January 2
|
Five people are killed
and two others sustain injuries in a bomb blast in Trincomalee.
|
January 3
|
Vavuniya West Area
political head of the LTTE,
‘Major’ Jeyanthan, and a civilian, Vinotharan Thevarasa, are killed
in a claymore mine explosion in the LTTE-controlled area of Valaiyankattu
in Mannar town.
Unidentified assailants
shot dead a Hindu priest, Selvathamby Vishagaratnam, in the Kiran
area of Batticaloa district.
A woman, identified
as Sepamalai Victoria, is killed and her husband sustained injuries
in an attack by unidentified assailants in the Sethukkuda area
of Batticaloa district.
A civilian, Nadaraja
Balendran, is shot dead by unidentified assailants in the Wellawatte
area of Colombo district.
|
January 5
|
A civilian, Kunam
Thanus, is killed and three others sustain injuries when unidentified
assailants lobbed a grenade and subsequently opened fire in the
Valaichenai area of Batticaloa district.
Unidentified assailants
abduct a civilian, Thabendran Mathan, and subsequently stab him
to death in the Vadamaradchy area of Jaffna district.
A LTTE cadre, Rajasanthram
alias Wannan, is killed in retaliatory fire by the security forces
(SFs) when he tried to lob two hand grenades at them, in the Kiran
area of Batticaloa district.
|
January 7
|
15 Sri Lankan Navy
personnel are killed in a suspected suicide attack by the LTTE
on a navy gunboat outside the Trincomalee naval harbor in Trincomalee
district.
A senior PLOTE member,
identified as Kennedy, is shot dead by unidentified assailants
in the Jaffna district.
|
January 8
|
SFs kill a LTTE
cadre in retaliatory fire in the Sittandy area of Batticaloa district.
A civilian, identified
as Sinnarasa Rasaiah, is shot dead by unidentified assailants
in the Point Pedro area of Jaffna district.
|
January 9
|
A soldier and two
LTTE cadres were killed following a gun-battle between the LTTE
and a military patrol in Muttur near Trincomalee.
President Mahinda
Rajapakse, during a meeting with Ambassadors of the Co-chairs
of the international donors said that his Government "will continue
to act with restraint" but would take "all necessary measures"
to check "further terrorist attacks."
|
January 10
|
Security forces
recover four claymore mines, planted by the LTTE, in Mannar and
Batticaloa.
US Ambassador to
Sri Lanka, Jeffrey Lunstead, at a meeting with the American Chamber
of Commerce warned the LTTE against re-igniting a civil war.
|
January 11
|
LTTE ‘Pistol Group’
cadres abducted a 31-year old woman, Pavalarani Kanapathipillai,
from her house in Mattuvil and later shot her dead in the Jaffna
area.
Addressing villagers
in Batticaloa at a rural self-defence training and drill programme,
the LTTE’s 'special commander for Ampara-Batticaloa', Bhanu, warned
that its Air Force is ready to launch attacks on the Sri Lanka
Government's armed forces if war breaks out.
|
January 12
|
Nine Sri Lankan
Navy personnel were killed and eight injured in a suspected LTTE
triggered claymore mine blast in Chettikulam on the Mannar-Medawachchiya
road.
Issuing a statement
on January 12, the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) condemned
the latest attack on Navy personnel in Chettikulam and found LTTE's
explanation unacceptable.
|
January 13
|
A powerful bomb
blast damaged a car belonging to the SLMM in Batticaloa town.
|
January 15 |
Three women relatives of a LTTE cadre
were shot dead by unidentified assailants in Manipay, close to
the Manipay Hindu College in Jaffna district.
Suspected terrorists shot dead a
former EPDP member, Navaratnarajah Jegatheeswaran, near Nelliady-Kodikamam
road in Jaffna.
|
January 16 |
A Sri Lankan
Army soldier was killed when suspected LTTE cadres lobbed a grenade
at a sentry located in the premises of Mannar General Hospital,
in Mannar district. |
January 17 |
Suspected LTTE cadres trigger a claymore
mine explosion on the Nilaveli-Trincomalee road, injuring 12 sailors
travelling by bus to Trincomalee. Two unidentified civilians are
killed and another injured in the crossfire, which ensued after
the blast, when the LTTE cadres opened fire at the bus and retaliated
by naval troops.
One soldier is killed and another
one injured when the LTTE detonated a claymore mine at Sarasalai
in the Jaffna district.
Another batch of 10 Sri Lankan Tamil
refugees from Selvanayakapuram in Talaimannar district arrives
at Rameswaram in the Indian State of Tamil Nadu raising their
total number to 48.
The SLMM decides to temporarily suspend
their monitoring activities in Trincomalee due to the recent escalation
of violence in the district.
|
January 18 |
The SLMM will continue operational
activities in the seas off Trincomalee despite its earlier decision
to suspend operations in the entire district.
Norwegian Ambassador, Hans Brattskar,
after a meeting with the LTTE political head, S.P. Thamilselvam,
said, "Tamil Tigers will [not] go to war and [we are] optimistic
that the LTTE wants to come to the negotiation table."
|
January 19 |
Three police personnel and a civilian
are killed in a suspected LTTE triggered claymore mine blast in
the Thandavanveli area of Batticaloa district. Seven army personnel,
13 police personnel and three civilians are injured in the blast.
In another claymore mine blast along
the Trincomalee-Kandy Road, two Navy personnel, one Police constable
and 16 civilians are injured.
|
January 21
|
27 LTTE cadres are killed in an explosion
that occurred in the Adampan area of Mannar district.
The police shot dead two suspected
LTTE cadres who attempted to attack them with a grenade at Chettikulam.
A home guard and a civilian are shot
dead in Seruwila by unidentified gunmen.
|
January 22
|
A 21-year-old youth is shot dead
by unidentified assailants, suspected to be from the 'Colonel'
Karuna group, near the Mamangam Kovil in Batticaloa.
President Mahinda Rajapakse calls
for immediate talks with the LTTE to halt the increasing violence
and warns that the wish for peace is not a sign that the Government
was unable to counter the LTTE.
Geneva is likely to emerge as a compromise
venue for the first round of talks between the Government and
LTTE.
|
January 23
|
Suspected LTTE cadres attack an army
patrol near the Batticaloa town, detonating a claymore mine, killing
three soldiers and wounding two others.
The Intelligence Division of Fort
Police arrests a woman, suspected to be a member of the LTTE suicide
bomb squad, near the Fort Railway Station in Colombo.
U.S. Under-Secretary of State Nicholas
Burns describes the LTTE as a "reprehensive terrorist group,"
which was "keeping the country on the edge of war" and said while
the Tamils had "legitimate grievances," the LTTE bore the "full
responsibility" to either choose peace or to continue with its
"repugnant policies of the past decade and a half."
|
January 24
|
A journalist, identified as S. Rajan,
attached to a Tamil language newspaper Sudar Oli, is shot dead
by an unidentified gunman at Trincomalee.
|
January 25
|
The Government of Sri Lanka and LTTE
will meet in Switzerland for talks on implementing their strained
2002 truce, said Norwegian Minister for International Development
and key facilitator, Erik Solheim.
LTTE leader, Anton Balasingham, assures
that outfit will not attack the army.
|
January 26
|
At least 10 LTTE cadres are killed
and an unspecified number are injured when ‘Colonel’ Karuna faction
cadres attacked a vehicle carrying LTTE cadres in the Vadamunai
area of Batticaloa district. The attack followed the killing of
a senior LTTE cadre, identified as ‘Major’ Kavilan, in the same
area.
Switzerland announces that it is
ready to host the forthcoming peace talks between the Sri Lankan
Government and LTTE in February 2006.
77 SF personnel are killed by the
LTTE either by firing at them or in explosions after December
1, 2005 to-date, informs a statement of the Ministry of Defence.
|
January 28
|
A civilian, identified as Thambiah
Jeyarajah, is shot dead by unidentified assailants in the Lingapuram
village of Trincomalee district.
LTTE accuses the Government forces
of harassing civilians despite this week’s breakthrough in their
stalled peace process.
|
January 29
|
‘Colonel’ Karuna has welcomed the
proposed cease-fire talks to be held in Geneva and said his group
would unilaterally stop all “self-defence military campaigns”
to give an opportunity to President Mahinda Rajapakse to continue
with his peace effort.
SLMM spokesperson, Helen Olafsdottir,
in an interview with an Indian magazine states that ceasefire
monitors have no evidence that the Sri Lanka Army is supporting
the LTTE’s breakaway faction led by ‘Colonel’ Karuna.
|
January 30
|
Five TRO members are abducted from
the Welikanda check-point area of Polunnaruwa district.
|
January 31
|
The LTTE threatens that they will
pull out of the upcoming peace talks in Switzerland unless the
Government takes greater steps to protect Tamils against abductions.
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse
states that representatives from the Muslim community will be
included in the future peace talks.
|
February
2 |
The Sri Lankan Government announces
that senior Minister, Nimal Siripala de Silva, would head the
Government team at the forthcoming peace talks with the LTTE,
led by Anton Balasingham.
|
February
3 |
The February 3-meeting between chiefs
of Sri Lanka’s International Donors and the LTTE in Kilinochchi
is cancelled after the donors decided "it was not proper for the
chiefs of the organizations to have talks with leadership of the
Wanni Tiger organization until the forthcoming discussions in
Geneva are over."
|
February
5 |
LTTE rejects the Government plans
for peace talks in Geneva on February 15 because of reported abductions
of pro-LTTE aid workers, and demanded talks in late February instead.
|
February
6 |
Peace facilitator Norway announces
that the Government and LTTE will meet in Geneva on February 22
and 23 for a dialogue.
|
February
7 |
The LTTE confirms its participation
in peace talks scheduled to be held in Geneva on February 22-23.
The Tamileela Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal
(TMVP), the LTTE breakaway-faction led by ‘Colonel’ Karuna, warns
that it would be forced to withdraw from its unilateral cease-fire
against the LTTE.
|
February
8 |
The LTTE says that it is not ready
to talk to the Sri Lankan Government if another party - a Muslim
delegation - also sits at the negotiation table, but adds that
a representative from the Muslim community could join the talks
as a member of the Government peace delegation or as a representative
of the Tamil-speaking people in the Northeast. The outfit also
ruled out the possibility of any "modifications" to the CFA as
well as discussions on a political solution to the conflict at
the talks to be held on February 22 and 23 in Geneva.
|
February
9 |
The Sri Lanka Information Minister,
Anura Priyadharshana Yapa, reveals that there had been 5,464 cases
of cease-fire violations committed by the LTTE from February 22,
2002 to February 4, 2006 civilians. The number of extortion cases
reported within this period is 106.
The Sri Lanka Government appoints
a Steering Committee on Peace Building (SCPB), headed by Foreign
Minister Mangala Samaraweera. The SCPB will consist of six Cabinet
Ministers, a Deputy Minister, Members of Parliament, alliance
partners of the Government, six Permanent Secretaries and senior
officials of the Foreign Ministry and the Peace Secretariat.
|
February
10 |
The Sri Lanka Muslim Congress leader,
Rauf Hakeem, stated that there should be a separate Muslim delegation
at the peace talks as per the Oslo agreement and also condemned
the LTTE stand that no separate Muslim representation should take
part in the talks.
|
February
11 |
One of four suspected LTTE Sea Tigers
aboard on a speeding trawler blew himself up in mid-sea off Talaimannar
in the Mannar district after being intercepted by SLN personnel,
killing four sea Tigers on board and injuring a SLN personnel,
who succumbed to his injuries later. SF personnel recovered a
LTTE travel document during a search operation in the area following
the explosion.
|
February
13 |
Military spokesperson, Brigadier
S.A.P.P. Samarasinghe, informs that a combined Police and Army
search operation recently has confirmed that no paramilitary groups
were operating in areas under Government control.
|
February
14 |
Sri Lanka's Parliament extends the
state of emergency that gives wide-ranging powers to the armed
forces, for one month. It was imposed on August 13, 2005.
The UNICEF has called on the LTTE
to cease the recruitment of children for military purposes and
to release all children within its ranks and has recorded 5,368
cases of reported child recruitment in Sri Lanka since January
2002.
|
February
16 |
The LTTE says that the forthcoming
talks in Geneva would decide "if there is peace or war." Thamilselvam,
political wing leader of the outfit, told Reuters that the future
was "totally dependent on the outcome of this meeting. He added,
"Any solution to the Tamil national problem should involve the
concept of a Tamil homeland, nationhood and the right of self-determination
and provide the people with a dignified solution."
|
February
17 |
Government releases four ‘naval wing’
cadres of the LTTE, also known as ‘Sea Tigers’, who were arrested
in October 2005 for videotaping the Trincomalee Harbour, as a
goodwill gesture ahead of Geneva talks. Soon after the release
of four LTTE cadres, the outfit’s spokesperson, Daya Master, announced
that they would release one of the two Police personnel in their
custody since mid-2005 for entering uncleared areas (areas not
under the Government control) in pursuit of an absconding British
pedophile.
|
February
19 |
President Mahinda Rajapakse states
during an all-party meeting that the Government has decided to
approach the Geneva peace talks on a multi-party basis, though
the two main parties that will participate in the discussions
are the Government and LTTE. He added that all earlier discussions
were conducted as bi-party affairs and all of them were unsuccessful
and that’s why a new approach for the talks was necessary.
The political wing leader of the
LTTE, S.P Thamilselvan, demands that the Government hand over
cadres of breakaway faction led by ‘Colonel’ Karuna to the outfit.
|
February
20 |
The LTTE threatens to kill Rajan
Sivarajah, leader of the Liberal Democratic Tamils in Norway,
unless he stops his "anti-LTTE activities immediately." Rajan
is one of the two Tamil leaders who addressed the first Conference
of the World Alliance for Peace in Sri Lanka held in Oslo in 2004.
‘Colonel’ Karuna says that his forces
would only disarm if the main group does. He said, "If Sri Lanka
forces disarm all the armed groups and us ... it will only give
legitimacy for the LTTE to extend its writ to kill us… Any hand
over of arms must be part of (a) conflict resolution process at
a stage when normalcy and trust is established."
|
February
21 |
The LTTE rules out the possibility
of discussing an expansion in the mandate of the SLMM at the Geneva
talks to be held on February 22-23.
The Norwegian Government appoints
Brigadier Henricsson, a Swede, as chief of the SLMM with effect
from April 1, 2006 succeeding Hagrup Haukland, who is a Norwegian.
Sidonia Gabriel, Programme Officer,
Human Security and Peace Policy of the Swiss Foreign Ministry,
tells Daily News that the Swiss Government would not allow the
LTTE to carry out fundraising campaigns in the country.
|
February
22 |
The Sri Lanka Government and LTTE
commenced their two-day direct talks on implementation issues
of the four-year old cease-fire agreement CFA in Geneva.
Six unidentified assailants shot
dead a LTTE 'National Auxiliary Force' cadre, identified as Shanthakumar
Narayanapillai, in the Pulipaynthakal area of Batticaloa district.
The ‘Colonel’ Karuna faction reportedly claimed responsibility
for the killing.
A former cadre of the LTTE, Navarasan,
is shot dead in the Valaichenai area of the same district by suspected
members of a paramilitary group.
A Muslim supporter of the Sri Lanka’s
main opposition United National Party, Mohamathu Muhaideen Jarool,
is shot dead, allegedly by a Muslim armed group at Meerakerny
in the Eravur area of Batticaloa district.
|
February
23 |
Peace talks between the Government
and LTTE concludes in Geneva with both sides agreeing to meet
again on April 19-21 at the same venue for another round. The
Joint Statement at the end of the meeting said, "The LTTE is committed
to taking all necessary measures to ensure that there will be
no acts of violence against the Security Forces and the Police…
The Government of Sri Lanka is also committed to take all necessary
measures in accordance with the cease-fire agreement (CFA) to
ensure that no armed group other than Government security forces
will carry arms.”
|
February
26 |
Government sources say that the CFA
of 2002 has been "amended" at the talks held in Geneva on February
22 and 23. Nimal Sripala de Silva, Government chief negotiator,
told a media briefing in Colombo that the "new obligations" mentioned
in the ‘Geneva Agreement’ of February 23 could be "construed as
amendments to the CFA."
The LTTE asks the Government to implement
the Geneva agreement within two months and expressed its intention
to talk to the Muslims and discuss the issue of separate Muslim
representation in future rounds of talks and the Muslim concerns
in the multi-ethnic eastern province.
‘Colonel’ Karuna, leader of the LTTE
breakaway faction, vows to resist any attempt by the Government
to disarm his group and threatened to end a unilateral cease-fire.
|
February
27 |
Intelligence sources have stated
that a large-scale LTTE war drill was in progress in the Kanjikudichcharu
area of Ampara district, almost immediately after the talks between
the Government and LTTE concluded in Geneva.
The LTTE accuses Government of not
honoring commitments given at the Geneva talks by failing to crack
down on an armed member of a rival Tamil group in the north.
