Nallur Murugan Temple annual festival begins

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 July 2006, 11:04 GMT]
The twenty-five day annual festival of the historic Nallur Kandasamy Temple in Jaffna began 30 July Sunday 10:30 a.m. with the Sacred Flag hoisting ceremony (Kodi Etram). The Sacred Flag for the ceremony was brought to the temple premises from Gurunathar temple located close to the Sattanathar temple Saturday morning in a procession of devotees.
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SLA refuses permission for JHU parliamentarians to go to Mavilaru

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 July 2006, 12:12 GMT]
Venerable Athureliya Ratana Thera, parliamentary group leader of the all monks' party, Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) along with a fellow parliamentarian Venerable Akmeemana Dayaratna Thera began a hunger strike at Kallaru junction on Allai-Kantalai road Friday morning around 9.30 a.m. when the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) refused permission for them to go to the controversial Mavilaru area to reopen the closed sluice gate. About a hundred Sinhalese civilians with two more Buddhist months have also joined the fasting, civil sources said.
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Tamil youths detained in MI operated Secret Detention Centres in south - UNP MP

[TamilNet, Sunday, 23 July 2006, 08:33 GMT]
Sri Lankan Military Intelligence (MI) is operating secret detention centres in Dematagoda, Kiribathgoda and in several other secret locations elsewhere, charged T. Maheswaran a Tamil parliamentarian from the opposition United National Party (UNP) in Parliament on Friday when an adjournment motion to censure the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government for failing to arrest the killers of the Sinhala investigative journalist Sampath Lakmal, tabled by Kalutura District UNP MP Rajitha Seneratne, was taken up in the Sri Lanka’s Parliament.
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Two persons shot dead in Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Sunday, 23 July 2006, 08:06 GMT]
Two persons, a Tamil and a Sinhalese, were found shot dead at a graveyard in Thonikkal, 2 km from Vavuniya, Police said. Police suspected that the victims were persons involved in petty theft and burglary in Vavuniya area for a long time.


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LTTE hands over fishermen drifted to Muttur east to SLMM

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 July 2006, 15:59 GMT]
Two fishermen Mr.Thusitha Satturange, a Sinhalese and Mr.Augustine Chandran, a Tamil, who drifted to the shore of the LTTE held Muttur east coast four days ago while fishing in Trincomalee sea, were handed over to the monitors of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) Monday by Mr.Sivakumar, head of the Trincomalee District Civil Volunteer Force, LTTE sources said.
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Trinco displaced suffer discrimination in provision of relief- Elilan

[TamilNet, Thursday, 06 July 2006, 11:35 GMT]
Mr.S.Elilan, Trincomalee district political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Monday charged that the Sri Lanka Government, while rendering relief and other assistance to displaced Sinhalese families following Kebbitigollawa claymore blast, has totally ignored Tamil civilians displaced in Trincomalee town and other areas in providing basic relief supplies.
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Assassinated Journalist knew perpetrators in Avissawella killings - MP

[TamilNet, Thursday, 06 July 2006, 10:28 GMT]
Sinhala journalist Lakmal Sampath was murdered because knew the suspects in the murder of five youths believed to be Tamils whose mutilated headless bodies were found in Avissawella area in the South on 27 April, alleged the Colombo District parliamentarian of the Upcountry Peoples' Front (UPF), V. Radhakrishnan, during the debate on the extension of the State of Emergency in the Sri Lanka's Parliament Thursday, parliamentary sources in Colombo said.
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Trinco displaced endure endless wait for relief

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 July 2006, 14:03 GMT]
About 2,659 persons of 675 families displaced from Anpuvallipuram, Bharathipuram and Gandhinagar, suburbs of Trincomalee town, due to fear following killings, abduction and intimidation of Tamil civilians are sheltered in buildings of Chelvanayagapuram school and in a pre-school since beginning of May. But civil authorities have not taken any steps to provide any relief such as dry rations and other basic provisions, civil groups in the east port town complained Monday.
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US paper advocates "loose Confederation" for Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 June 2006, 10:45 GMT]
"The international community should press the Sri Lankan government and the Tigers alike to come to the negotiating table in Oslo and work out a loose confederation that retains Sri Lanka's unity, grants the Tamil northeast self-governing autonomy, and puts an end to the island's long agony," said Boston Globe in an editorial that appeared in its Thursday edition.
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Thirukovil hospital has no medical officers

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 June 2006, 01:50 GMT]
Thirukovil district hospital in the Amparai district is without a medical officer for the last five days causing immense hardship to large number of patients who seek medical attention, civil sources said.Two Sinhalese medical officers working in the hospital have gone leave since Monday.
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SL parliament observes one-minute silence to Tamil civilians

