of Batticaloa, this morning around 8 a.m. and fired at soldiers on foot patrol near the area. One SLA soldier was wounded in the incident sources said.
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Claymore blast wounds 3 in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 July 1999, 09:53 GMT]
Two Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers and a Police constable were wounded in a claymore mine blast in the balcony of an upstair building by the Parameswara junction on the Palaly road this morning around 11.20 said sources in Jaffna town.
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SLA claims it captured strategic junction

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 July 1999, 09:35 GMT]
SLA headquarters sources in Colombo said this afternoon that troops captured a strategic junction on the Mannar-Pooneryn road in the early hours of the morning today unopposed. They said that the army had moved along the Neduvarampu road from its positions at Aandaankulam and taken the junction. Aandaankulam is southeast of the Pallamadu junction, in the interior east of the Mannar-Pooneryn road.
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PLOTE, TELO warned

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 July 1999, 18:29 GMT]
Leaders of the PLOTE and TELO, two paramilitary organisations operating alongside the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Vavuniya were summoned to the SLA headquarters today to discuss the situation prevailing the region due to the clashes between the two groups, said sources.
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Vidaththalthivu exodus continues

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 July 1999, 15:03 GMT]
The Counter Subversive Unit (CSU) of the Sri Lankan Police arrested two of the displaced people who arrived in Pallimunai in Mannar town from coastal areas north of Vidaththalthivu today. Three persons among the two hundred and seventeen displaced Vidaththalthivu residents who came by sea from Moondaampiddy and Iluppaikadavai yesterday were also arrested by the CSU.
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Soldiers on assault charge

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 July 1999, 13:08 GMT]
Two Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers have been arrested in connection with the assaults on civilians following the deaths of 3 soldiers in a claymore mine attack at Nunaavil yesterday morning. Maj.Gen. Mallawarachchi, GOC, 54 Div. said action will be taken against them.
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"Political matters beyond our competence"

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 July 1999, 12:56 GMT]
The US Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C has dismissed a petition filed in November 1997 by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) challenging its designation by Secretary of State Madeleine Albright as a foreign terrorist organization, saying that the courts "were forbidden" to speak on the subject.
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Civilians assaulted following lethal blast

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 July 1999, 18:17 GMT]
Several people had to be hospitalised after Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troops severely assaulted civilians in Nunavil on the Jaffna-Chavakachcheri (Kandy) road, in retaliation for the deaths of 3 SLA soldiers in a claymore mine blast today.
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Muttur access security stepped up

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 July 1999, 16:56 GMT]
Commandos of the Special Task Force (STF) and regular policemen conducted a cordon and search operation in Addapallam area in the Ninthavur division today of Tamil and Muslim homes in the Addapallam area.
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Appeal to ease education embargo

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 July 1999, 16:49 GMT]
The Minister of Education and Higher Education Mr.Richard Pathirana is to request the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) to lift its ban on transporting teaching materials to schools in Vanni region, which is not under the control of the SLA, once the Governor of the North East Province sends his approval with a list of items which may be sent.
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SLA bus hit by claymore in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 July 1999, 09:17 GMT]
Five SLA soldiers were wounded this morning around 10 a.m. in Nunavil on the Jaffna-Chavakachcheri (Kandy) road when the vehicle in which they were traveling was hit by a claymore mine exploded by the Liberation Tigers. The Kandy road was closed to traffic following the attack.
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Two students arrested

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 July 1999, 09:00 GMT]
Two students were arrested by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) at Murakoddanchchenai, 40 km. north of Batticaloa on Monday, June 28, according to officials of the government funded Human Rights Commission.
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Alternative supply routes offered

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 June 1999, 19:28 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Chief of Staff and the Commander of the security Forces in the Vanni, Major General Lionel Balagalle said in Vavuniya yesterday that the SLA is ready to open a new route to the areas held by the Liberation Tigers as an alternative to the current one blocked by the recent fighting south of Vidaththalthivu.
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Police arrest five Vidaththalthivu refugees

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 June 1999, 19:13 GMT]
The Counter Subversive Unit (CSU) of the Sri Lankan Police in Mannar arrested and detained five refugees who arrived by sea from Vidaththalthivu today. More people fleeing the SLA shelling of Vidaththalthivu came by boat to Pallimunai near Mannar town this afternoon. The refugees said that 10 civilians were killed and more than 25 wounded by the army shelling yesterday.
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Tiger ambush kills 5

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 June 1999, 16:40 GMT]
Five Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers were killed in the early hours of the morning today in an ambush by the Liberation Tigers at Kallar, south of Trincomalee. close to the district’s boarder with Batticaloa and Polannaruwa.
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Three soldiers killed in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 June 1999, 16:38 GMT]
Three Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers were killed around 6 a.m. this morning in a claymore mine blast set off by the Liberation Tigers in Jaffna. The soldiers were manning a bunker in a Forward Defence Line (FDL) at Maaseri in Varani in the Vadamaradchi Division of the Jaffna Peninsula.
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Vidaththalthivu refugees arrive by sea

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 June 1999, 07:33 GMT]
Three hundred and sixty four persons belonging to eighty seven families arrived at the Pallimunai beach near Mannar town from Vidaththalthivu early this morning. The refugees said that the Gnahappar Church and St.Mary's Church in Vidaththalthivu where people had sought refuge were hit by SLA artillery fire yesterday. They said that several civilians were wounded and a 10 year old boy was killed in the shelling.
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Heavy fighting in Mannar

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 June 1999, 07:15 GMT]
Heavy fighting broke out between the Liberation Tigers and the SLA at Neduvarampu south of the Pallamadu junction last night from 8 p.m. said sources in Mannar. Initial reports indicated that the Tigers had attacked SLA troops consolidating their defences in this area.
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