Anton Balasingham, chief negotiator
of the LTTE, rejects the Government's claim that the joint statement
at the end of the Geneva talks amounted to an amendment to the
original CFA.
|
March
1 |
LTTE releases 20 cadres who had lied
about their ages in order to join the insurgency.
President Mahinda Rajapakse says
that the future discussions with the LTTE would be held with 'transparency.'
|
March
3 |
The LTTE delegation which took part
in the Geneva talks with the Government will meet Norway’s Foreign
Minister Jonas Gahr Støere in Oslo to discuss the outcome of the
talks on the implementation of the CFA.
|
March
4 |
The LTTE accuses the army of killing
two of their cadres in an attack, the first significant incident
of violence since talks in February, but the military denies involvement.
|
March 5 |
Unidentified assailants shot dead
a former soldier, identified as Mohamed Navas, in the Valaichenai
area of Batticaloa district.
Presidential Advisor, Nivard Ajith
Cabraal, said that the next round of peace talks between the Government
and LTTE, to be held at Geneva in April 2006, will focus on humanitarian
issues to provide relief to the people in the Northeast before
attention is focused on issues such as power-sharing.
|
March 6 |
A Muslim businessman, identified
as M. Jawfar, is shot dead by unidentified assailants in the Eravur
area of Batticaloa district.
President Mahinda Rajapakse describes
the Geneva talks as a "victory for the entire nation," and promises
to continue with his peace efforts despite opposition from his
unitary and hard-line electoral allies. He describes the current
situation as an opportune moment to end the separatist conflict.
The LTTE chief negotiator, Anton
Balasingham, describes the Geneva talks as a "victory" for the
LTTE.
|
March 7 |
Sri Lanka clears more than half of
the country's estimated one-million land mines, planted during
two decades of civil war, and should be able to complete the task
within two years.
Customs officials at the Bandaranaike
International Airport in Colombo detains some LTTE delegates,
including its Peace Secretariat head Pulidevan, who returned from
Oslo, along with several catalogues containing weapons and number
of powerful searchlights.
The Marxist JVP states that the party
does not like the double role of the Norwegian facilitator and
said, "We should not continue to keep Norway as the facilitator."
|
March
8 |
EPRLF General Secretary, T. Sritharan,
demands that LTTE’s chief negotiator, Anton Balasingham, should
be charged for glorifying suicide bombers and issuing death threats
from London.
|
March 9 |
Unidentified assailants shot dead
a civilian, identified as Govinda Vijayarasa, in the Iruthayapuram
area of Batticaloa district.
Sri Lanka’s chief Muslim party, the
SLMC, accuses the LTTE of carrying out a ‘sinister operation’
to link Sri Lankan Muslims with extremist Muslim groups such as
Al Qaeda and vehemently denies accusations by the outfit that
a Muslim ‘Jihadi’ group was operating in the east of the country.
|
March 10 |
UNICEF has informed that the LTTE
still holds as many as 1,358 child soldiers, despite its pledges
to free all underage combatants.
The LTTE has reportedly promulgated
a "Tamil Eelam Lands Act" covering land administration in the
areas under its control in the northeast.
|
March
11 |
Thuiyavan, a ‘political leader’ of
the ‘Colonel’ Karuna faction, tells Lankadeepa that his group
is not a gang but an organisation. He stated, "Nobody can disarm
us. We have our own arms. They are not given by the government
or anybody else. We will hand over our arms on the day Prabhakaran
hands over his. Until then we will not put down arms." He also
said that they fear the Sri Lanka Army and Police, but bear arms
to protect themselves from the LTTE.
|
March
13 |
Anton Balasingham, the LTTE’s chief
negotiator, said, “The Geneva peace talks will face grave danger
if the Sri Lanka government refuses to disarm Tamil paramilitary
organisations and continues allowing them to launch offensive
military operations against our military positions in Batticaloa
district.” He adds that the LTTE leadership would be compelled
to review its decision to participate in the next round of talks,
scheduled to be held in Geneva on April 19, if Colombo fails to
fulfill the pledges agreed in the joint statement issued after
the first session of talks in Geneva.
|
March 15 |
A Danish Social Democrat member of
the Herning City Council, Arul Thilainadarasa, is expelled from
his party after he admitted to his affiliation with the LTTE.
According to the latest Human Rights
Watch report, members of Canada's Tamil community are being aggressively
pursued and extorted by the LTTE. The HRW report said Canada's
Tamil population are pressurized to lend money, re-mortgage their
homes or even skip meals to help fund the fight for a separate
Tamil state.
|
March 16 |
Norwegian peace facilitator, Erik
Solheim, announces that he will step down from the facilitator’s
role and will appoint a new special envoy to Sri Lanka.
The British Government agrees to
curb illegal fund raising from the Sri Lankan Tamil Diaspora in
the UK by the LTTE.
|
March 20 |
Unidentified assailants shot dead
a civilian in the capital city of Colombo.
Unidentified assailants shot dead
a civilian, identified as Siththiravel Selvam, in the Eravur area
of Batticaloa district.
|
March 21 |
Parliament extends the state of emergency,
first imposed after the assassination of Foreign Minister Lakshman
Kadirgamar on August 13, 2005, by one month.
LTTE chief negotiator Anton Balasingham
has said that the outfit will view any further attacks by ‘military-backed
renegades’ as an act of war and may postpone peace talks unless
the State disarms them. He further said, "Unless Rajapakse...
accepts the demand of the Tamils for regional autonomy, there
won't be any prospect for a political solution. If internal self-determination
is rejected, then only we will invoke the right to external self-determination
- that is the right to form an independent state."
|
March 22 |
Unidentified assailants shot dead
two civilians, identified as M. Gunaratnam and Jude, in the Kurumankadu
area of Vavuniya district.
The LTTE rejects 'new preconditions'
for the re-entry of their political cadres into Government-controlled
areas in the Northeast.
|
March 23 |
A LTTE cadre is killed and two others
are injured in an attack on the outfit’s ‘Forward Defense Line
sentry point’ located in the Poonagar area of Trincomalee district.
Cabinet spokesperson, Anura Priyadarshana
Yapa, stated that the LTTE has violated the cease-fire agreement
on 31 occasions following the February 22-23 Geneva talks.
The Karuna faction along with other
Sinhala and Tamil groups form a new organization called the Alliance
for Protection of Rights of the People in the East with the aim
of separating the North and East Provinces, which have been merged
since the signing of the India-Sri Lanka Accord in 1987.
The UNICEF has recorded 1,280 cases
of children being kidnapped by the outfit in 2003, falling to
675 in 2005, 155 in July only. In January 2006, it logged 29 cases
and 14 were reported for February.
|
March 24 |
Unidentified assailants shot dead
a civilian, identified as Ponniah Murugesu, and injured another
in the Sasthrikulankulam area of Vavuniya district.
The LTTE Peace Secretariat announced
that to honour the Government's condition made at the recently
concluded Geneva talks, it has decided to stop the opening of
all political offices in Government-controlled areas and added,
"We hope the government too will respond [to] us positively."
|
March
25 |
Six LTTE cadres and eight sailors
are feared killed, when a boat heading to northern Sri Lanka and
carrying LTTE cadres exploded off the northwest coast near a naval
craft. However, the LTTE denied any involvement in the incident.
|
March 26 |
The Government has laid down 28 conditions
for the LTTE to re-open its political offices in Government-controlled
areas, forcing the outfit to indefinitely postpone the idea.
The SLMM condemning the attack on
SLN vessel on March 25, in which eight Navy personnel and six
LTTE cadres were reportedly killed, said in a statement that it
is hard to rule out LTTE involvement in the incident.
|
March 27
|
Unidentified assailants shot dead
M.L. Dharmasiri, personal secretary of Sri Lanka's Minister of
Agriculture, Environment, Irrigation and Mahaweli Development
Maithripala Sirisena, in the Aranangawila area of Polannaruwa
district
A suspected LTTE front, Upsurging
Peoples Brigade, claims responsibility for attacks on the military
that killed dozens of SF personnel in December 2005 and January
2006 and also threatened that they would resume attacks.
The SLN has reimposed fishing restrictions
in the sea "around the Jaffna peninsula up to a distance of 12
nautical miles from land up to International Maritime Boundary
between India and Sri Lanka” to stop the LTTE from smuggling weapons
in the guise of fishermen.
|
March 29
|
The Sri Lanka Government said that
it would continue peace talks with the LTTE despite the deaths
of eight sailors in a suicide blast on March 25.
The LTTE chief negotiator, Anton
Balasingham, assures the outfit’s participation in the peace talks
scheduled to be held at Geneva on April 19, if safe passage through
Colombo is provided for their negotiating team.
|
March 30
|
The LTTE chief negotiator, Anton
Balasingham, assures the outfits participation in the peace
talks scheduled to be held at Geneva on April 19, if safe passage
through Colombo is provided for their negotiating team.
|
April 3
|
The Colonel Karuna faction
has vowed to kill the Eelam LTTE cadres unless they return thousands
of homes and businesses appropriated from Muslims in the 1990s.
The breakaway faction also stated that it would hunt down
three top LTTE leaders and hand them to the Sri Lanka Monitoring
Mission.
|
April 4
|
UNICEF has stated that the number
of people affected by landmines in Sri Lanka has fallen 75 percent
since the signing of the 2002 cease-fire agreement between the
Government and LTTE.
|
April 5
|
A cadre of the LTTE, identified as
lieutenant Arulanantham, is allegedly killed in an
artillery fire from a Sri Lankan Army position in the Mankerni
area of Trincomalee district.
The LTTE political wing leader, S.P.
Thamilselvan, in his meeting with the Norwegian peace envoy, Jon
Hanssen-Bauer, demands the Sri Lanka Government to disarm paramilitary
groups before the next round of peace talks at Geneva, scheduled
to be held on April 19-21.
The spokesperson of the SLMM, Helen
Olafsdottir, has stated that there is a marked increase in the
recruitment of children in the East for combat training presumably
by the LTTE.
|
April 6
|
Norway's International Development
Minister Erik Solheim after his meeting with the Sri Lankan President
Mahinda Rajapakse informs that the President has assured safe
passage to the LTTE delegation traveling to Switzerland for peace
talks scheduled to be held on April 19-21 at Geneva.
Police chief Chandra Fernando has
said that he has not clearly identified who the paramilitary armed
groups are, but said the Special Task Force is operating under
Police as a paramilitary. He adds that Police would take legal
action against those who carry unauthorised arms and also criminals.
|
April 7
|
Unidentified assailants shot the
President of Trincomalee District Tamil Peoples' Forum, Vanniasingham
Vigneswaran, inside a bank premises in the town. The TNA was to
nominate Vigneswaran as the national list Parliamentarian to fill
the position left vacant by the slain TNA Member of Parliament,
Joseph Pararajasingham, who was killed on December 25, 2005.
Suspected LTTE cadres shot dead two
Muslim home guards, identified as B.A. Bawa and V. Tahibu, in
the Welikanda area of Pollonnaruwa district.
|
April 8
|
Suspected cadres of the LTTE kill
one soldier and injure other.
Another soldier and civilian are
wounded in a fragmentation mine attack on an army lorry in the
north.
|
April 10
|
Five soldiers and two civilians are
killed and two other civilians are injured in a claymore mine
explosion triggered by suspected cadres of the LTTE in the Mirusuvil
area of Jaffna district.
Canada formally proscribes the LTTE
as a terrorist group.
|
April 11
|
Ten Sri Lankan Navy sailors and a
civilian driver are killed, while nine others injured when a Navy
convoy was targeted by a LTTE triggered claymore mine explosion,
at Thampalagamuwa on the Trincomalee-Habarana road.
|
April 12
|
At least 13 persons are killed and
40 others injured in a series of bomb blasts and arson in the
Trincomalee district. In one of the incidents LTTE cadres set
off an improvised explosive device outside a vegetable market,
killing at least five people. Six more persons are killed in the
subsequent mob violence in which shops, including those belonging
to Tamils and Muslims, are set ablaze. 38 persons are injured
in the two incidents.
|
April 13
|
Two civilians, Panchadcharam Kirupakaran
Mattuvil and Chinniah Thaya, are shot dead by suspected paramilitary
cadres in two separate incidents in the Jaffna district.
|
April 14
|
The Sri Lanka Government agrees on
a new date for peace talks with the LTTE at Geneva. The head of
the Government peace secretariat, Palitha Kohona, told Reuters,
The dates decided upon are the 24th and 25th of April.
|
April 15
|
At least four soldiers are killed
and several others wounded in a claymore mine explosion in the
Vavuniya district.
Three Sri Lankan Air Force personnel
are killed in a LTTE triggered claymore mine explosion in the
Kappalthurai area of Trincomalee district.
|
April 16
|
The LTTE announces suspending participation
in the second round of Geneva peace talks until hurdles
placed before it by the Government were removed and a more
conducive environment was created for the negotiations.
Canadian Police raids the office
of the World Tamil Movement in Montreal, the first raid after
the Canadian Government proscribed the LTTE as a terrorist group
and seized computers, files, LTTE flags and other political documents.
|
April 17
|
Five SF personnel are killed and
seven others sustain injuries in a LTTE triggered claymore mine
explosion in the Veppankulam area of Vavuniya district.
Army sources reports that the total
number of members of the SFs injured due to attacks in the North
and East since February 22-23 Geneva peace talks had risen to
45 with the attacks on April 17-morning. They comprise 25 Sri
Lanka Army officers, 13 Navy officers, five SLAF officers and
two Police officers. The number of civilians injured since the
Geneva peace talks were 61.
The Government agrees to permit Norwegian
facilitators to engage a private helicopter operating in Sri Lanka
to transport the LTTE eastern leaders to Kilinochchi for consultation
in preparation for the peace talks, scheduled to be held at Geneva
on April 24-25.
|
April 18
|
The LTTE announces that they had
killed three paramilitary cadres and captured another in the LTTE-controlled
area of Pendukalsenai, west of Kiran in the Batticaloa district.
The pro-LTTE website Tamilnet claimed
that the Sri Lanka Army soldiers killed five Tamil civilians on
April 18-night near the SLA 51-1 Division camp located at Vatharavathai,
13 km north-east of Jaffna.
LTTE states that they would not attend
the Geneva peace talks unless violence against ethnic Tamils
stops. In an interview, LTTE Peace Secretariat chief S.
Puleedevan claimed, While our people are being killed and
our shops are being looted, we are not going to Geneva.
|
April 19
|
Unidentified assailants shot dead
a civilian, identified as Ambikaipahan Thambapillai, in the Kondavil
junction area of Jaffna town.
Sri Lanka Plan Implementation Minister,
Keheliya Rambukwella, told the media that the helicopter ride
offered to the LTTE through the SLMM was not a blank cheque but
restricted to a maximum 72-hours and the outfit should use it
before the Geneva talks scheduled to be held on April 24-25.
General Secretary of Akhila Ilankai
Tamil United Front, K. Vigneswaran, states that by not providing
adequate relief to the Tamils hit by the recent ethnic riots in
Trincomalee, the Sri Lankan Government is driving them into the
waiting arms of the LTTE.
|
April 20
|
Two bodies are found in the Kuttinagar
area of Vavuniya district.
|
April 21
|
Two soldiers were killed and another
sustained injuries when LTTE cadres blew up their vehicle with
a claymore mine in the Thanganagar area of Trincomalee district.
Troops in Jaffna recovered 12 claymore
mines, 39 hand grenades of different types, 50 detonators, 10
anti-personnel mines, 8 rocket propelled grenades, 110 TNT explosives
sticks, 50 fuses, 5 pouches, 250 9-mm pistol rounds, 10 rounds
of .38 ammunition, 5 T-56 magazines, 1400 T-56 bullets, 10 camouflage
uniform sets, several other warlike items and explosives weighing
75-kgs along with some appliances from the compound of a house
abandoned by an LTTE Mahaveerar's (brave warrior) family in the
Maduvil area. According to reports, this is the biggest ever recovery
of LTTE claymore mines in a single instance after cease-fire agreement
in 2002.
|
April 22
|
An army officer was killed and six
soldiers sustained injuries when an anti-personnel mine exploded
near their car at Welikanda in the Polonnaruwa district, 216 kilometers
northeast of the capital Colombo.
Two civilians, Thambiah Gunanayagam
and Loganathan Chandra Perumal, were killed in the LTTE-controlled
area in Mannar district, when their motorbike hit a claymore mine
fixed on a tree. Two more civilians were shot dead by unidentified
assailants in the Nelliady area of Jaffna district.
|
April 23
|
According to the pro-Liberation Tigers
of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) website Tamil Net, eight civilians
were killed in separate incidents on April 22-23.
LTTE cadres shot dead six Sinhalese
farmers, including a home guard, who were in their paddy fields
at Kallanpattu in the Gomarankadawala area of Trincomalee district.
|
April
24 |
Two home guards are shot dead by
suspected LTTE cadres while they were proceeding from their duty
post towards the Dutuwewa base in the Vavuniya district.