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 June 2006, 10:08 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Parliament Wednesday observed a one minute silence for those Tamil civilians killed by State armed forces and paramilitary groups working with them. Parliamentarians of all political parties including the Sinhala Nationalist Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and the all monks party Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) stood for one minute and observed silence, parliamentary sources said.
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Pandemonium in SL parliament, JVP wants LTTE banned in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 June 2006, 06:31 GMT]
Speaker Mr.W.J.M.Lokkubandara Tuesday morning adjourned the sitting of the parliament when pandemonium reigned following heated arguments and fisticuffs between a group of parliamentarians of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and Tamil National Alliance (TNA) over the matter of observing two minute-silence for the Sinhalese civilians killed in Kebbitigollawa claymore mine explosion, and not for Tamil civilians killed by the Sri Lankan troops elsewhere in the NorthEast, parliamentary sources said.
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Tamil protest mars UK tourism push

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 June 2006, 03:05 GMT]
A major effort by Sri Lanka to promote tourism from Britain did not make much headway last week as British television and newspapers simultaneously gave considerable coverage to the spiraling violence in the island and highlighting fears of a slide back to war. Moreover, the grand finale of a ten-day festival promoting Sinhala culture held in Trafalgar Square Saturday drew a novel protest by Tamil youth organizations in London – traditional Tamil arts being performed for the public while volunteers distributed leaflets highlighting the bloodletting underway in the distant island.
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Three SL Police officers killed in Vavuniya claymore attack

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 June 2006, 11:33 GMT]
Three Sri Lanka Police officers including a seargent was killed in a claymore attack in Thuttuwewa, a Sinhala settlement along Horawapotana road at 10:05 a.m. Saturday, Vavuniya Police said. The mine was fitted to a tracter with a water bowzer in tow, sources added.
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64 killed, 94 wounded in Claymore blast in Kebitigollawe

[TamilNet, Thursday, 15 June 2006, 03:30 GMT]
64 passengers, including fifteen children and a Buddhist monk, were killed and around 94 wounded when a civilian bus was caught in a claymore mine blast near Kebitigollawe, 23 km southeast of Vavuniya, around 7:50 a.m. Thursday, police sources said. Wounded survivors were rushed to Kepitigollawe and Anuradhapura hospitals. The majority of victims are Sinhalese, officials said.
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Two SLA soldiers injured in grenade attack in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 13 June 2006, 05:13 GMT]
Two Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers were injured when unidentified men lobbed a grenade at a sentry post at Bharathipuram, a suburb of Trincomalee town, aroun 8 a.m., Tuesday morning, police sources said.
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Two workers killed in SLA deep penetration attack

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 June 2006, 09:32 GMT]
A trainee caretaker and a Sinhalese driver of a water supply contractor, Thummara Enterprises, were killed in a Claymore attack carried out by the Sri Lanka Army Deep Penetration Unit attack in LTTE controlled Mannar district Thursday at 12:50 p.m., Tamileelam Police officials said.
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Relatives of Negombo detainees protest

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 June 2006, 00:54 GMT]
Parents and relatives of nearly 250 detainees held in Negombo prison picketed outside the prison, Wednesday, protesting against the death of a Tamil woman detainee who died Monday due to lack of medical facilities, sources in Colombo said. The protest began at 9:30 a.m. and lasted till noon. Detainees are fasting inside the prison accusing the Sri Lanka Attorney General for violating their basic rights by holding them in custody for several months without filing any legal action against them, legal sources said.


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Sinhalese should unite to fight the Tigers- Monks Front

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 June 2006, 01:41 GMT]
"Japanese peace envoy, Yasushi Akashi, has limited knowledge of the history of Sri Lanka and that is why he says Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers cannot defeat the Tigers. Interference of international community prevented as from prosecuting a full intensity war against the Tigers in the past. We should not betray our country for the sake of foreign aid," said Ven. Dambara Amila Thero, head of National Buddhist Monks Front, presiding a meeting convened at the Bandaranaiyake Memorial International Conference Hall (BMICH) in Colombo Wednesday evening, sources in Colombo said.
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Families flee from Batticaloa border villages

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 31 May 2006, 17:40 GMT]
Batticaloa Government Agent (GA) Mr. S. Punniyamoorthy said Wednesday that more than 65 families fleeing from the border villages of Batticaloa district have been placed in the Kirimichchai school building in the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam controlled (LTTE) region.
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