Two EPDP cadres shot dead in Vavuniya, official wounded in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 June 2006, 07:43 GMT]
Two EPDP cadres were shot and killed at Pandarikulam in Vavuniya Thursday morning, Vavuniya Police said. Meanwhile, media coordinator of the paramilitary group in Batticaloa, was wounded in a grenade explosion in Batticaloa EPPD office.
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Curbing diaspora support counter-productive, say Finnish Tamils

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 May 2006, 13:11 GMT]
The representatives of the Tamil organisations in Finland, who met the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials, after marching 2 km from the Helsinki EU office to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at Merikasarminkatu Monday noon, told media that Norway which skillfully executed the facilitator role during the challenging internal opposition from the Sinhala extreme nationalist parties, was now being alienated by the external factors arising from the EU's move to ban the LTTE. More than 170 Tamils took part in Finland where a 250 Tamils live.
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Civilian killed in Claymore attack in LTTE controlled territory

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 May 2006, 13:06 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troopers who penetrated 4 kilometers into the LTTE controlled Vilathikulam from the SLA camp in Iranai Iuppaikkulam, 20 km northwest of Vavuniya, exploded a Claymore mine killing a civilian who was cycling Monday morning, LTTE officials in Vavuniya said.
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Jaffna Rights official receives death threats

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 May 2006, 09:39 GMT]
Rohitha Priyadharshana, co-ordinator at the Human Rights Commission (HRC) in Jaffna, received a letter Friday threatening his life if he does not vacate his post, officials in the HRC said. A man believed to be a paramilitary working with Sri Lanka Military Intelligence, gave the letter, written in Tamil, through an employee at the HRC office, according to officials. The letter included Priyadharshana has been leading the investigation in several landmark cases where Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers of Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) were blamed for killing civilians, civil society sources said.
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Bauer discusses refugees' plight with TRO officials

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 May 2006, 21:15 GMT]
Norwegian Special Peace Envoy Jon Hanssen-Bauer and members of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) met with Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) officials at the TRO Secretariat Saturday 10:00 a.m. and discussed the escalating number of refugees and the ground situation in Jaffna and in the affected parts of Trincomalee, TRO sources in Kilinochchi said.
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Colombo imposes embargo on cement, steel, limits fuel supply to North

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 May 2006, 09:44 GMT]
Sri Lankan defense authorities, on Friday, banned the transportation of cement and steel to North. Government Agents (GAs) in Jaffna and Vavuniya have been informed of the decision by the Defense Ministry in contravention of the provisions in the February 2002 Ceasefire Agreement, political sources said. More than 20 lorries loaded with cement have been stopped at Omanthai checkpost Friday and are being held at the checkpost awaiting instructions from Defense Ministry, sources said.
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LTTE FDL commander dies in accidental explosion

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 May 2006, 11:17 GMT]
Lt. Col. Veeramani, a former Commander of the Charles Antony Regiment of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), and later a field commanding official, responsible for the Nagarkovil Forward Defence Line (FDL) points, Wednesday night succumbed to his wounds from an accidental explosion, LTTE officials in Kilinochchi said. Lt. Col. Veeramani, who recovered from earlier wounds in the battlefield, has been in charge of FDL points in Nagarkovil.
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Peace sacrificed for counter insurgency by Colombo - Col. Jeyam

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 May 2006, 17:42 GMT]
“The Sri Lankan government and its forces, obsessed with the idea of destroying our movement, has, without realising the strategic advantages of making peace, used various counter insurgency tactics throughout the peace process to kill our cadres,” said Colonel Jeyam, a top commander of the LTTE, addressing crowds gathered in Mullaitivu to pay their respects to Colonel Ramanan, who was assassinated Sunday by a Sri Lanka Army sniper.
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Two SLA soldiers, policeman killed in Claymore attack in Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 May 2006, 07:22 GMT]
Two Sri Lanka Army troopers and a policeman riding in a tractor were killed in a Claymore explosion at Thandikulam, 4 km northwest of Vavuniya town, around 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, Police said.
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Kohona: paramilitary link with "lowest rank" of SL forces

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 May 2006, 16:50 GMT]
Amidst increasing accusations against Colombo of Sri Lankan troopers alleged involvement in extra-judicial killings and the terror-campaign let loose on Jaffna islets, Dr. Palitha Kohona, the Head of Sri Lanka Peace Secretariat, on Tuesday said that he suspects there might be contacts with the paramilitary cadres and the lower rank Sri Lankan troops.
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SLA soldier shot dead at Omanthai FDL