LTTE cadres kill a three-year-old
infant while he was with his mother at Muslim Colony in the Kaduruwela
area of Polonnaruwa district.
|
April
25 |
Army Commander Lt. General Sarath
Fonseka is critically injured while at least eight persons were
killed when a female suicide cadre of the LTTE, disguised as a
pregnant woman, blew herself up in front of the military hospital
inside the Colombo Army headquarters. 27 persons were wounded
in the explosion.
Following the attack, the Air Force
launched a series of strikes on the LTTE-held Sampoor area in
the Trincomalee district. The pro-LTTE website Tamil Net claimed
that at least 12 civilians were killed in the aerial strike.
|
April
26 |
At least four civilians are killed
and 12 others, including two sailors, were injured when the LTTE
directed mortar fire towards the naval jetty in Muttur.
Associated Press reports that close
to 40,000 civilians have left their homes in northeastern Sri
Lanka to escape Government air strikes on LTTE bases.
The LTTE's Trincomalee district political
head S. Elilan said, "we are in a state of readiness and
are awaiting for the instruction from our leadership to respond
with a force that will be catastrophically disabling and devastating
to the enemy."
|
April
27 |
Three SF personnel are killed and
three others sustained injuries in a LTTE triggered remote controlled
claymore mine attack at Naravilkulam in the Mannar district.
Two sailors of Sri Lanka navy are
killed in another claymore mine attack by the LTTE in the Kayts
area of Jaffna district.
The Sri Lanka Government halts its
"deterrent strikes" in the LTTE-controlled areas.
Foreign Affairs Minister Mangala
Samaraweera calls for "tangible and specific international
actions against the LTTE and its front organisations if it continues
to persist with suicide attacks and other terrorist acts against
security forces and civilians."
|
April
28 |
Two Tamil youths are shot dead by
unidentified assailants in the Valaichenai area of Batticaloa
district
Chief of the SLMM, Major General
Ulf Henricsson, confirms that the Sri Lanka Air Force and Navy
had definitely targeted military positions and offices of the
LTTE. He said that 10-12 people may have died and added that the
report relating to a mass exodus of people from the Sampur area
was grossly exaggerated.
|
April
29 |
Two LTTE 'auxiliary force' cadres
are killed in a claymore mine attack allegedly carried out by
the Sri Lankan Army in the LTTE-held area of Manalaru in the Mullaitivu
district.
The Sri Lankan Government said that
it is prepared to travel to Switzerland any time to resume peace
talks with the LTTE.
|
April 30
|
The LTTE raids camps belonging to
'Colonel' Karuna faction in the Welikanda area of Polannaruwa
district, killing 20 of its cadres.
The UN has informed that up to 21,000
people have fled their homes following the latest increase in
violence in Sri Lanka's northeastern district of Trincomalee.
The office of the UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Sri Lanka said
in a statement, "Altogether there is an established recent
case load of some 6,000 families or about 21,000 people."
|
May
1 |
The LTTE triggers an improvised explosive
device (IED) blast targeting SLN personnel near Shanmugam Vidyalaya
in the Trincomlaee town. However, the blast missed its intended
target, killing four civilians and one SLN personnel. One more
SLN personnel sustained injuries in the blast.
Two civilians are killed and three
others were injured by the LTTE in the Welioya area of Batticaloa
district. Five more civilians have reportedly gone missing from
the area.
The LTTE's commando unit that returned
to its FDL on April 30 after completing the attack on three paramilitary
camps in the Welikanda area of Pollonaruwa district, has claimed
that five SF personnel, including a Captain rank officer, who
took part in a paramilitary rescue operation, were killed in confrontation
with the outfit.
|
May
2 |
Cadres of the 'Colonel' Karuna faction
attack the LTTE camp in Batticaloa, killing eight of the outfit's
cadres.
nidentified assailants attack the
Udayan newspaper office at Kasthuriar Road in the Jaffna
town, killing two employees of the daily and injuring an unspecified
number of others.
Troops allegedly kill a woman, identified
as Sivagnanasundaram Kalarani, and wounded two others in the Chinnavalayankattu
area of Mannar district.
The LTTE 'Sea-Tiger' leader, Soosai,
told that the outfit would use its own vessels and armed escort
to transport eastern leaders to the North. He also said that they
already used their vessels to transport cadres from Mullativu
to Trincomalee with armed escort on April 30.
|
May
3 |
The SCOPP chief, Palitha Kohona,
states that the Government has been offering seaplanes for the
last one week "but we have still not received a definite
response from the LTTE. We are also engaged with the Government
delegation's pre-talks preparation."
The main opposition UNP has said
that the ongoing peace process is the only way to a lasting peace,
but added that the party will back the Government if it opts for
war.
|
May
4 |
Troops kill seven LTTE cadres in
a retaliatory fire when they attacked SFs with hand grenades at
Nelliady in the Jaffna town, injuring two soldiers.
'Ravana Force', an LTTE front outfit,
warn Tamil media personnel working at the State print and electronic
media institutions to refrain from supporting the Government's
propaganda against the LTTE.
|
May
5 |
One police personnel is killed and
four others sustain injuries in a LTTE-triggered claymore mine
explosion at Mandan in the Nelliady area of Jaffna district.
Cadres of the LTTE shot dead a soldier
and injured another at Adikovil in the same district.
The Minister of Policy Development
and Implementation, Keheliya Rambukwella, said that the Government
has asserted that it will not provide the LTTE with aircraft belonging
to the armed forces for any reason.
|
May
7 |
At least eight civilians, who went
missing from a temple, are feared killed in the Thenmarachchi
area of Jaffna district.
The 'Colonel' Karuna faction cadres
kill 12 cadres of the LTTE in an attack at the outfit's camp in
the Sampoor and Ravulkulee areas of Trincomalee district.
The LTTE vows to raid Government
territory to kill cadres of the 'Colonel' Karuna faction, who
according to the outfit, are attacking their cadres with the help
of the military and has warned that peace talks are off until
those renegade attacks stop.
The Colonel Karuna faction is reported
to have said that no one can disarm them, be it the Government,
Norwegian facilitators or the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, as
the Sri Lankan Government did not arm them.
|
May
8 |
The Sri Lanka Government chief negotiator,
Health Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva, urges Japanese special
peace envoy, Yasushi Akashi, to enlighten the Co-Chairs about
the LTTE attitudes and violations of the cease-fire agreement
and to put pressure on the outfit to return to the peace process.
|
May
9 |
Sri Lankan Foreign Minister, Mangala
Samaraweera, during an official visit to India, said that his
country needs foreign help to pressure the LTTE to come back to
peace talks.
The Sri Lankan Government is reported
to have allocated Rupees 38 billion for a number of economic development
projects, including activities to uplift the lives of displaced
persons, in the Northern and Eastern provinces.
The Japanese peace envoy Yasushi
Akashi met the 'chief' of the LTTE's political division, S.P.
Thamilselvan at Kilinochchi and held discussions with him.
|
May
10 |
A home guard is shot dead by unidentified
assailants in the Padaviya Police station area of Batticaloa district.
According to the Netherlands Minister
of Justice, Donner, and Minister of Immigration, Verdonk, there
are signs that the Tamil community is being intimidated by the
LTTE to raise funds. The Netherlands would like to put the LTTE
on the European list of illegal and terrorist organizations, added
Donner.
The National Memorial Institute for
the Prevention of Terrorism, sponsored by the United States Department
of Homeland Security, has designated Sihala Urumaya - the precusor
to the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) - as a terrorist organization.
The Japanese special peace envoy,
Yashushi Akashi, stated in Colombo that relations between the
Government and LTTE are at their worst since he began his role
as the peace envoy in 2002. Yakushi also said that Japan has invited
India to join the co-chairs of the Tokyo Donors' Conference, which
includes the United States, European Union, Japan and Norway.
On the response from India to the invitation, he said that the
"indications were positive."
The LTTE political wing leader, S.P.
Thamilselvan, tells Reuters that the country is moving to the
fringes of a new civil war.
|
May
11 |
At least 17 Sri Lanka Navy (SLN)
sailors and 50 LTTE cadres are killed as the SLN successfully
repulsed an attempt by a cluster of the outfit's suicide boats
to destroy a heavy troop-carrying vessel - the 'Pearl Cruiser'
- with 710 troops on board off the coast of Vettilaikerni. In
the firefight, Navy ensured the safety of the passenger craft
and suffered the loss of one Dvora (P 418) with two officers and
15 sailors onboard. The Navy in a retaliatory attack with the
assistance of the Air Force destroyed five LTTE boats completely
and disabled four others, killing 50 'Sea Tigers' and forcing
the fleet to withdraw.
The Government Defence Affairs spokesperson,
Minister Keheliya Rambukwella, told Daily News that defence authorities
have decided to launch limited operations to deter further LTTE
attacks.
President Mahinda Rajapakse urges the LTTE to cease violence and
resume peace negotiations with the Government.
The SLMM in a press release following
the LTTE attack on naval vessel, with two SLMM monitors on board,
in the sea off Vettilaikerni stated that the outfit has no rights
at sea.
The LTTE political wing leader, S.P. Thamilselvan, strongly rejects
the SLMM claim that the outfit had no rights at sea. He said in
a letter to the SLMM that the outfit had a right to naval movements
as part of the balance of power.
|
May
12 |
Unidentified assailants shot dead
a civilian, identified as Balakumar, and injured another in the
Muttur area of Trincomalee district.
A civilian, Gnanam, is shot dead
by unidentified gunmen in the Atchuveli area of Jaffna district.
The LTTE political wing leader, S.P. Tamilselvan, told the SLMM
chief, Maj Gen Ulf Ericsson, "Nobody has the right to pass
judgment on the sovereign rights of our access to the adjacent
sea and airspace of our homelands." He also said that the
LTTE is not a "non-state actor" and added that the outfit
did not enter the peace process to be described as a "non-state
actor" and the Sri Lankan government as the "state actor".
|
May
13 |
At least 13 civilians, including
a four-month and a four-year old child, are killed by suspected
LTTE cadres in two incidents in the Kayts Island of Jaffna district.
A soldier is shot dead by unidentified
assailants near Main Street in Jaffna.
The head of the Nordic truce monitors
said that the Government and LTTE have returned to a 'low-intensity
war' despite a cease-fire that still technically holds on paper.
He stated, "You could in some definition say we already have
a war. We don't have a peace agreement, we have a ceasefire agreement.
So there is a war ongoing. It is a low-intensity war. You can
say that."
|
May
14 |
The LTTE dismisses calls by SLMM
to stop outfit navy missions and have threatened "war"
to keep their men at sea. LTTE's 'naval wing' chief, 'Colonel'
Soosai, said that the outfit was "not prepared to relinquish
sovereign rights to the seas which we have won with the sacrifice
of our people." He further said LTTE's 'Sea Tigers' had lost
1,200 cadres in the past 15 years and they would not give up operations
in the Indian Ocean adjacent to areas they control in the island's
north and east.
The SLMM said in a statement that it was "reviewing"
its own practice of putting monitors on Government vessels.
17 refugees from Sri Lanka arrived
at Dhanushkodi in the Rameswaram district of the Indian state
of Tamil Nadu, taking the total number of refugees coming to India
to approximately 800 since January 2006.
|
May
15 |
A civilian, identified as Aham Razul,
is hacked to death by suspected LTTE cadres in the Thopur area
of Trincomalee district.
'Pistol gang' cadres of the LTTE
shot dead a civilian, identified as Geetha Ponkalan Selvakumar,
inside a hospital in the Batticaloa town.
The Sri Lankan Government has said
that no one can claim sovereignty over Sri Lankan territorial
waters, as claimed by the LTTE.
President Mahinda Rajapakse invites
the LTTE to rejoin the peace talks and added that he is not in
favor of further internationalization of the conflict.
|
May
16 |
LTTE cadres detonate two claymore
mines in the Thambalagamuwa area of Trincomalee district, killing
one home guard and injuring two others.
A woman cadre of the LTTE, identified as Yalisai, is killed when
SFs who allegedly moved beyond the no-man zone at Palamodai, north
of Vavuniya, attacked an LTTE FDL.
|
May
17 |
LTTE snipers killed a Sri Lankan
soldier at Muhamalai in Jaffna district.
|
May
19 |
Five LTTE cadres are killed by cadres
of the 'Colonel' Karuna group in the Sampur area of Trincomalee
district.
Suspected LTTE cadres in the
Vavuniya district kill two soldiers.
|
May
20 |
LTTE 'pistol gang' cadres shot dead
a 12-year old boy, S. Sathyam, in the Mavadiodai area of Batticaloa
district as he rejected the outfit's demand to join the organization
as a child soldier.
|
May
21 |
A 15-year old student and his companion,
identified as Chandran Linton and Rasarathinam Mohan, are allegedly
killed in a claymore attack by the SLA in the LTTE controlled
area in the Mannar district.
Cadres of the breakaway 'Colonel'
Karuna faction in the Batticaloa district kill a top 'commander'
of the LTTE, identified as Ramanan. A spokesperson for the Karuna
group, T. Thuyavan, claims they killed Ramanan who was deputy
head of the LTTE 'Military wing' of the Batticaloa district. He
also claims that their cadres attacked an LTTE camp near Trincomalee,
killing at least 10 cadres of the outfit.
|
May
22 |
A civilian is shot dead by unidentified
assailants in the Kopay North area of Jaffna district.
Unidentified assailants shot dead
a civilian, Iknesias Rasman Lanthilad, at Gnanasooriaym Square
in the Batticaloa town.
SLA soldiers shot dead a suspected
LTTE cadre, identified as Arunachalam Suresh Gunapalan, at Vidathalpallai.
The head of LTTE Peace Secretariat,
S. Puleedevan, told Reuters that the military was pushing the
island towards a "high intensity war" and also accused
the army for the death their senior commander, 'Colonel' Ramanan,
on May 21.
|
May
23 |
The LTTE kills a soldier on duty
near the FDL at Iramperiyakulam in the Vavuniya district.
SFs shot dead a LTTE cadre at Thoppur
in the Trincomalee district as he tried to escape after hurling
a grenade towards troops.
|
May 24
|
Three SF personnel are killed in
an LTTE-triggered claymore mine attack in the Thandikulam area
of Vavuniya district.
A LTTE cadre, Oppilamany Sankaran,
is killed when SF personnel launched an artillery attack in the
Upparu area.
India on May 14 extended the existing
ban on the LTTE for a further period of two years, which was confirmed
by Government of Indian state of Tamil Nadu on May 20. It is for
the sixth time that India has extended the ban.
140 Tamil refugees arrive at Dhanushkodi
in the Rameswaram district of Tamil Nadu in southern India. With
this, the number of refugees reaching the Indian coast since January
2006 has reached 1,779, officials said.
|
May 25
|
Four police personnel are killed
in an LTTE-triggered claymore mine attack in the Kattankudy area
of Batticaloa district.
One civilian and a soldier are killed
in a LTTE claymore mine attack in the Kovukil area of Jaffna district.
A LTTE top leader, identified as
Veeramani, the former 'commander' of the 'Charles Anthony Brigade',
is killed in an accidental explosion near the Nagarkovil Forward
Defence Line of the outfit in the Jaffna district.
The Government urges Gulf Arab states
to ban the LTTE in their countries in view to block the funds
to the outfit.
The SLMM has decided to increase its ranks by at least 15 more
monitors and to bring in flak jackets and helmets.
|
May 26
|
The Deputy Director of Irrigation
in Batticaloa district, Nava Rathnarajah, is shot dead and his
driver wounded by cadres of the LTTE in the Kalliyankadu area.
A counter-ambush commando unit of
the LTTE kill three 'Colonel' Karuna faction cadres and captured
two others, when it allegedly launched an attack on the infiltrating
five-member Karuna group from the Sri Lanka Army camp located
in the Pattiaddy area of Trincomalee district.
LTTE cadres open fire towards troops
in the Kopay area of Jaffna district, injuring one soldier. In
retaliatory action, the troops kill two LTTE cadres.
The SLMC leader, Rauff Hakeem, during
his meetings with the Norwegian Special Peace Envoy Jon Hanssen-Bauer
told that that his party was ready to have unofficial discussions
with the LTTE to solve issues that affect the Muslims in the North
and East.
|
May 27
|
Six local tourists and their guide
are killed in a suspected LTTE landmine explosion near the Wilpattu
National Wild Park, 200-kilometers north of capital Colombo.
Two boys are killed and three others
injured when Sri Lankan Army soldiers, who had allegedly moved
into the Thikiliveddai area, an LTTE controlled border area of
Batticaloa district, ambushed a tractor with farmers.
The LTTE agrees to participate in
the talks with the Government over the SLMM security measures
in Oslo on June 8-9.
Norway's top peace envoy to Sri Lanka,
Eric Solheim, said that a major crisis was brewing in the country
and that it could be headed back to full-scale civil war.
|
May 28
|
A civilian, identified as K. Sawikaran,
is shot dead by cadres of the LTTE in the Dimbulagala area of
Polonnaruwa district.
|
May 29
|
The Makkal Eela Viduthalai Munnawar
(Eelam People's Liberation Alliance-EPLA), a front organization
of the LTTE, threatens the entire Muslim population in Muttur
to leave the area within 72 hours or face death.
