SLAF Jaffna shuttle from Monday

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 January 1999, 17:29 GMT]
A commercial service to fly civilians between Colombo and Jaffna by the Sri Lankan Air Force (SLAF) will begin on Monday January 25, the Civil Administration Office of the SLA in Jaffna announced today.
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Casualties in Vanni clashes

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 January 1999, 17:24 GMT]
The Operational Head Quarters of the Ministry of Defence said today that five suspected members of the Liberation Tigers were killed in an engagement north west of Mankulam yesterday (January 20).
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Four detained in Vadamaradchi

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 January 1999, 17:19 GMT]
Five persons of a family at Samarabaahu in Valvettithurai in Jaffna were arrested and detained by the Sri Lankan Army (SLA) on suspicion that they harboured a group of Liberation Tigers that had clashed with the army on Monday January 18 in the same area.
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Jaffna posters dissuade paramilitary contact

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 January 1999, 11:30 GMT]
Posters urging people not to associate with the Tamil paramilitary groups working alongside the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) appeared in many parts of the Vadamaradchi division of Jaffna today. A group calling itself 'Freedom Fighters' put up the posters in the Tamil language which were titled "Go no longer to the traitors of the nation".
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ARTICLE 19 slams Sri Lankan censorship

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 January 1999, 22:59 GMT]
ARTICLE 19, the London-based international anti-censorship organisation today accused the Sri Lankan government and military of using the emergency regulations “to conceal from the Sri Lankan people the true cost of the continuing war” against the LTTE.
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SLAF Hercules to fly passengers

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 January 1999, 22:04 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Air Force (SLAF) will begin its own passenger service to fly civilians between Colombo and Jaffna. This service will be run as a commercial operation sources said. The flights were scheduled to begin this Friday, January 22.
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News in Brief:

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 January 1999, 22:03 GMT]
Tamil political detainees in Kalutara prison begin a hunger strike and logistic difficulties hinder the hand over of the bodies of five Liberation Tigers killed in Jaffna.
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Fishing prohibited to prevent infiltration

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 January 1999, 14:34 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Army (SLA) has prohibited fisherman in Southern Thenmaradchi in Jaffna from fishing in the Jaffna lagoon since Monday. This order follows the clash between the LTTE and the SLA in Koilakkandy on Monday in which five Tigers were killed.
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False bomb alarm prompts evacuation

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 January 1999, 10:17 GMT]
Students and staff at two schools in Colombo were evacuated following a false bomb alarm this morning. Anonymous callers had told the authorities at Ananda College in Maradana, close to downtown Colombo and another school at Muttuwal that powerful bombs were planted in the premises of their schools and could go off at any time.
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News in Brief:

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 January 1999, 23:48 GMT]
Ponnambalam to be interrogated tomorrow; Two arrested in Jaffna; Ex-EPDP cadre commits suicide and Varatharaajapperumal meets EPRLF leaders.
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Nine LTTE casualties - VoT

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 January 1999, 23:42 GMT]
Six members of the LTTE were killed in two separate clashes with the Sri Lankan Army (SLA) yesterday (January 18), in the north, the Voice of Tigers (VoT) radio said in its night transmission.
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One killed, three wounded

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 January 1999, 19:53 GMT]
Four civilians from the hamlet of Vammivettuvaan near Vaakarai, 56 kilometers north of Batticaloa, who have been missing since January 13 when they had gone into the jungles to collect honey were traced today.
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News in Brief:

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 January 1999, 12:39 GMT]
Search operation in Pt.Pedro, the Pt.Pedro jetty SLA camp relocated; a house built of bamboo washed ashore in Jaffna and Jaffna displaced get spoilt milk powder.
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Mannar exit limited to fifty

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 January 1999, 20:26 GMT]
Only fifty civilians are now allowed to travel from Mannar to districts outside the northern province each day due to a new regulation introduced this week by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) says TamilNet's Mannar correspondent. The SLA has issued its own special identity cards to permanent residents who live in those areas of the Mannar district which are under its control.
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'Shot pair smugglers' - SLA

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 January 1999, 20:24 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troops at Uyilankulam in Mannar shot dead a person after midnight at 12.30 a.m. today near the entry point to the Vanni that is under the control of the Liberation Tigers, said sources. Another person was critically injured in the firing.
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Minister inaugurates welfare unit for disabled soldiers

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 January 1999, 20:11 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Minister of Post Telecommunication and Media, Mangala Samaraweera, today inaugurated a welfare unit for the disabled soldiers at Kurunegala.
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Bank, SLA investigate theft attempt

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 January 1999, 15:14 GMT]
Officials from the head office of the Bank of Ceylon in Colombo and from the Sri Lankan Army (SLA) went to Mannar today to probe an attempt to rob fifty million Sri Lankan rupees sent by the bank's Mannar branch to the Thallaady army camp on Thursday for safe keeping.
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Many mediation offers are not genuine - Kadirgamar

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 January 1999, 14:03 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar said that sixteen countries are keen to mediate in the island's ethnic conflict. But only a few of these are genuine Mr. Kadirgamar added while speaking to journalists at a press conference in his ministry this afternoon.
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Five bodies handed over

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 January 1999, 13:51 GMT]
The bodies of five youth, suspected to be members of the Liberation Tigers, were handed over by the Sri Lankan Police at Chavakachcheri to the Jaffna hospital this afternoon.
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Troops accused of killing

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 January 1999, 11:35 GMT]
"Ananathrajah is my elder sister's son and he came to my house everyday in the evening to spend the night as my two daughters and I have no male guardian. My husband was shot dead eight years ago" said Kaathamuththu Amaravathi, 31, in her evidence at the inquest into the death of the Myilambaveli youth who was found shot through his head last evening at Saththurukkondaan, four kilometers north of Batticaloa town.
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