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 May 2006, 10:54 GMT]
A Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldier deployed at the Omanthai, Vavuniya Forward Defence Line (FDL) on security duty was shot and gravely injured at 4:00 a.m., Tuesday, sources in Vavuniya said. He died in the intensive care unit at the Vavuniya Hospital, according to sources.
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White Pigeon donates tri-wheeler bikes with UNICEF help

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 May 2006, 09:51 GMT]
White Pigeon Prosthesis Institute, with the financial assistance of UNICEF, has donated tri-wheeler bikes to 10 disabled persons in Killinochchi Monday.
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UN, US condemn attacks on humanitarian workers

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 May 2006, 14:07 GMT]
United Nations Resident Co-ordinator Colombo, and the Embassy of the United States in separate press releases issued Monday, condemned the grenade attack on international non-governmental organizations in Muttur, Trincomalee that resulted in injuries to local and international staffers.
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SLA soldier killed, one wounded in pressure mine explosion

[TamilNet, Sunday, 21 May 2006, 08:18 GMT]
A Sri Lanka Army (SLA) trooper was killed instantly Sunday morning when the soldiers hit a pressure mine at Iranai Iluppaikulam, 20 km northwest of Vavuniya, Vavuniya Police said.
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Senior PLOTE operative 'Farook' talks to media in Vanni

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 May 2006, 16:01 GMT]
A senior People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE) operative, Sinnathamby Ganeshalingam, alias Farook, who was reported missing in December last year in Vavuniya, talked to the media this week in an undisclosed remote village in Vanni. Ganeshalingam claimed that he has begun a settled peaceful life in Liberation Tigers controlled Vanni with his wife Shantha, and refuted earlier reports that he was abducted by the Tigers. He said he left the paramilitary group after PLOTE leadership began to develop close relationships with the hardline elements in Sri Lankan military and extreme nationalist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP).
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20 local authorities go to polls Saturday

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 May 2006, 19:02 GMT]
Four Municipal Councils, Colombo and Gampaha in the Western Province, Galle in Southern Province and Kalmunai in the Eastern Province along with three urban councils and thirteen Pradesiya Saba in the country, altogether twenty local government institutions, will go to polls Saturday. About 1.1 million voters are qualified to cast their franchise in this poll to elect 312 councilors, election department sources said.
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Stop violence, enter talks, Anti-war group tells GoSL, LTTE

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 May 2006, 11:29 GMT]
Condemning the increasing levels of violence committed by Liberation Tigers and by the "armed groups and forces within and outside" Sri Lanka's Military, Kumar Rupesinghe, chairman of National Anti War Front, in a press release issued Thursday in Colombo urged the LTTE and the Government of Sri Lanka to "implement the agreements reached in the High Table in Geneva," and to "immediately resume the talks which were initiated in Geneva."
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2 LTTE posts in Muhamalai, SLA post in Vavuniya attacked

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 May 2006, 04:12 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troopers Wednesday night moved into the no-go zone in Muhamalai close to A9 Road and attacked two Forward Defenece Line (FDL) posts of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), sources in Kilinochchi said. No casualties were reported. The Tigers said they repulsed the attacking Lankan troopers. Meanwhile, sources in Vavuniya said an SLA FDL post in Mamadu, 8 km northeast of Vavuniya was attacked and destroyed Wednesday evening.
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Monitors confirm deep penetration, extrajudicial killings charges

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 May 2006, 23:35 GMT]
International truce monitors this week said they believed reports Sri Lanka Army troops were conducting Deep Penetration raids into Tamil Tiger controlled areas, killing several civilians. Their comments came as the LTTE said its frontlines to the north and south of Vanni were attacked by infiltrating SLA soldiers. Meanwhile, the international monitors also said Sri Lankan security forces are responsible for extrajudicial killings with the troops so unconcerned as to the consequences as to not even provide plausible denials.
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Vavuniya UC, PS elections postponed

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 May 2006, 17:38 GMT]
The Commissioner of Elections Tuesday at a conference announced that elections to two local bodies, Vavuniya Urban Council (UC) and Vavuniya South Pradesiya Sabah (PS-Sinhala division) have been postponed for a period of four months, as the current security situation in the Vavuniya district is not conducive to hold such poll, sources said.
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