The LTTE, which agreed to participate
in talks on June 8-9 in Oslo, has demanded for transport and security
for its leaders. The LTTE's political wing head, S.P. Tamilselvan,
stresses that the dialogue would be separate to the peace talks
with the Government, which began in February. He also said that
the outfit wouldn't surrender their weapons after a reported demand
by the EU.
|
May 30
|
The LTTE cadres kill 12 Sinhalese
villagers working at an irrigation canal construction site in
Omadiyamadu, close to the uncleared areas of Welikanda in Pollonaruwa
district.
The Sri Lanka co-chairs warn the
LTTE that it would face "deeper isolation" if it failed
to change itself. They also wanted the Government to "protect
the rights and security of Tamils" and make the required
political changes "to bring about a new system of governance."
|
May 31
|
The LTTE cadres LTTE kill a soldier
and wounded two others in the Point-Pedro area of Jaffna district.
The EU officially adds the LTTE to
its terrorist blacklist, effectively freezing the outfit's assets
across the 25-nation bloc and hindering its ability to raise money
for its armed movement.
Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera
informs that the LTTE funnel contributions through Malaysia and
Singapore to buy weapons in Thailand and Cambodia.
|
June 1
|
'Pistol gang' cadres of the LTTE
shot dead two members of the EPDP, Sebastian Irayappan and Arumugam
Loganathan, in the Pandarikulam area of Vavuniya district.
The LTTE confirms that they will
attend the talks scheduled to be held on June 8-9 in Oslo.
|
June
2 |
A civilian, identified as Rasiah
Kanesan, is killed when unidentified assailants lobbed a hand
grenade inside a house in the Puthur area of Batticaloa district.
Police investigators probing the
Omadiyamadu massacres of May 30 in which 12 civilians were killed
have revealed that the killings had been part of the LTTE training
for their child recruits.
The All Party Conference (APC) endorses
a proposal by President Mahinda Rajapakse to appoint a constitutional
committee to evolve a political settlement ideally suited for
Sri Lanka.
The Government assures security guarantee to the LTTE, allowing
them to attend talks in Oslo aimed at strengthening the monitoring
of the cease-fire.
The LTTE accepts an invitation by peace broker Norway for talks
in Oslo on June 8-9 regarding the security of Sri Lanka Monitoring
Mission personnel, but stressed that these would not be peace
talks.
|
June
3 |
Two civilians, E. Sittaravel and
Nalliah Wimalendran, are shot dead by the LTTE for their refusal
to pay ransom in the outfit-controlled area at Kaluwankerni in
the Batticaloa district.
The Government delegation led by
head of the Secretariat for Co-ordinating the Peace Process (SCOPP),
Palitha Kohona, left for Oslo for talks along with the LTTE team
led by its political wing leader, S. P. Tamilselvan.
|
June
5 |
LTTE cadres triggered an IED explosion
targeting troops in the Batticaloa district. In the retaliatory
fire, troops killed two LTTE cadres.
One soldier is killed when LTTE cadres
opened fire targeting the troops in the Nanattan area of Mannar
district.
|
June
6 |
Two Police personnel and a civilian
are killed in an LTTE-triggered remote controlled claymore mine
attack in the Bandarikulam area of Vavuniya district. A 12-year
old boy and two police personnel were injured in the attack.
'Pistol gang' cadres of the LTTE
kill two civilians in the Serunuwara area of Trincomalee district.
A former member of the EPDP, identified
as Keshaman Anandan, and his female cousin, Rathnasingham Podini,
are shot dead by 'pistol gang' cadres of the LTTE in the Kayts
area of Jaffna district.
|
June
7 |
At least 15 cadres of the LTTE are
killed in an attack by the breakaway faction of 'Colonel' Karuna
in the Muttur area of Trincomalee district.
At least six civilians and a LTTE
cadre are killed in an explosion of a pressure mine at Vadumunai
in Batticaloa district. While the LTTE blames the Sri Lankan Army
for the explosion, the Army denies the accusation.
Japan said that it would not reduce
or stop economic and humanitarian aid to Sri Lanka, despite the
escalation in violence.
|
June
8 |
An entire family of four persons,
including a nine-year old girl and a seven-year old boy, are hacked
to death in the Vankalai area of Mannar district. The Government
accuses the LTTE for the killing as the family was helping Government
forces. However, the outfit's spokesperson, Daya Master, denies
the allegation and accused the military for the killing.
Two civilians are killed in a claymore
mine attack allegedly carried out by the SLA personnel in the
Periayamadu-Pallamadu area of Mannar district.
The Sri Lanka Government in a statement
issued in Colombo states that the LTTE who traveled to Oslo on
June 5 for the two-day meeting scheduled to start on June 8 refused
to meet with the Government delegation. The Sri Lankan Government
has asked its delegation to come home after the LTTE refusal to
meet the delegation.
Erik Solheim, Norway's Minister for
International Development, urges the LTTE to reconsider its rejection
of European Union citizens as monitors.
The SLMM spokesperson has stressed
that the LTTE has no rights in the sea or in Sri Lanka's air space
according to international law.
|
June
9 |
The Norwegian Government said it
would reconsider its role as a facilitator in the Sri Lankan peace
process after failing in an attempt to arrange a meeting between
the Government and LTTE.
The LTTE political wing leader, S.P. Tamilselvan, said that the
LTTE were firm in their decision that the EU members of a five-nation
Nordic cease-fire monitoring mission should leave the Indian Ocean
Island. He further added the countries sending monitors "must
be seen to be neutral."
Norway's Minister for International
Development, Erik Solheim, told media that the scheduled talks
between the Sri Lankan Government and the LTTE to be held on June
8-9 were a "failure" and accused the LTTE for the breakdown.
The Sri Lanka Government in a statement blames the SLMM and also
accused its chief, Swedish Army Major General, Ulf Henricsson,
of inciting violence.
|
June
10 |
A top 'commander' of the LTTE, 'Lt
Col' Mahenthi, and three of his associates are killed in a anti-personnel
mine blast in the Mannar district.
A gunman boarded a passenger bus
and shot dead an ethnic Tamil man and a 10-year-old boy in the
Muttur area of Trincomalee district.
|
June 11
|
Two civilians are killed in a claymore
mine attack allegedly carried out by the Sri Lanka Army inside
the LTTE-controlled territory at Palaipani in the Vavuniya district.
LTTE cadres shot dead a soldier, Lance Corporal H.B.S. Kumararathne,
in the Vavunathivu area of Batticaloa district.
The Norwegian Minister for International Development, Erik Solheim,
told BBC Sandesaya that it is the responsibility of both
the Government and LTTE to avoid a possible war situation in the
country.
|
June 12
|
LTTE cadres shot dead a former cadre
of the outfit, identified as J. Podi Pulendran, in the Eravur
of Batticaloa district area as he threatened to desert the outfit.
The President Mahinda Rajapakse has
appointed a committee to serve in an advisory capacity to the
committee of representatives, from all parties to be appointed
to work out the formalities for a lasting solution to the ethnic
conflict. The Advisory Committee, headed by H. L. De Silva, an
eminent civil and constitutional lawyer, comprises 12 members
selected from various fields of discipline.
|
June 13
|
Two cadres of the LTTE and a soldier
are killed in an encounter between the outfit's cadres and the
SLA personnel, who were allegedly planting claymore mine in the
outfit's-controlled Nedunkerni area of Jaffna district.
Unidentified assailants shot dead
a home guard in the Kanugahawewa area of Anuradhapura district.
|
June 14
|
Air Force authorities detain the
LTTE delegation that went to Oslo at the Colombo airport as undeclared
items were found in their possession.
The LTTE stated that the outfit wants
fair treatment in the country's peace process and would not give
in to pressure tactics such as the EU declaring it a terrorist
organization.
The National Peace Council warns that if either the Government
or LTTE seeks to defy the international consensus on peace in
Sri Lanka, not only they but the whole country would be called
upon to "pay a very heavy price". Sri Lanka is through
a revival of the peace process."
The United Nations refugee agency
stated that almost 3,000 people have fled Sri Lanka for India
since the start of 2006.
|
June 15
|
At least 64 civilians, including
15 children, are killed and eighty-six others are injured when
a state-run passenger bus carrying 150 passengers was destroyed
in a twin side-charger claymore mine explosion in the Anuradhapura
district. The Government's spokesperson on security issues, Keheliya
Rambukwella, blames the LTTE for the attack saying, "There
is no iota of doubt that it is the LTTE." Meanwhile, the
LTTE denies its involvement and blamed the Government for the
attack.
LTTE cadres kill a civilian in the
Bakkiela area of Ampara district and escapes with the deceased's
one and a half-year-old child, who was found abandoned with wounds
on the neck during subsequent search operation.
The JVP urges the Government to ban
the LTTE and take well-planned strategies to defeat terrorism
without holding onto 'foolish' hopes of false negotiations.
|
June 16
|
Three civilians are allegedly killed
by the SLA personnel in the Welgampura area of Trincomalee district.
The Sri Lankan Foreign Minister stated
that the LTTE leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran, should be tried
for war crimes.
The SLMM, while condemning attack in Kebithigollewa, said, "Targeting
of a civilian bus is not only a barbaric act, but also jeopardizes
the freedom of innocent people in their everyday life."
Senator Steve Hutchins of the Labour
Party in Australia in his speech to the Federal Parliament in
Canberra urges the Australian Government to proscribe the LTTE
as a terrorist organisation under domestic law.
|
June 17
|
At least 30 Sea Tigers, six sailors
and six civilians are killed in the Talaimannar islet of Mannar
district as heavy fighting broke out between security forces and
the LTTE. Eight sailors are missing in action. One civilian among
those who sought refuge in a church in the aftermath of the sudden
flare-up is also killed and several others are injured. The LTTE,
however, claims that 12 sailors and two of its cadres are killed
in the offensive.
Five LTTE Sea Tigers are arrested
on the outskirts of Colombo following a tip-off by civilians when
they were planning to attack naval patrol craft with "magnetic
sea mines."
|
June 18
|
Three Police personnel are killed
in a LTTE triggered claymore mine explosion targeting a bowser
carrying water to Dutuwewa Police station on the Vavuniya- Kebithigollewa
road.
Two soldiers are killed by the LTTE
in the Welioya area of Batticaloa district.
The Sri Lankan Government describes
the LTTE as an 'eternal killing machine' that kills innocent civilians
without rhyme or reason and urges the outfit to instead re-enter
inclusive talks with the Government.
The LTTE issues handouts threatening people returning to Allaipiddi,
at a time when the displaced are sheltered in two churches in
Jaffna and are getting ready to return to their homes on the assurance
given by Minister of Social Services and Social Welfare, Douglas
Devananda.
|
June 19
|
An unidentified civilian is shot
dead by a LTTE 'pistol gang' cadre in the Arunagiri-Llyod Avenue
Road junction area of Batticaloa district.
The LTTE said that they would resort
to any strategy, including suicide bombers, if all-out civil war
resumes, and that the effects would be felt across the country.
The Foreign Affairs Minister Mangala
Samaraweera rules out parity of status between the Government
and LTTE.
|
June 20
|
Eight LTTE cadres are killed during
an overnight clash with the ‘Colonel’ Karuna group cadres in the
Trincomalee district.
A civilian, identified as Nirmalakumaran,
is shot dead by cadres of the ‘Colonel’ Karuna group in the Kommathurai
area of Batticaloa district. Another civilian, Jeyaraj Suthaharan,
is shot dead by unidentified assailants in the Urani area of Batticaloa
district.
The LTTE reaffirms their commitment
to the truce, but said that the future of cease-fire monitors
from Denmark, Finland and Sweden is still in the balance.
|
June 21
|
Unidentified assailants shot dead
a civilian, identified as Milred Roy Weld, and injured his father
in the Jeyanthipuram area of Batticaloa district.
The Sri Lankan Government states
that it has no plans to ban the LTTE as demanded by the JVP party.
The LTTE informs the Norwegian peace
facilitators that cease-fire monitors from EU countries should
leave.
The LTTE said it wants India to "accept
and recognise the freedom struggle of the Tamil people in Sri
Lanka and extend its moral support" by condemning the "atrocities"'
of the Lankan Government.
|
June 22
|
Two civilians, Kanthasamy
Thavarajah and Shanmugam Jeyaratnam, who were abducted earlier
in separate incidents, are shot dead by unidentified assailants
in the respective areas of Santhiveli and Vinayagapuram in the
Batticaloa district.
The Commanding Officer
in charge of the Muhamalai road, Lt. Col. A. G. N. P. Ehelamalpe,
is reported to have said that the LTTE has earned over Rupees
40 million by way of taxes imposed on goods sent to the North
for civilians in Jaffna passing through the outfit’s checkpoint
in Puliyankulam during the last four months.
The UNICEF states
that the LTTE breakaway faction led by ‘Colonel’ Karuna faction
are abducting and recruiting children as soldiers.
|
June 23
|
The Sri Lankan Government
said that the LTTE demand to remove EU members from the SLMM is
a violation of the CFA.
|
June 25
|
An expatriate Tamil
civilian from Switzerland, who was on a short visit to the country,
is shot dead by unidentified cadres of the LTTE in the Valaichchenai
area of Batticaloa district.
‘Pistol gang’ cadres
of the LTTE shot dead a member of the PLOTE, identified as Jayahulabdeen
Mohamad Wazeer, near the Jaffna Hospital.
President Mahinda
Rajapakse offers a two-week cease-fire to the LTTE.
|
June 26
|
A suicide bomber
kills the SLA Deputy Chief of Staff, Major General Parami Kulathunge,
the third highest appointment in the SLA, and three others at
Pannipitiya, a suburb of capital Colombo.
Eight persons are
wounded in the explosion. A civilian, identified as Kandiyah Yogeswaran,
is shot dead by LTTE cadres in the Kayts area of Jaffna district.
One soldier is killed
and another wounded in a LTTE fire in the Kantale area of Trincomalee
district.
Norway stated that
it would continue its mediation efforts in Sri Lanka despite the
increasing violence in the country.
|
June 27
|
Three civilians are
shot dead by unidentified assailants in the Mailambaweli area
of Batticaloa district. Four LTTE cadres are killed in an attack
by the breakaway faction of ‘Colonel’ Karuna in the Vakarai area
of Batticaloa district.
Ambassador Alan
Rock of Canada will serve as a special advisor to a UN fact-finding
mission in Sri Lanka on the "continuing recruitment and use of
child soldiers" by the LTTE. The SLMM stated that the June 26-assassination
of Major General Parami Kulatunga had been carried out by the
LTTE as the suicide bombing bore the hallmarks of the outfit.
The SLA declares
that it is reverting to security arrangements prevalent prior
to the February 2002 CFA with the LTTE in the wake of the stepped
up violence by the outfit.
The LTTE said that
it deeply regrets the May 21, 1991 assassination of the former
Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi, and described it as a "monumental
and historical tragedy."
Indian Government
says forgiving LTTE for the killing of Rajiv Gandhi would amount
to endorsing the LTTE ideology of terror.
|
June 28
|
At least 12 LTTE
cadres and five SLN personnel are killed in the sea off Kalpitiya
in Puttalam district.
Three civilians
are killed in a claymore explosion in the LTTE-controlled area
of Musali in the Mannar district.
LTTE denies that
it had owned responsibility for the assassination of former Indian
Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
|
June 29
|
SLA personnel allegedly
kill a woman, identified as Sathasivam Mathuri, and injured her
father in the Athiyady area of Jaffna district.
The Norwegian International
Development Minister and former Special Peace Envoy to Sri Lanka,
Erik Solheim, stated that Norway does not foresee a large Norwegian
presence in Sri Lanka to replace the 37 SLMM members from EU countries,
who are under pressure from the LTTE to vacate their posts.
Sri Lankan Government
decides to make knowledge of Sinhala and Tamil compulsory for
new recruits to public service at all levels as part of its efforts
to "faithfully" implement the dual language formula.
|
June 30
|
One SLN personnel
and a LTTE cadre are killed in an exchange of fire near the Jumma
Mosque in Mannar town.
|
July 2
|
The LTTE claims it
had checked the list and determined that more than 800 of those
child soldiers named in the UNICEF release are aged over 18.
|
July 3
|
Seven persons, including
five SF personnel, are killed and 14 wounded in a LTTE-triggered
claymore mine explosion at Anuradhapura junction in the Trincomalee
district.
The LTTE sets September
1 as the deadline for cease-fire monitors from Denmark, Finland
and Sweden to leave the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission.
|
July 5
|
One soldier is killed
in a landmine explosion targeting troops at Pirappamadu near Vavuniya
town.
Policy Planning
Minister Keheliya Rambukwella announces that a 12-member multi-ethnic
committee has been set up to advice President Mahinda Rajapakse
on power sharing in the Tamil dominated north and east. Rambukwella
informs that the new committee would study models from all over
the world, including India and Canada.
|
July 6
|
A fisherman belonging to the Malay
Muslim community, Thuwan Vahid Ali, is shot dead by the LTTE along
Ganesh road in Trincomalee district.
