Operation Rana Gosa II takes Madhu

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 March 1999, 03:33 GMT]
The population in the general area of Madhu taken by Sri Lankan Army (SLA) yesterday remained in their villages and refugees camps during 'Rana Gosa II' said sources in Vavuniya today. The army is currently camped in the Madhu school.
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"Avoid Madhu church", Bishop pleads

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 March 1999, 16:22 GMT]
The TamilNet's Mannar correspondent spoke to the Bishop of Mannar Rev. Rayappu Joseph about the current situation in Madhu this evening. The Bishop said that he had met the Mannar Brigade Commander Ranjith De Silva this morning and requested him to avoid the precincts of the Madhu Church while conducting military Operations in the area.
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SLA says captures Madhu

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 March 1999, 12:59 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) said that it had captured Madhu this evening. Government troops also brought under their control Thadchanamaruthamadu, four kilometers north of Madhu, where thousands of refugees are camped under the supervision of international aid agencies.
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SLA takes new ground

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 March 1999, 11:51 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Army (SLA) said that it has brought a section of Aandaankulam, six kilometers north of Uyilankulam junction under its control by 4 p.m. this afternoon. The Uyilankulam junction is on the Mannar-Vavuniya highway and is currently the entry point for civilians to the LTTE controlled parts of the Vanni.
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Seven killed in Tiger ambush

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 March 1999, 11:18 GMT]
Seven Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers were killed and 15 wounded when the Liberation Tigers attacked an Army tractor with rocket propelled grenades (RPG) after activating a claymore mine at Madukulam on the 2nd mile post along Poovarasankulam-Iranai Iluppaikulam road around 5.30 p.m. yesterday, sources said.
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Jaffna resettlement programs said delayed

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 March 1999, 08:40 GMT]
Resettlement programs for civilians who returned to the peninsula have not succeeded the Jaffna NGO consortium told a UN advisor who was on an official visit to the peninsula yesterday. The consortium told him that many families which returned to Jaffna following the government's offer to resettle them in their home areas have been left in the lurch.
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Renewed SLA operation in Mannar

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 March 1999, 08:22 GMT]
Fighting is reported between the Sri Lankan Army (SLA) and the Liberation Tigers in Parappukkadanthan, 7 km. north of Uylankulam, in the island's northwestern district of Mannar.
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Schoolgirl killed in air strike

[TamilNet, Sunday, 21 March 1999, 18:09 GMT]
A 14 year old school girl, Gukanathan Pirainitha, was killed and another woman was seriously wounded in an air strike by the Sri Lankan Air Force at Puthukudiyiruppu in the Mullaithivu district this morning around 11 a.m., said sources in the Vanni.
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Displaced seek refuge in jungles

[TamilNet, Sunday, 21 March 1999, 16:50 GMT]
More than four thousand civilians who fled Vidaththaltheevu, Aandankulam etc., due to heavy Sri Lankan Army (SLA) shelling since last week have sought refuge in the jungles of Kalliady said Mannar Kachcheri sources today. They said that the local school was filled with refugees when the main body of the people who fled the SLA shelling arrived here this weekend.
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Development project put on hold

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 March 1999, 22:48 GMT]
The Batticaloa District Devolopment Committee (DDC) and the District Co-ordinating Committee (DCC) unanimously resolved again yesterday that the Norwegian funded DEBRA project would be put on hold for another month until it can be implemented in all parts of the region.
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News in Brief:

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 March 1999, 22:42 GMT]
Army molests Jaffna school girl; Woman killed in airforce strike on Mullativu; Army operation prevents school girl from receiving life saving treatment; Search operation in Amparai and protest against plans to expand Sri Lankan army base in Palaly onto civilian land.
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Civilians flee artillery barrage

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 March 1999, 17:21 GMT]
Heavy SLA artillery fire on Vidaththaltheevu from its positions in Thallaady has completely driven out the civilian population from the area since last Thursday said the Mannar TamilNet correspondent today.
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TELO used schoolboy to test explosive device

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 March 1999, 17:19 GMT]
A cadre of the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO), a Tamil paramilitary group assisting the Sri Lankan Army (SLA) and the Special Task Force (STF), was ordered by the Batticaloa district court today to pay sixty thousand rupees as compensation to a student whose right hand was blown off by a parcel bomb on October 19, 1996.
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SLA repairs damaged defences

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 March 1999, 23:38 GMT]
Sri Lankan Army (SLA) headquarters sources in Colombo said that the food store of the Thallady base was also completely burnt out in the LTTE shelling yesterday.
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News in Brief:

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 March 1999, 17:06 GMT]
LTTE member reported killed in an ambush by Razeek group cadres in eastern Batticaloa this afternoon and students at the Hardy Institute for Technical Education near Ampara have been arrested for ragging a new student.
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SLA starts operation towards Madhu

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 March 1999, 06:51 GMT]
The SLA began an operation towards Madhu this morning, sources in Vavuniya said. The operation was launched from army positions at Madhu Road Junction on the Mannar Vavuniya road this morning they said.
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Tiger bunkers destroyed -SLA

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 March 1999, 19:47 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Army (SLA) said in a press release issued today from the Northern Army Command in Palaly that it had conducted a limited operation code named "Bunker Buster" during the day time on March 16, ahead of forward defence lines in the east and west of Paranthan.
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Residents express apprehension

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 March 1999, 19:28 GMT]
Residents of Iranai Iluppaikulam, which was captured by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) recently, told journalists who visited the area yesterday that they are afraid that "disappearances" will occur as the SLA continues screening for Tiger suspects.
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LTTE mortar attack sets army camp on fire

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 March 1999, 15:50 GMT]
A portion of the Sri Lankan Army camp at Thallady, in the Northwest of the island, was set on fire when the Liberation Tigers attacked it with artillery and mortar this evening around 5.30 said sources. The attack lasted for nearly 30 minutes.
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News in Brief

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 March 1999, 11:20 GMT]
Sri Lankan Police say they found a bomb at Kelani bridge in Colombo today; Search Operation in Vadamaradchi east; PLOTE member attacked in Pt. Pedro.
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