The Sri Lankan Parliament
is reported to have voted overwhelmingly to extend an emergency
law for another month to counter rising violence by the LTTE.
|
July 7
|
The house of a Norwegian
journalist, Nina Johnsrud is attacked with gunfire in Oslo. Nina,
who works for the daily Dagsavisen had earlier written about the
LTTE leader, Yogaraja Balasingham, rigging the last Oslo municipal
election.
At least 245 Muslim
families from the Musali area and 43 families from Mannar Island
in Sri Lanka's Northern Province have fled their homes and reached
the Kalpitty and Puttalam areas.
|
July 8
|
M.I.M.Nizar, the
bodyguard of Digamadulla District MP and Deputy Minister, Anver
Ismail, of the ruling UPFA is shot dead by two unidentified men
in the Amparai district.
|
July 9
|
The number of Sri
Lankan refugees, who have taken asylum in Tamil Nadu in India
since January 12, has increased to 4,528, with arrival of the
fresh batch of 139 refugees.
|
July 11
|
Sri Lankan Navy personnel
in a retaliatory fire destroyed a Sea Tiger boat in the Kilaly
lagoon area of Batticaloa district, killing four LTTE cadres on
board.
The SLMM reveals
that the LTTE has violated the cease-fire on 3,754 occasions since
February 2002. Nearly half of the violations relates to child
recruitment. In all, the SLMM has received 7,308 complaints against
the LTTE up to-date.
|
July 12
|
Two police personnel
are killed and seven persons are wounded in a LTTE triggered claymore
mine blast at Nallur in Jaffna.
A PLOTE leader,
Sebastian Irudarajan, is shot dead by the LTTE near Wembadi Girls
School in Jaffna. A soldier, W.R.
Weerasinghe, is
killed by a LTTE sniper at Nagarkovil Forward Defence Line in
the Jaffna district.
|
July 13
|
Two soldiers are
killed and another wounded by the LTTE in the Katkulem area of
Vavuniya district.
LTTE cadres abducted and later shot
dead a leader of the PLOTE, R.S.S.Bavan, at Kappachchi in Vavuniya
district.
|
July 14
|
At least 12 soldiers
and four LTTE cadres are killed in clash between the two sides
in the Vakaneri area of Batticaloa district.
The Government declares
that it will not attempt to disarm the LTTE breakaway faction
led by ‘Colonel’ Karuna, because it does not want to get entangled
in another war.
The Government SCOPP
discloses that up to 20 per cent of foreign funds channeled to
the Northeast have been siphoned off by the LTTE.
|
July 16
|
Three civilians,
identified as Joshep Jude, Anton Densil and Pakyarasa Aruldas,
are hacked to death by unidentified assailants in the Arialai
area of Jaffna district.
Two civilians, Navarathnam
Sasidharan and Nawarathnam Wasikaran are shot dead by unidentified
assailants in the Point Pedro area of the Jaffna district.
The SLMC Constitutional
Affairs Committee finalizes its framework for solving the ethnic
conflict in the country.
A total of 64 Tamil
refugees arrive at Arichamunai in the Ramanathapuram district
of Indian state of Tamil Nadu, raising the total number of refugees
who arrived in the country since January 12 up to 5,051.
|
July 18
|
A civilian is killed
and two others sustained injuries at Kodikamam in the Jaffna district
in a LTTE-triggered claymore mine explosion. Four soldiers are
also injured in the attack.
|
July 19
|
Three Sri Lankan
Army personnel are killed after their bus was hit by a claymore
mine in Jaffna. Eleven others, including two police constables,
are injured.
Government authorities
arrested four women suspected to be suicide bombers at Tissamaharama
in the Hambantota district.
The four are trained
LTTE operatives, who were intending to carry out attacks in the
south of the country. The LTTE is entrenched in Canada and uses
a Toronto-based "front organization" called the World Tamil Movement
(WTM) to raise money for arms, says a summary of an ongoing Royal
Canadian Mountain Police (RCMP) investigation.
The RCMP 58-page document released
today refers the WTM as "the Canadian arm" of the LTTE.
|
July 20
|
Five LTTE cadres
are killed and three NGO officials are injured in a claymore mine
explosion in the uncleared area (area not under Government control)
of Silavathura in the Mannar district.
A sympathizer of
the EPDP, Selvar Yogan, is shot dead by unidentified assailants
in the Valigamam East area of Jaffna district.
|
July 21
|
A woman, identified
as Murukaiah Sukirtha, is shot dead by unidentified assailants
at Kanthapasegaram road in the Jaffna town. LTTE political wing
leader, S.P.
Tamilselvan, rejects
the Swedish special envoy Anders Oljelund’s demand of accepting
the continuance of EU members as SLMM officials. He reiterates
that the deadline issued by the outfit till September 1, 2006
with regard to the removal of the three officials from the EU
countries from the SLMM would remain unchanged.
|
July 23
|
A senior member of
the EPDP, Emily Janoos, is shot dead by unidentified assailants
at Uoorkavatturai in the Jaffna district.
Two dead bodies
of civilians are found in the Thonikkal area of Vavuniya district.
Sunday Times quoting Eliyathambi Pararajasingham, in charge of
the LTTE legal system, reported that the outfit is drafting their
own anti-terrorism laws to deal with the Sri Lanka Military and
Police personnel who enter their territory.
The law is expected to be finalised
by the end of year 2006.
|
July 24
|
Two LTTE cadres are
killed when a group of ‘Colonel’ Karuna faction cadres attacked
them at an outfit-held village in the Ampara district.
An activist of the
EPDP, identified as Kanapathipillai, is shot dead by unidentified
assailants in the Wellawatta area of Colombo district. Suspected
LTTE cadres triggered a bomb blast killing one soldier and injuring
two others in the Vavuniya district.
|
July 25
|
SFs in a retaliatory
fire kill two LTTE cadres who lobbed hand grenade towards troops
near Urumpirai junction in the Jaffna district.
|
July 26
|
The SLAF conducts
air strike, using Kfir fighter jets, on known LTTE targets in
the general areas (areas under Government control) of Verugal
in the Trincomalee district where the outfit were keeping the
sluice gate closed without allowing water to flow into thousands
of Sinhalese, Muslims and Tamil villages since July 20.
A person identified
as Niranjan Claude Fabian, a member of the VVT, a Tamil gang active
in the Toronto area, and described by Toronto Police in Canada
as a gang leader and a "trained assassin" of the LTTE outfit is
secretly deported to his native Sri Lanka after an eight-year
court battle to stay in Canada.
|
July 27
|
Sri Lanka Air Force
fighter crafts struck selected LTTE targets in the east of Mullaittivu
district, where the LTTE was reportedly constructing an illegal
airstrip, killing six cadres and injuring five civilians.
The UNHCR estimates
there are 315,000 long-term internally displaced people in Sri
Lanka due to the protracted conflict, 67,000 of whom live in camps
and around 247,000 of whom live with relatives and friends. There
are another 125,000 Sri Lankan refugees abroad, 68,000 of them
in neighbouring India.
|
July 28
|
The Sri Lanka Broadcasting
Corporation reports that 30 LTTE cadres are suspected to be killed
in a suicide attack launched by the breakaway faction led by ‘Colonel’
Karuna in the Vavunathivu area of Batticaloa district.
Three home guards
are killed in a LTTE-triggered claymore mine explosion in the
Kebethigollewa area of Anuradhapura district.
Finland and Denmark
announce that they will withdraw their observers from the SLMM,
given the security situation on the ground, said the Finnish Foreign
Ministry.
|
July 29
|
Eight LTTE cadres
are killed and 12 others sustain injuries in an air strike by
the Sri Lanka Air Force at the outfit’s Thenaham conference centre
in the Karadiyanaru area of Batticaloa district.
|
July 30
|
Chief of the SLMM
Major General Ulf Henricsson said that the four-year-old CFA is
dead and far from a real cease-fire.
|
July 31
|
In a fierce fighting
between the LTTE and SLA close to the disputed Mavil Aru sluice
gates in the Kallar area of Trincomalee district, 40 LTTE cadres
and seven SLA personnel are killed.
Sri Lanka Air Force
jets destroy a Sea-Tiger base in the Vakarai area of Batticaloa
district, killing at least 30 LTTE cadres.
Suspected LTTE cadres
ambush an army bus with a claymore fragmentation mine in the Trincomalee
district, killing 18 soldiers.
Four LTTE cadres
were reportedly killed in Jaffna district. Defying the United
States ban on the LTTE as a terrorist organisation, one of its
fronts reportedly held a sports festival in New York last week
and the event was marked by the hoisting of the official LTTE
flag (Tamileelam National flag).
|
August 1
|
At least five SLN personnel are killed and 30
others sustain injuries when LTTE cadres fired artillery at the
Trincomalee naval base and in the subsequent air strike the Government
in the outfit-held Sampoor area targeting Mavilaru, Verugalaru
and Kathirveli claims to have killed 50 LTTE cadres.
The SLN reportedly repulsed a LTTE attempt to
destroy a troop carrier transporting 854 unarmed military personnel
when it was returning from Kankesanthurai harbour and entering
the mouth of Trincomalee harbour.
The SLN boats blocked a fleet of Sea-Tiger boats
approaching the troop carrier, destroying three and damaging another.
However, the LTTE claims that it destroyed a SLN boat, killing
eight sailors on board.
Sweden announces the withdrawal of its monitors
from the SLMM, joining Finland and Denmark who announced their
withdrawal on July 28. The United States embassy in Colombo states
that US authorities couldn't have prevented the Tamil sports festival
in New York, as there was no evidence to indicate the organization
behind this event had any links with the LTTE.
|
August 2
|
Troops repulse LTTE firing in the Kattaparichchan,
Selvanagar and Mahindapura areas of Sampoor region in the Trincomalee
district, killing 40 LTTE cadres and injuring 50 others.
Four soldiers are also killed and 38 others sustain
injuries in the clashes. Sri Lanka Navy foils a LTTE suicide attack
in the seas off Pulmudai in the Welioya region of Moneragala district.
However, no casualties were reported.
|
August 3
|
15 civilians taking refuge at the Al-Nuriya Muslim
School in Thoppur and Arabic School in Muttur are killed and more
than 30 injured when LTTE cadres indiscriminately fire artillery
at two different times.
Government Defence Affairs Spokesman Minister
Keheliya Rambukwelle said Muttur town is under total control of
the SFs.
|
August 4
|
The LTTE massacres over hundred civilians in the
Trincomalee district who were fleeing fighting from the Muttur
town.
Troops foil a major LTTE attack on a strategic
jetty in the Muttur area of Trincomalee district, killing 152
cadres of the outfit. 15 Tamils working for a French aid agency,
Action Against Hunger, are found dead in the Muttur town of Trincomalee
district.
Five Muslim civilians are killed when a shell
fell near them at the 64th milepost in the Pachchanoor area of
Muttur town. President Mahinda Rajapakse has stressed that his
Government is ready to solve any issue through negotiations at
any time but would not allow anyone to solve any problem by using
guns.
The Government is compelled to take action to
open the Mavil Aru anicut (irrigational channel) as the LTTE had
deprived the basic rights of 15,000 families by forcibly closing
the anicut, the President adds further.
Norway announces a pledge of $US1.5 million to
help civilians caught in the latest violence.
|
August 5
|
Intercepted LTTE radio transmissions reportedly
confirmed that the LTTE has lost 330 cadres during fierce fighting
that erupted during the past four days.
Trincomalee LTTE military leader Soornam had been
heard desperately calling for more reinforcements from Batticaloa,
the transmissions have revealed. Security forces kill five LTTE
cadres who infiltrated the security forces forward defence lines
at Kothweli in the Kilali region of Jaffna district.
|
August 6
|
The pro- LTTE website Tamil Net alleges that at
least 15 Tamil civilians were killed when SFs fired on LTTE cadres
controlling the Mavil Aru reservoir.
The head of the SLMM, Ulf Henricsson, has a narrow
escape when the Army opened artillery fire at the time he was
approaching the Mawilaru sluice gate along with a LTTE leader
to open the gate.
|
August 7
|
Suspected LTTE cadres killed a top elite Police
Commando, Senior Superintendent of Police Upul Seneviratne, in
a claymore mine explosion in the Kandy region of Jaffna district.
His driver is wounded in the incident. Heavy
fighting is reported from Mawil Aru in the Kallar region of Trincomalee
district as the Government forces continued its offensive in the
area to open the sluice gates closed by the LTTE since July 20.
Sri Lanka Government invites the LTTE to return to the negotiation
table and expressed its commitment to find a solution for the
ethnic conflict.
Australia pledges an initial $1,000,000 for immediate
humanitarian relief supplies for displaced residents of Muttur
in the Trincomalee district but voices concern about the ongoing
violence in Sri Lanka.
|
August 8
|
Three persons, including a two-year old child,
are killed and eight others, including former EPDP Parliamentarian
S. Sivadasan, are injured when a bomb planted by suspected LTTE
cadres exploded, targeting the vehicle transporting Sivadasan
at Milagiriya in the capital Colombo.
Two more employees of a French charity are found
dead in the Muttur town of Trincomalee district, raising the toll
to 17. One soldier and a Police constable are killed when a claymore
mine hit the water carrier truck along the Uganthai Poththuvil
road in Amparai District.
The LTTE unilaterally lifts the waterway blockade
in the east even as the Army continued to target outfit positions
in and around the waterway.
|
August 9
|
Five civilians, including a doctor and two nurses,
are killed when the LTTE explodes a claymore mine targeting an
ambulance near Nedunkerny in the Vavuniya district.
Sri Lankan Government announces that the military
had re-opened the controversial sluice gates near the Mawilaru
anicut (irrigational channel) around 8 p.m. on August 8.
Earlier, the LTTE claimed that they have opened
the gates around 5 p.m. but area people said that the military
had re-opened the gates. The LTTE breakaway faction led by ‘Colonel’
Karuna opens an office in Colombo, aiming to eventually contest
elections.
|
August 10
|
At least 30 LTTE cadres are killed
as troops retaliated LTTE mortar fire in and around Mawilaru in
the Trincomalee district.
Four soldiers are also killed and
31 others sustain injuries in the incident. However, the pro-LTTE
website Tamil Net claims that the Army advancing into the LTTE-controlled
areas has lost 41 soldiers and also alleges that Sri Lanka Air
Force pounded civilian populated areas killing more than 40 civilians
and injuring a large number of them.
An unspecified number of troops
fighting the LTTE in the Trincomalee district are feared dead
or wounded after an ammunition dump at an army camp apparently
exploded accidentally, military sources said.
Norway said that it has worked out
a temporary arrangement to tide over the crisis resulting from
the expected exit of the EU members from the truce monitoring
team following the September 1 deadline set by the LTTE.
LTTE spokesperson Daya Master told
the media that attacks by the Government in the Mawilaru area
of Trincomalee district amount to a declaration of war.
|
August
11 |
At least 128 people, including 28
army and navy personnel, are killed in the battle between the
SLA and the LTTE in the east and north.
Clashes occur when the LTTE attempted
to overrun the army's FDL in the Jaffna peninsula. Five soldiers
who were injured in a clash between troops and the LTTE on August
10 in the Mawilaru area of Trincomalee district succumbs to their
injuries today.
The LTTE claims many of their cadres
are killed as the Sri Lanka military opened a new front against
them bombarding their camp in the Tharavai area of Batticaloa
district.
|
August
12 |
Kethesh Logananathan, Deputy Secretary-General
of the Government's SCOPP and former EPRLF member, is shot dead
by unidentified gunmen near Vandervet place in the Dehiwela area
of Colombo district.
Loganathan had taken part in the
negotiations between the Government and Tamil militant groups,
from the Thimpu Peace talks of 1985 to the Mangala Moonesinghe
Parliamentary Select Committee of 1992.
LTTE cadres open artillery fire
on the naval base in Trincomalee district, killing one civilian
and a sailor. Three civilians and three sailors are injured in
the incident. One LTTE cadre commits suicide and another one is
killed by troops after they failed to proceed to Jaffna defying
the curfew enforced by SFs in the Kaithadi area of Jaffna district.
|
August
13 |
Twenty-five more LTTE cadres are
killed raising the death tally of the outfit cadres to 125, while
Army has lost four of its troopers raising the tally to 32 during
the continued between troops and the LTTE in the Jaffna district.
SLN personnel foils a LTTE attempt
to over run Allapiddy village in the Kayts area as a flotilla
of about 50-60 LTTE Sea-Tiger boats attempted to over run the
village.
A LTTE cadre commits suicide as
Wattala Police in the Jaffna district arrested two LTTE suspects.
Later, on the information revealed by the surviving cadre, Police
recovers a cache of arms and ammunition packed inside a lorry.
The LTTE alleges that 15 civilians
are killed as rockets and artillery shells fired by SFs hit a
church in the Allaipiddy area of Jaffna district. It also alleges
that seven more civilians are killed in a separate artillery fire
by the SFs.
The Sri Lanka Peace Secretariat states
that the SLMM has officially informed that it is withdrawing from
monitoring the cease-fire between the Sri Lankan Government and
the LTTE. The Government has requested all child recruits and
other LTTE cadres to surrender to the nearest security forces
camp or Police Station and that the Government would take full
responsibility for their safety.
|
August
14 |
At least seven persons, including
four soldiers of the SLA, are killed and 17 others sustain injuries
in a suicide attack carried out by the LTTE targeting Pakistan
High Commissioner Bashir Wali Mohammad in the capital Colombo.
The envoy, returning from the Pakistan
Independence day function at the mission, escapes unhurt though
his vehicle suffered minor damage. The LTTE alleges that at least
61 school children were killed and 150 injured in an aerial attack
by the SLAF in the outfit-controlled Mullaittivu district.
However, the Government claims that
the SLAF attacked a LTTE training camp in Puthukudirippu and killed
more than 50 LTTE cadres. According to Sri Lankan Army reports,
88 SF personnel are killed in fighting between the troops and
LTTE since August 11 in Jaffna. Another 120 are injured in the
confrontations. The confrontations have also killed more than
200 terrorists and injured over 300, according to the reports.
|
August
15 |
The Sri Lankan Military said that
at least 250 LTTE cadres are killed and another 300 injured in
continued fighting in the Jaffna peninsula during the past 72
hours.
During search operations at the Velanithurai
village in the Kayts area of Jaffna district, SLN personnel kill
five LTTE cadres hiding in the Grama Sevaka (local village official)
office of the village and subsequently recovered a cache of weapons,
including T 56 weapons, GPS, ammunition and communication equipment
and some maps.
Two medical students, identified
as Sivasankar and Theepan, are shot dead by unidentified assailants
inside the Jaffna University campus. The UNHCR informs that more
than 135,000 people have fled renewed fighting in Sri Lanka between
Government forces and LTTE since April 2006.
|
August
16 |
Troops kill at least 98 LTTE cadres
in retaliation when the latter attacked the FDL in Kilaly area
of Jaffna district. The SLA has reported that three soldiers are
also killed and 15 others wounded in the incident.
An elite Police unit kills three
LTTE cadres who had attacked a Police patrol in the Akkaraipattu
area of Ampara district.
A one and a half year-old infant,
identified as Nilushan, the son of a former LTTE cadre Nimalan,
is killed in LTTE firing in the Sittandi area of Batticaloa district.
Nimalan and his wife are also injured in the incident.
Two civilians are killed and another
sustained injuries when LTTE cadres open fire at a tractor carrying
civilians in the Morawewa area of Ampara district.
President Mahinda Rajapakse states
that the Government is not engaged in a war and forces are retaliating
against the LTTE offensive to safeguard the sovereignty of the
country.
|
August
18 |
Two Sri Lanka Navy personnel who
sustained injuries due to LTTE firing at Salliya Sambalathivu
in the Trincomalee district succumbed to their injuries today.
SFs foil an attempt by the LTTE
to abduct 50 child inmates from the Revatha Children’s Home in
Trincomalee.
Three SF personnel and a home guard
sustained injuries in the exchange of fire. Iceland announces
that it would increase the SLMM’s Icelandic contingent from the
existing 4 to 10.
The decision comes in the wake of
Norway’s decision to increase its SLMM contingent from 16 to 20.
The Government announces that it will extend all facilities for
medical treatment to injured LTTE cadres on humanitarian grounds.
|
August
19 |
Three
civilians are shot dead by unidentified assailants in separate incidents
in the Jaffna district. |
August
20 |
Suspected LTTE cadres shot dead former
Tamil Parliamentarian of the TULF, Sinnathamby Sivamaharajah,
at his temporary residence in Tellippalai in the Jaffna district.
A Sri Lanka Red Cross employee,
Nagarasa Thavaranjitham, is shot dead at his residence at Chettikulam
in the Vavuniya district.
The Government arranged immediate
humanitarian assistance to the internally displaced in the Jaffna
peninsula in the wake of the conflict situation.
A vessel carrying 3,800 tons of
essential food items under the International Committee of the
Red Cross flag is dispatched from Colombo to be distributed through
the Government Agent in Jaffna.
|
August 21
|
The former Norwegian Army chief,
Major General Lars Johan Solvberg, will take over as head of the
SLMM from Swedish Major General Ulf Henricsson by the end of August
2006.
Solvberg retired from the post of
Chief of Staff of the Norwegian Army in 2005. The Sri Lanka President
Mahinda Rajapakse reaffirming commitment to the 2002 CFA told
the envoys of Co-Chairs of the island nation that his Government
will seriously consider any initiative incorporating a clear and
explicit commitment to a comprehensive and verifiable cessation
of hostilities to be made by the LTTE chief V. Prabhakaran.
|
August 22
|
Three civilians are killed by unidentified
assailants in separate incidents in the Trincomalee district.
Unidentified assailants shot dead two civilians in separate incidents
in the Jaffna district.
According to the United Nations estimates,
the number of the displaced has swelled to 1.7 lakh.
13 suspects with close links to
the LTTE have been charged in the US for plotting to buy surface-to-air
missiles, according to US federal prosecutors.
Other charges include the use of
"front" charitable organizations and U.S. bank accounts for money
laundering and fund raising on behalf of the LTTE and attempts
to bribe U.S. public officials to remove the LTTE from the U.S.
State Department's list of officially designated foreign terrorist
organizations.
|
August 22-23
|
Two more Tamil Canadians, Ramanan Mylvaganam and
Piratheepan Nadarajah, are arrested in an alleged conspiracy to
buy weapons for the LTTE in Sri Lanka on August 22 and 23 respectively.
|
August 23
|
A woman, identified as Manoharan Rajini, is shot
dead by unidentified assailants in front of the welfare centre
at Sakkotai in the Vadamaradchchi division of Jaffna district.
Unidentified assailants shot dead a civilian,
Thammugaraja Prabhakaran, in the Trincomalee town.
One police personnel is killed and another one
sustained injuries when LTTE cadres carried out a claymore mine
attack and subsequently opened fire at a police foot patrol in
the Ottamavady area of Batticaloa district.
Chicago Tribune quoting law enforcement officials
reports that the money for a trip to Sri Lanka in 2005 of a U.S.
congressman, Danny Davis, and an aide allegedly came from the
LTTE.
The LTTE reiterates that it has no connection
with the eight persons arrested by the U.S. authorities on charges
of attempting to mobilise military and material support for it.
The UNHCR informs that nearly 180,000 people
in Sri Lanka were displaced by violence since April 2006.
|
August 24
|
Five cadres of the LTTE and a STF personnel are
killed in the Urani area of Batticaloa district.
An aid worker attached to the United Office Project
Firm, which is a New Zealand-funded aid agency working for Tsunami-affected
civilians, identified as P. Lesly, is abducted and subsequently
killed by the LTTE ‘pistol gang’ cadres in the Thirukkovil area
of Ampara district.
An attack launched by LTTE cadres towards the
Mahakachchakodiya Forward Defence Line in Vavuniya district killed
one soldier.
Troops kill one cadre of the outfit in the retaliatory
fire. The Sri Lanka Military informs that 159 soldiers and 487
LTTE cadres are killed in 11 days of fighting over the last fortnight
on the Jaffna peninsula.
The Sri Lankan Government has stated that it would
consider a new CFA with the LTTE only if it is offered by their
chief, Velupillai Prabhakaran. The outgoing SLMM head, Ulf Henricsson,
criticizes the EU for imposing a ban on the LTTE.
The US court documents alleges that the LTTE was
filling a shopping list of deadly arms to be used to blow up Indian
aircraft, ships and even submarines.
A LTTE operative in Canada, identified as "Waterloo
Suresh" Sriskandarajah, allegedly used student couriers to smuggle
war-related items to the outfit. The FBI documents claim that
he told the students to hide the contraband with "teddies and
chocolates."
|
August 25
|
Unidentified assailants shot dead a civilian,
identified as C. Lingeswaran, near Kaddudai Junction in the Manipay
area of Jaffna district.
One LTTE cadre is killed when police personnel
retaliated LTTE fire in the Thirukkovil area of Ampara district.
The new chief of the SLMM, Lars Johan Sølvberg,
accompanied by the outgoing head of the SLMM, Ulf Henricsson,
visits the LTTE-held Kilinochchi and held talks with the political
head of the outfit, S.P. Tamilselvan. Following the meeting, the
LTTE decides to release the third Sri Lankan police personnel,
B.W. Bopetigoda, detained since October 11, 2005.
Sri Lanka's Upcountry People's Front leader P.
Chandrasekaran, who joined the Government and was sworn in as
the Minister of Community Development and Social Inequity Eradication,
told the media that prior to taking this decision, he discussed
it with the LTTE leader S.P. Tamilselvan.
|
August 26
|
Troops kill 12 cadres of the LTTE in a retaliatory
fire following LTTE mortar fire targeting the Chenkalady Army
detachment in the Batticaloa district, in which five civilians
are injured as the mortars missed their intended target and fell
on a nearby village.
Six soldiers are killed and four others sustain
injuries when an IED planted by the LTTE exploded in the Muhamalai
area of Jaffna district. Troops were conducting clearing operation
in the area.
LTTE cadres shot dead a civilian, identified
as Sinnaraja, and his sister Wimalakumari Komalan inside their
home at Mavadiwembu in Batticaloa district.
|
August 27
|
The death toll of soldiers in the LTTE-triggered
Improvised Explosive Device blast at Muhamalai in Jaffna rose
to nine.
The LTTE hands over the Sri Lankan Police personnel,
B.W.Bopetigoda, who was detained by the outfit since October 11,
2005 to the outgoing SLMM chief Major General Ulf Henricsson.
The Sri Lanka's High Commissioner in Canada, W.J.S.
Karunaratne, states that the LTTE is collecting funds in Canada
using various front organizations, despite the ban against them.
President Mahinda Rajapakse calls for a bigger
role by India in Sri Lanka's peace process.
The UNHCR informs that the number of people dislodged
from their homes since April 2006 has surged to around two hundred
and five thousand.
The former Norwegian army chief, Lars Solvberg,
will take over as the new chief of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission
next week.
|
August 28
|
At least 31 persons are killed and 105 are wounded,
when troops backed by multi-barrel rocket launchers and artillery
guns, retaliate a LTTE attack at Sampur in the Trincomalee district.Six
soldiers are killed and 28 others injured due to LTTE artillery
and mortar attacks as fighting continued.
A British doctor, Murugesu Vinayagamoorthy alias
Dr Moorthy, a senior LTTE intermediary is arrested in New York,
for aiding the LTTE by facilitating the purchase of American rockets
and British submarine technology.
The SLMM said that they would remain in their
present stations in all conflict affected districts including
Kilinochchi, denying reports of alleged threats from the LTTE.
|
August 29
|
At least 66 cadres of the LTTE and 13 SF personnel
are killed in continued fighting between troops and the LTTE cadres
in the Trincomalee district till last reports came in.
Troops on duty at FDL in the Poovarasankulam area
of Vavuniya district confronted more than 20 LTTE cadres who tried
to infiltrate the FDL. During the subsequent search operation
in the area in the area, SFs recover 16 dead bodies of LTTE cadres
and one weapon.
Five accused Sri Lankan gang members are behind
bars in Canada in connection with a massive fraud scam that police
suspect may have milked thousands of Mississauga residents. Detectives
are probing the trail of stolen cash to determine whether loot
was sent to Sri Lanka for the LTTE.
|
August 30
|
LTTE ‘pistol gang’ cadres shot dead a woman home
guard, identified as Jayasooriya Arachchige Sujeewa Damayanthi
in the Mamaduwa area of Vavuniya district.
The Indonesian police claim that it has arrested
13 LTTE suspects during a recent raid in the southern Java coast.
The suspects were reportedly moving to Australia, the report added.
Two more Sri Lankan men - bringing the total
charged to seven – are arrested by the Toronto Police in connection
with a massive fraud scam. Detectives are probing the trail of
stolen cash to determine whether loot was sent to Sri Lanka for
the LTTE.
The UN threatens to end aid operations in Sri
Lanka unless its Government discloses what it knows about the
killing of 17 aid workers on August 4, 2006.
The SLMM formally accuses the SFs of being behind
the execution-style murders of 17 local staff of French aid agency,
Action Contre La Faim. It blames that Sri Lankan authorities obstructed
their efforts to investigate. The SLMM also accuses LTTE for the
June 15 attack of a civilian bus at Kabitigollewa in the Anuradhapura
district.
Secretary to the Pakistan Interior Ministry, Kamal
Shah, said that the Pakistani Government would consider the proscription
of LTTE on its territory if there were evidence that the latter
is engaged in assisting or is drawing assistance from terrorist
groups in Pakistan.
|
August 31
|
119 LTTE cadres and 14 soldiers are
killed in the continued fighting between SFs and the outfit since
August 28 in Trincomalee district.
Military spokesperson Brigadier
Prasad Samarasinghe said that troops engaged in the operation
to neutralise LTTE artillery and mortar gun positions in the Sampur
region brought Kaddaparichchan, a stronghold for mortar and artillery
gun positions of the outfit, under their full control.
Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Mangala
Samaraweera calls for a "more independent and more impartial role"
by the SLMM. He reiterates that there were no conditions for the
LTTE to return to negotiations but there has to be a verifiable
guarantee from the outfit chief V. Prabhakaran that the hostilities
will be ceased.
The Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapakse
meets British Prime Minister Tony Blair in London and discussed
the current situation in Sri Lanka.
|
September
1 |
SFs find a heap of Tsunami relief
items at the Kattaparichchan mortar location of the LTTE in the
Trincomalee district. Defence spokesperson Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe
said, “Those relief items have been pilfered by the LTTE from
the areas affected by Tsunami waves in the North and East in December
2004.”
The Sri Lanka Government enforces
new controls on foreign aid workers. Local and foreign non-government
organisations are told to obtain work permits for expatriate staff
by September 1, before the deadline was extended by a week, the
officials said.
Three inmates of the Chencholai 'orphanage'
as claimed by the LTTE, injured in the August 14 aerial bombing
in Mullaitivu and undergoing treatment at a hospital in Kandy,
told police that it was not an orphanage as claimed by the LTTE
but a LTTE camp where hundreds of youth were given weapons training.
|
September
1-2 |
The Sri Lankan military said it has
sunk 12 boats of the LTTE and killed 80 of its cadres in a sea
battle off the northern Jaffna peninsula in a retaliatory action
as 20 LTTE boats, including five suicide boats laden with explosives,
had attacked a patrol near the Kankesanturai harbour.Two Government
boats are slightly damaged and two sailors are wounded.
Four civilians are killed in the
Jaffna peninsula by the LTTE.
|
September
2 |
One soldier is killed and two others
sustain injuries in a LTTE artillery fire targeting troops at
Nagarkovil Forward Defence line.
A civilian, who was shot at and
injured by an unidentified assailant at Chithra Lane in Colombo,
succumbs to his injuries later.
|
September
3 |
Unidentified assailants shot dead
three civilians - two in Jaffna and one in Batticaloa district
- in separate incidents.
The Sri Lanka Navy has increased
patrols off Mannar in the Palk Strait between Sri Lanka and India
to curb the illegal migration of Sri Lankan Tamil refugees to
the Southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu to upset the plans of
the LTTE to use the refugee problem and the pro-LTTE politicians
in Tamil Nadu to put pressure on the Indian Government.
The Sri Lanka Government freezes
bank accounts of TRO, a non-government organisation and a registered
charity with the Government with its head office at Kilinochchi
that operates mainly in the northeast and is believed to be a
front organisation of the LTTE. The Financial Intelligence Unit
of the Central Bank has begun investigating the TRO financial
transactions under the recently introduced Financing of Terrorism
Law.
The Australian police has launched
investigations into several Tamil organisations in the country
after the United States FBI accused the Tamil community here of
supporting LTTE in Sri Lanka.
President Mahinda Rajapakse said
that the Government will invite an international independent commission
to probe abductions, disappearances and extra-judicial killings
in all areas in the country.
|
September
4 |
Three civilians are killed in separate
incidents by unidentified assailants in the Jaffna district.
The Sri Lankan military claims that
it had taken control of the strategically crucial town of Sampur
in the Trincomalee district. The military backed by air support
had launched an offensive to take control of Sampur over a week
ago to halt attacks by the LTTE on the strategic port of Trincomalee
harbour and the naval base.
The Sri Lankan Central Bank states
that the probe on the TRO is triggered by the arrest of TRO members
in several foreign countries for their suspected involvement in
terrorist financing. The United States, United Kingdom and Australia
have started investigating this internationally registered charity
organisation, which is reported to run active branches in 28 countries,
including Switzerland, France, Germany, Norway and Denmark, for
any terrorist links.
President Mahinda Rajapakse formally
announces the capture of the Sampur town. However, the LTTE spokesperson,
S. Elilan, insists that the outfit has not relinquished control
of Sampur and that fighting is continuing, adding, “The battle
is going on. The army has come to the area and we are also there.”
|
September
5 |
One soldier is killed and eight others
are injured when the bus they were traveling in struck a claymore
mine at Siruppiddy junction in the Jaffna district.
An active member of the EPDP, Nallathambi
Punarathnam, is shot dead by LTTE cadres in the Valaichchenai
area of Batticaloa district.
According to sources from Muttur
in the Trincomalee district, the people displaced due to the attack
by the LTTE a month ago, are returning back home. More than 10,000
are believed to have returned to date, sources said.
|
September
6 |
At least three civilians are killed
and 10 others injured in artillery fire by SLA troops towards
the LTTE held territories in the Kathiraveli town of Batticaloa
district.
LTTE cadres, hiding in jungles of
Kadiravely area in the Trincomalee district, south of Mavilaru,
open artillery fire towards troops near the Mavilaru sluice gate,
killing two soldiers and injuring 16 others.
Heavy fighting erupts between LTTE
and its breakaway faction led by ‘Colonel’ Karuna in the jungles
in the Kanchankudi area of Ampara district in which six LTTE camps,
including the Kanchikudichchuaru, Pavata and 73 Camp, are overrun
by hundreds of Karuna cadres. However, the LTTE blames SFs for
the incident.
The LTTE political head, S.P. Tamilselvan
states that with the capture of Sampur town by the SFs, the 2002
CFA has ended and there was no scope for talks unless the troops
returned to pre-CFA positions. He also warned that the Sinhala
population would soon have to face the consequences of the ongoing
clashes between the LTTE and the security forces in the country's
north and east.
|
September
7 |
One soldier is killed and six others,
including three officers, are wounded in a LTTE mortar and artillery
fire in the Muhamalai, Kilaly and Neravilkulam areas of Jaffna
district.
A US Government report on Child
Labour says that the LTTE recruited Tsunami-orphaned children
into its fighting units picking them from survivor’s camps in
the North and East.
The SLMM disputes the claim of the
LTTE that it only responded to artillery strikes launched by the
Government troops and that the Government triggered the recent
Jaffna battle which claimed the lives of about 700 combatants
and wounded about 1,000. The mission said, “Considering the preparation
level of the operations it seems to have been a well prepared
LTTE initiative.”
Army Headquarters reported that 180
soldiers died in action and about 500 were wounded. Over 500 LTTE
cadres died in action, some of them during sea-borne attacks on
heavily fortified security forces positions on Mandaitivu and
Kayts islands.
|
September
8 |
One civilian and a soldier are killed
and three other civilians, including a woman and a child, sustain
injuries when LTTE cadres activated an explosive device using
a remote control in the Chenkalady town area of Batticaloa district.
Police recover two bullet-riddled
dead bodies of civilians, identified as Karadeepan Anandan and
Karadeepan Mawanseelan, from the Savukkadi area in Batticaloa
district.
The LTTE warns the Government to
immediately withdraw from Sampur or face war.
|
September
9 |
Two soldiers are killed and 15 sustain
injuries when SFs launch an attack on LTTE artillery and mortar
positions near the de facto border between Government and the
outfit-held areas in the Jaffna peninsula.
Two LTTE cadres, Sutha and Viji.
P. Thayamohan, are killed by SFs in the Valaichenai area of Batticaloa
district.
|
September
9- 10 |
At
least 150 LTTE cadres are killed in the continuing battle between
SFs and the outfit at Muhamalai, the northern gateway to the Jaffna
peninsula on the A-9 main supply route, and its surroundings areas.
28 soldiers are killed while 120 others sustain injuries in the
incident. |
September 10
|
Three soldiers are killed in a LTTE-triggered-pressure
mine explosion in the Asikkulama area of Vavuniya district.
Unidentified assailants shot dead
a Tamil civilian, identified Thiruchelvam Sebastian, along the
Nanattan-Vankalai road in Mannar.
The LTTE leadership has ordered
three months of compulsory combat training for Ordinary and Advanced
Level students in Sri Lanka's North and East and also rejected
sending more cadres to the East.
|
September 11
|
Two soldiers are killed in LTTE artillery
fire towards Army detachments in and around Muhamalai, Kilaly,
Kodikamam in the Vidattapalai area of Jaffna district.
Unidentified assailants in the Trincomalee district
kill an aid worker, identified as Ragunathan Ramalingam, for the
Seattle-based non-profit group, World Concern.
Two female cadres of the LTTE, arrested
from Nelliady in the Jaffna district, swallowed cyanide capsules
and tried to commit suicide while in Police custody. One of them
died later.
The Sri Lankan Army said that at
least 163 persons, including 130 LTTE cadres and 33 soldiers,
were killed in the confrontations in Jaffna since September 8.
Reports added that 130 LTTE cadres are among the 260 wounded.
|
September 12
|
An infant and her father were shot dead by Liberation
Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) cadres at their home in the Adikovil
area of Jaffna district.
A civilian, Sellaiyana Nadaraj, is stabbed to
death by LTTE cadres in the Nelliady area of Jaffna district.
A LTTE cadre who tried to lob a hand grenade towards
troops in the Ganeshapuram area of Vavuniya district is overpowered
and killed by troops.
A Government official stated that
185 combatants are killed over the past six days of battle between
SFs and LTTE in the Jaffna district. Military spokesperson Brig.
Prasad Samarasinghe said that SFs and LTTE cadres traded artillery
fire across their front lines at Muhamalai on Jaffna Peninsula
since September 7 and sporadic exchanges of fire continued on
September 12. He added that the 35 soldiers and 150 cadres were
killed in the fighting. However, the LTTE peace secretariat leader,
Seevanatnam Puleedevan, claims that only 12 of the outfit’s cadres
were killed and said the military's toll was 78.
The Sri Lanka Government denies
that it had agreed to unconditional peace talks with the LTTE
and criticises the Norwegian peace facilitators for announcing
a possible time frame for the talks.
|
September 13
|
The dead bodies of two of the three home guards,
who went missing since September 11-afternoon after LTTE terrorists
opened fire at them while they were on duty in the Kuriniyankulam
area of Trincomalee district, are recovered. Another missing Home
Guard is found lying injured beside the two dead bodies.
Two police personnel who are shot at and wounded
by two LTTE ‘pistol gang’ cadres who boarded a bus on its way
from Kalawanchikudy in the Batticaloa district, disguised as passengers,
on September 12, succumbs to their injuries today.
LTTE cadres attack SFs foot patrol in the Nagarkovil
area close to Muhamale in Jaffna district, killing two soldiers.
SFs kill two LTTE cadres when they attacked a
military camp in the Vavuniya town.
The Sri Lanka Government states that it remains
fully committed to participating in peace talks with the LTTE,
but said the specific modalities relating to dates and venue must
be discussed and agreed on by the Government and the Norwegian
peace facilitators.
The LTTE political wing leader S. P. Tamilselvan
states that it is the responsibility of the Norwegian facilitators
and international community to ensure that the Sri Lankan Government
adheres to the territorial demarcations, terms and conditions
of the cease-fire agreement and thereby create a conducive atmosphere
for talks.
|
September 14
|
Three civilians are shot dead by suspected LTTE
‘pistol gang’ cadres in the Mathawathakulam area of Vavuniya district.
Unidentified assailants shot dead two civilians
at Manipay road in the Jaffna town.
The ‘Colonel’ Karuna faction states that any talks
between the LTTE and the Government should be restricted to strengthening
the truce and ending the outfit's "violent conduct."
Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayake, reiterating
the Government’s commitment to resume peace talks, says that if
the LTTE was willing to resume negotiations with the Government
it should first lay down its weapons.
The Government officially lodges a complaint against
the arbitrary statement by Norwegian Minister, Erik Solheim, and
the Co-Chairs imposing a deadline for peace talks, with the facilitator's
Chief of Mission.
|
September 15
|
A Naval personnel was killed by LTTE cadres in
the Trincomalee town.
Unidentified assailants shot dead a member of
‘Colonel’ Karuna faction, identified as Samithambi Thirumal, in
the Chenkalady area of Batticaloa district.
The newly appointed chief of the SLMM, Larse Solveberg,
visits the LTTE administrative headquarters at Kilinochchi and
hold discussions with the head of the outfit’s political wing
leader, S.P. Tamilselvan.
President Mahinda Rajapakse appoints Mahanama
Tillekeratne, a retired High Court Judge, to inquire into the
increasing instances of abduction, disappearances and killings
in the country.
The LTTE imposes conditions for the proposed talks
between them and the Government by saying that the Government
should fully implement the CFA before commencing the talks and
that the Government withdraw from the areas captured recently,
including the strategically important Sampur.
|
September 16
|
One civilian is killed and two others sustain
injuries when unidentified assailants attacked a pick-up truck
carrying Ceylon Electricity Board workers near Chunnakam power
station in Jaffna district.
One LTTE cadre is killed by troops in a retaliatory
fire in the Valachchenai area of Batticaloa district.
|
September 17
|
The Sri Lankan Navy and Air Force in a coordinated
attack on September 17 sank an suspected LTTE ship carrying weapons
in the sea off Kalmunai in the Batticaloa district. Unconfirmed
reports suggest that 12 to 15 LTTE cadres were on board the ship,
when it sank.
Two civilians, including a child, are killed and
three others, including a woman, are injured when unidentified
assailants opened fire at them in a house located along Ambal
Road in the Anpuvallipuram area of Trincomalee district.
|
September 18
|
At least 11 civilians, belonging to the Muslim
community, are killed at Pottuvil town in the Amparai district.
Both the LTTE and Sri Lankan Army accuse each other of being involved
in the killing.
The Sri Lankan Government asks for a personal
assurance from the LTTE chief, Velupillai Prabhakaran, on the
outfit’s commitment to peace and requested the global community
to play a more active role in checking LTTE’s international operation.
|
September 19
|
A group of journalists escape unhurt but four
soldiers are killed when the LTTE fired mortars at a vehicle convoy
carrying journalists in the Muhamalai area of Jaffna district.
Unidentified assailants shot dead two civilians,
V. Mathiaparanam and M. Sanoon, in the Kantalai area of Trincomalee
district.
President Mahinda Rajapakse during his talks with
Switzerland President Moritz Leuenberger, express hope that the
Swiss Government will take measures to curb disinformation and
fundraising activities by the LTTE in Switzerland.
The Sri Lankan Government states that the LTTE
ship that was destroyed by the Navy on September 17 in the sea
off Kalmunai in the Batticaloa district originated in Indonesia.
The new U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Robert O.
Blake Jr, says in Colombo that Norway is persuading the LTTE to
return to the negotiating table with credible guarantees that
it would not use fresh talks to strengthen itself militarily.
He adds the Co-Chairs are not in position to furnish guarantees
on behalf of the outfit and such guarantees would be credible
only when they came from the LTTE.
|
September 20
|
Three LTTE cadres are killed by the police in
an encounter that lasted for five hours at Isamalai in the Murunkan
area of Mannar district.
14 Muslim civilians are injured in a gunfire incident
in the Pottuvil town of Ampara district when a group of Muslim
civilians had been protesting near the anicut (irrigational channel)
where a massacre of 11 Muslim youths occurred on September 17.
President Mahinda Rajapakse calls on the LTTE
to give up violence and embrace democracy and the peace process,
including international negotiations brokered by Norway.
The President told the U.N. General Assembly that
the LTTE is a ruthless terrorist outfit that devotes its full
force to violence, suicide bombings, massacre of civilians, indiscriminate
armed assaults, and conscription of young children for war.
|
September 21
|
The dead bodies of three civilians, identified
as Ilambaram Lewd Kumara, Selvadorei Kadeeshwaran and Kumar, are
recovered by troops from the Illavali area in Jaffna district.
A woman, identified as Rajendran Yaso, is shot
dead by LTTE ‘pistol gang’ cadres while she was in the general
area (area under Government control) of Petale-Valaichchenai in
the Batticaloa district.
The Sri Lanka Government said that it will hold
any future peace talks only with the LTTE leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran
and will not hold talks according to the outfit’s wishes.
The APRC set up to formulate a political solution
to the ethnic problem unanimously resolved that the Muslim community
is a stakeholder in Sri Lanka's ethnic conflict entitled to be
represented at future peace negotiations.
|
September 22
|
Two LTTE suspects are killed when they detonated
a hand grenade while the Police were trying to arrest them in
the Udappuwa area of Puttalam district.
Police arrests a suspected LTTE cadre at a checkpoint
in the Medawachchiya town of Vavuniya district along with two
suicide explosive belts, a claymore mine, detonators, remote controls
and timers while on the way to the capital Colombo in an alleged
plot to attack high-ranking Army or Government officials, the
military said.
Elections for the local bodies in the districts
of Jaffna, Vavuniya, Kilinochchi, Batticaloa, Mullaitivu and Mannar
district, which did not have local bodies elections this year,
will be held on June 30, 2007.
|
September 24
|
At least 70 LTTE cadres are killed by the SLN
as they attacked a flotilla of 24 boats of the LTTE and sunk eight
of them loaded with outfit’s cadres and weapons in a fierce sea-
battle that started on late September 24-night and lasted for
five hours.
The battle occurred off the coast of the eastern
town of Pulmoddai in the sea 50-miles north of the Trincomalee
harbour. Police chief Percy Perera said that a top LTTE commander
is believed to be killed or injured during the clash, adding,
the boats were bringing in reinforcements.
At least 15 LTTE cadres are killed as SFs launched
artillery fire on a group of LTTE cadres who had opened fire towards
troops in the Pulipanchikal area of Batticaloa district. Troops
retaliate LTTE fire in the Iluppkulam area of Trincomalee district
and recovered the dead bodies of two outfit cadres from the incident
site during the subsequent search operation.
President Mahinda Rajapakse states that he is
ready to share power with minority communities.
The Sri Lankan Government informs Norway that
it would participate at the proposed meeting demanded by Sri Lanka's
key financial backers, including Japan, the United States, Britain
and European Union, who threatened to cut off aid.
According to reports, thousands of Muslims are
fleeing their homes in Muttur after a previously unknown suspected
rebel front, Tamileela Thayaga Meedpu Padai, distributed leaflets
in the town warning residents to leave immediately. "The final
preparations have begun to recapture Mutur," the leaflet said,
adding, "Do not remain in Mutur. You will only face destruction."
Meanwhile, the LTTE denies any involvement in the distribution
of leaflets warning residents to leave immediately.
|
September 25
|
A civilian, identified as Mohammed Musur, is shot
dead by a suspected LTTE cadre in the Trincomalee town.
|
September 26
|
One soldier is killed in a LTTE fire in the Eluthumadduval
area of Jaffna district.
A LTTE suspect, identified as Piratheepan Nadarajah,
who faces extradition to the U.S. on terrorism charges is granted
bail in Canada.
Nadarajah is alleged in U.S. court documents,
as a scientist and technical expert who intentionally conspired
to provide material support to the LTTE.
The Government said they would explore possibilities
of opening the Puttalam-Mannar-Pooneryn road as an alternative
to the A-9 main Jaffna-Colombo highway.
|
September 27
|
Unidentified assailants shot dead a civilian,
Arumugam Puvanendran, who was working in a tourist hotel located
along the Nilaveli coast in the Trincomalee town.
A civilian, identified as Keyzer Rome Dias, is
shot dead by unidentified assailants in the Pesalai area of Mannar
district.
|
September 28
|
One soldier is killed and two others sustain injuries
when LTTE cadres fire artillery towards the SF Forward Defence
Line at Muhamalai in the Jaffna district.
The Sri Lankan government states that the LTTE
has informed them that the outfit chief, V. Prabhakaran, has agreed
to resume the stalled peace talks.
Commenting on the closure of the A-9 highway Defence
spokesperson, Minister Keheliya Rambukwella, said that it is the
LTTE that forced the closure of the highway by attacking the troops
in the Muhamalai area, the last entry point from South of cleared
areas to uncleared Wanni.
He rejects the LTTE's demand for opening the
A-9 highway, but proposed to open a land route through Mannar.
President Mahinda Rajapakse said that the country's
population in the East should decide their own future through
a referendum. He emphasised that the people in the East have to
decide their own future and it is a crystal clear established
fact that a referendum should be held in accordance with the India-Sri
Lanka Pact, he adds.
|
September 29
|
Three soldiers and a civilian were killed as cadres
of the LTTE launch a mortar attack on the Black bridge Army camp
in the Chenkaladi area of Batticaloa district.
Two more soldiers sustain injuries in the incident.
The SLN claims to have destroyed a Sea-Tiger boat killing four
cadres and recovered a large cache of armament from the Velanithurai
area of Jaffna district.
The bullet riddled dead bodies of three civilians,
identified as Sellaiya Navaratnaraja, Chandralingam Devaneshan
and Kandasami Sri, are recovered from the Vinayagapuram area in
the Batticaloa district.
Police said one of the victims is beheaded and
that a group calling itself ‘People's Tamil Organization’ has
claimed responsibility for the killings in a note near the bodies.
According to federal officials, arms brokers for the LTTE and
other customers in Indonesia are charged with trying to buy surface-to-air
missiles and other weapons through undercover agents in Maryland.
The Government decides to withdraw visas issued
to members of four INGOs, which through their alleged clandestine
dealings with the LTTE are posing a threat to national security.
The committee has recommended withdrawal of the visas issued to
MSS France, MSS Spain, MDM France and Doctors of the World USA.
|
September 30
|
Government officials claim that 16 LTTE cadres,
including its Koaveli leader Kannan, are killed in an encounter
with the STF at the Pillumale Police post in the Amparai district.
However, the LTTE military spokesperson, Irasiah
Ilanthirayan, states that 11 outfit cadres were killed in an ambush
carried out by the STF inside outfit-held territory in the Batticaloa
district and that the bodies of the dead cadres were transferred
in Military vehicles into the STF-controlled area.
Eight LTTE cadres, including a senior cadre identified
as Malarvan, who led the attack, are killed and 15 others wounded
by SFs in a retaliatory fire at the Thamparaveli outfit base following
a LTTE attack on the Chenkaladi Army camp in the Batticaloa district.
Three Police personnel are killed when suspected
LTTE cadres detonated a claymore fragmentation mine in the Vavuniya
district. SLN personnel kill three LTTE cadres in an encounter
at Kannathivu island in the Jaffna district.
The dead bodies of three civilians are recovered
from the Uthankulam and Tharanikulam areas in the Vavuniya district.
A former member of the EPDP, Ponnaiya Srikaran, is shot dead by
suspected LTTE cadres in the Point Pedro area of Jaffna district.
The Sri Lanka Government states that any future
peace talks with the LTTE would hinge on its chief, Velupillai
Prabhakaran, agreeing in writing or verbally to three major conditions.
The conditions include a specific time frame to
resume and conclude talks, an assurance to the Donor Co-chairs
that it will not use sea routes to smuggle in military hardware
and a commitment not to resort to any violence during the period
of talks.
|
October 1
|
A curfew is imposed following a clash between
two Muslim factions at Kathankudi in the Batticaloa district in
which at least three civilians are injured and nearly 32 houses
are damaged.
The leader of the LTTE breakaway faction party
Tamileela Makkal Viduthalai Puligal (TMVP), ‘Colonel’ Karuna,
has said that the majority of the LTTE military commanders are
becoming old and infirm and Prabhakaran has lost good calibre
recruits and committed leadership. The failure was due to lack
of leadership, he maintained. He added that TMVP is not for a
separate state of Eelam, but for a united Sri Lanka under a federal
constitution.
|
October 2
|
Suspected LTTE cadres shot dead a police officer
at Pottuvil police station in the Amparai district.
The Interpol is reported to have unanimously
adopted a resolution proposed by Sri Lanka to fight against recruitment
and use of children as combatants by non-state actors.
|
October 3
|
Police personnel retaliate LTTE firing in the
Murunkan area of Mannar district and during subsequent search
operation recovers the dead body of one LTTE cadre.
The Government accuses the LTTE of having links
with six organised criminal gangs and being responsible for the
series of recent abductions in Colombo. It also stated that a
Presidential Commission of Inquiry is probing the matter.
LTTE states that they have agreed to unconditional
peace talks with the Sri Lankan Government but warned that they
would pull out of the 2002 cease-fire agreement (CFA) altogether
if the Government continues with its Military campaign.
|
October 4 |
A civilian is abducted along with his vehicle and subsequently
shot dead by LTTE cadres in the Kondavil area of Jaffna district.
Federal prosecutors at Baltimore in Indonesia announce that
six men, who were charged with attempting to export weapons to
Indonesia and to the LTTE, are facing additional charges.
The Sri Lanka Government agrees to hold unconditional peace
talks with the LTTE in Geneva.
|
October 5
|
LTTE cadres trigger a claymore mine explosion
targeting troops on route clearing duty at Kokkeliya in the Vavuniya
district, killing one soldier and injuring two others.
Nine soldiers sustained injuries in LTTE mortar
and artillery fire towards troops in the Eluthumadduval, Nagarkovil
and Muhamalai areas of Jaffna district.
Peace talks between the Sri Lanka Government
and LTTE will be held on October 28-29 in Switzerland.
|
October 6-7
|
At least 60 LTTE cadres are killed and an unspecified
number of them injured when clashes between SFs and the LTTE in
the Batticaloa district erupted on October 6 when the outfit cadres
launched a heavy ground attack using artillery, mortar and small
arms on Army detachment at Mankerni and Kajuwatta. 2 soldiers
area also killed and 15 others sustained injuries, while 12 others
are reported missing.
A fleet of five LTTE Sea-Tiger boats transporting
additional cadres and weapons to Mankerni are blocked and attacked
by the SLN craft in the seas off Kadiraweli in the Trincomalee
district destroying two of them completely with LTTE cadres on
board.
LTTE cadres blast the Panichchankerni Bridge
causing inconvenience nearly to 30,000 civilians.
|
October 7
|
A former member of the EPDP, Nagarasa, is shot
dead by LTTE cadres at Mallakam in the Jaffna district.
LTTE cadres fire upon troops who were on a route
clearing operation in the Thirunaveli junction area of Jaffna
district, killing one soldier.
|
October 8
|
Five SLA soldiers are killed and four others sustain
injuries when cadres of the LTTE launch an artillery and mortar
attack towards troops in the Muhamalai area of Jaffna district.
The LTTE hands over the dead bodies of 11 SLA
personnel, who went missing during the continued clashes between
SFs and the LTTE in the Batticaloa district which erupted on October
6 when the outfit cadres launched a heavy ground attack using
artillery, mortar and small arms on Army detachment at Mankerni
and Kajuwatta to the ICRC.
SFs re-capture areas west of Muttur in the Trincomalee
district, where LTTE activities were confined to since the military
regained control of Sampur last month.
|
October 9
|
Addressing the Sri Lanka-based Ambassadors of
the Peace Process Co-Chairs, President Mahinda Rajapakse reiterates
his firm commitment to a negotiated settlement and to make the
forthcoming talks with the LTTE and expresses the hope that the
Co-Chair countries would be able to persuade the LTTE to abandon
their violent approach and return to negotiations.
LTTE cadres shot dead a civilian, identified as
Selvarajah Idayarajan, in the Kokuvil area of Jaffna district.
A soldier on duty at Averikadu in the Jaffna
district is killed in a LTTE mortar fire.
The Sri Lanka Government states that it wants
the new round of talks with the LTTE, scheduled to be held on
October 28-29 in Oslo, to focus on core issues such as human rights
and development.
|
October 10
|
Three civilians are killed and three others injured
when LTTE cadres allegedly detonate a claymore mine fixed inside
a van in the Poonthottam area of Vavuniya district.
LTTE cadres detonate a claymore mine and subsequently
open fire towards troops in the Vandaramoole area of Batticaloa
district. In retaliatory fire, two LTTE cadres are killed and
five others are wounded.
Troops after observing a large gathering of LTTE
cadres who were poised to attack the Kiran Army camp, pounds artillery
and mortars successfully on their movements causing death to two
of their cadres and injuring three others.
The LTTE informs Norwegian Ambassador Hans Brattskar
in Kilinochchi that they are ready to resume peace negotiations
with the Government but if security forces continue the offensive
they would reconsider.
Following an in-depth inquiry, the HRC in their
report rules that the Sencholai Camp in the Mullaitivu was in
fact an LTTE recruitment station and the 500 children and young
adults had been receiving motivation training on August 14, the
day of aerial attacks. The HRC report points out that their evidence
proves the State supported education system is exploited by the
LTTE for child recruitment and combatant training as it provides
a ready made 'pool' of vulnerable children.
|
October 11
|
At least 50 SLA personnel, including seven officers,
are killed and another 214 are injured in continued fighting between
Government troops and LTTE at the Muhamale and Kilaly FDLs of
SFs.
An 81-year old woman, Manniyakka, sustains injuries
in a LTTE artillery fire and later succumbed to her injuries in
the Kodikamam area of the Jaffna district.
Chief Government negotiator, Minister Nimal Siripala
de Silva, states that the LTTE has no right to lay claim to any
part of Sri Lankan soil, which is sovereign territory under the
Sri Lanka Government.
Norwegian Ambassador, Hans Brattskar, informs
the Government that the LTTE is ready for unconditional talks
though should Government forces capture any territory occupied
by the LTTE, the latter would withdraw from the peace process.
The Government confirms to Norway, official facilitator
of the peace talks, that it is agreeable to meeting the LTTE for
talks on October 28 and 29 and said the exact location of the
talks in Switzerland would be determined later.
|
October 12
|
The Sri Lankan Military claims that at least 478
persons, including 78 soldiers and 400 LTTE cadres, were killed
in a five-hour battle in the Jaffna peninsula along the FDLs in
the Kilani and Muhamalai sectors on October 11.
LTTE 'pistol gang' cadres shot dead four civilians,
including three EPDP members, on the Electricity Board road in
Jaffna town.
Three civilians and two police personnel are killed
when a LTTE laid claymore mine on Kachcheri road in the Jaffna
district, targeting a vehicle that was carrying EPDP members,
hit the victims standing nearby.
The ruling SLFP, led by President Mahinda Rajapakse,
and opposition UNP under the leadership of the former Prime Minister,
Ranil Wickremesinghe, agrees to pursue a national consensus on
all issues, including federal solution to the ethnic issue.
|
October 13
|
The SLA confirms that it lost 129 soldiers in
fighting with the LTTE in Jaffna peninsula on October 11. It also
confirmed that the outfit buried 196 of its cadres in the uncleared
areas (area not under Government control) of Sunokkai, Kilinochchi,
Mannar, Omanthai and Mullaithivu. 283 soldiers and 312 LTTE cadres
were inured in the confrontation.
The SLA informs that the outfit has handed over
74 dead bodies of the soldiers to the Red Cross.
The LTTE chief, Velupillai Prabhakaran, refuses
to meet the Japanese special peace envoy, Yasushi Akashi, who
is scheduled to hold talks with the outfit on October 18.
In the annual Human Rights Report issued by the
British Government, the Government of Sri Lanka and LTTE are blamed
for carrying out violations of basic human rights in Sri Lanka.
|
October 14
|
Three civilians, Vaithilingam Mahenthiran, Nadarasa
Navarasa and Navaneethan, are killed and another injured by unidentified
assailants at Samalankulam in the Vavuniya district.
Two persons are killed and an equal number of
them injured when an unidentified assailant opened fire at a group
of civilians in the Oluvil area of Jaffna district.
LTTE launches artillery attacks to Muhamale, Nagarkovil
and Kilaly areas in the Jaffna district, killing two soldiers
and wounding 13 others.
|
October 15
|
The SLN destroys a LTTE trawler transporting weapons,
ammunition and explosives, about 35 nautical miles in the seas
off Arippu West in the Mannar district, killing six of the outfit's
cadres.
Three Sinhalese civilians, identified as P.K.
Gunawardane, P.K.Upali and Ranjith, who along with two Muslim
civilians were on a van collecting fruits in the Madavaithyakulam
area of Vavuniya district are dragged inside a jungle patch and
shot dead by LTTE cadres. The Muslim civilians are set free.
Germany officially froze any new aid for projects
in Sri Lanka in a bid to put pressure on the Government and LTTE
to restart peace talks.
|
October 16
|
At least 98 sailors of the navy are killed and
100 injured as suspected LTTE cadres rammed an explosive-laden
vehicle into a naval convoy at Digampatana in the Habarana area
of Matale district.
Sri Lanka's Supreme Court declares the temporary
merger of the northern and eastern provinces, effected in 1987
and extended annually, "null and void and illegal." It said the
President has no powers to effect a merger of provinces under
Emergency Regulation, and only Parliament could decide on the
subject.
|
October 18
|
Suspected LTTE cadres carries out a suicide mission
on Dakshina Naval Base in Galle. Troops, however, successfully
repulse the attack killing 15 LTTE cadres, while one sailor also
died in the incident. Another 15 sailors and 14 civilians are
injured in the confrontation.
Yasushi Akashi, Japanese peace envoy, after meeting
Tamilselvan in Kilinochchi said, "We obtained commitments from
Mr. Thamilchelvan that LTTE has prepared to go to Geneva for talks
on the 28th October… I was able to get LTTE's willingness and
preparedness to go to Geneva."
|
October 19
|
Two SF personnel are killed in a LTTE triggered
mine attack at Thandikulam in the Vavuniya district.
The LTTE administration in Kilinochchci bans
the use of mobile phones in uncleared areas (area not under Government
control).
LTTE agrees to attend the peace talks scheduled
to be held at Geneva on October 28-29.
President Mahinda Rajapakse asserts that for the
first time ever, political parties in the South are now prepared
to set aside political differences, sit together, reach a consensus
and formulate a framework through which all could work on resolving
the ethnic crisis to reach a sustainable and honourable peace.
The annual publication of the International Institute
for Strategic Studies, London, 'Military Balance 2005/2006', refers
to emerging links between the LTTE and al Qaeda.
|
October 20
|
Sri Lankan navy boats destroy seven vessels of
the LTTE in a sea battle off the coast of Jaffna peninsula, killing
at least 35 cadres of the outfit. Two sailors are wounded in the
battle.
Unidentified assailants shot dead three civilians,
Kulasingham Kunarasa, Vellupillai Thiyagarajah and Illayathamby
Kirupananthan, at Rasa Veethy in the Jaffna district.
|
October 21
|
A 17 year-old boy, Suresh Kumar, who was earlier
abducted by the LTTE, is killed by its cadres when he attempted
to escape in the uncleared areas (area not under Government control)
of Batticaloa district.
|
October 22
|
The dead bodies of two civilians, Savarian Robinson
Koonja and Sahayam Ajith Croos, are recovered from the Pesalai
area of Mannar district.
The head of Government's Peace Secretariat, Palitha
Kohona, said that the LTTE is trying to intimidate the Sri Lankan
Government ahead of peace talks scheduled to be held on October
28-29 in Geneva by launching high-profile attacks.
President Mahinda Rajapakse and leader of the
Opposition Ranil Wickremesinghe on October 22-evening agreed on
a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for cooperation on six points
pertaining to crucial issues facing the country.
|
October 23
|
Suspected LTTE 'pistol group' cadres shot dead
a lorry driver and injure another at Poonthodam in the Vavuniya
district.
'Pistol gang' cadres of the LTTE shot dead a
civilian, Nadarajah Indran, in the Serunuwara area of Trincomalee
district.
A civilian, Sewapada Sharma, is shot dead by
a LTTE cadre in the Poontottam area of Vavuniya district.
The SLFP and the opposition UNP sign a Memorandum
of Understanding on collaboration on key national issues, at Temple
Trees in the capital Colombo.
|
October 24
|
Troops on route clearing patrol shot dead a LTTE
cadre when he attempted to lob a hand grenade towards them in
the Velvetithurai area of Jaffna district.
The Sri Lankan Government has released casualty
figures showing nearly 3000 deaths in fighting between the Army
and the LTTE over the past eleven months. The breakdown lists
more than 1300 outfit cadres killed, with Government losses over
seven hundred. The period covers from December 1, 2005 until October
10, 2006. There were also above six hundred civilian deaths. The
figures exclude some recent incidents, which claimed another two
hundred lives, according to the report.
The Sri Lanka Navy issuing a special announcement
totally bans all dinghies and other small boats in the sea along
the coastal zone from Wellawatta, south of Colombo to Uswetakeyiyawa,
north of Colombo.
The Government and LTTE delegations on October
24 left for talks to be held on October 28-29 at Geneva. Health
Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva leads the Government delegation,
while the LTTE delegation is led by their political wing leader,
S.P. Tamilselvan.
|
October 25
|
LTTE 'pistol gang' cadres shot dead a Sinhalese
civilian, D. M. Padma Kumara, on Galwalamatha Kovil road in Vavuniya.
A hartal (strike) is observed in the Trincomalee,
Mannar, Batticaloa, Ampara and Vavuniya districts in the north
and east of Sri Lanka to protest the de-merger of the Northern
and Eastern Provinces.
Switzerland authorities will not allow the LTTE
to raise funds or carry out any campaign against the Government
and people of Sri Lanka in Switzerland after the peace talks this
time, said official sources.
|
October 26
|
Three cadres of the TMVP, a LTTE breakaway faction
led by 'Colonel' Karuna, are killed and eight others sustain injuries
in a LTTE attack on the TMVP political office on the Chenkalady-Badulla
road in Batticaloa.
Two civilians are shot dead by suspected LTTE
cadres in the 3rd Mile Post area of Trincomalee district.
Indonesian Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono is
reported to have said that Sri Lanka has expressed its suspicions
that weapons supplied for the LTTE were illegally sent through
Indonesia.
|
October 27
|
'Pistol gang' cadres of the LTTE shot dead a civilian,
identified as Weerasinghem Chandra Mohan, at Anjisandi in Jaffna
town.
British newspaper The Times, quoting international
and local aid workers, reported that the LTTE-breakaway faction
led by 'Colonel' Karuna has abducted between 300 to 900 children
- some as young as 12 - since March, 2006.
|
October 28
|
LTTE cadres shot dead two soldiers in the Mirusuvil
area of Jaffna district. Troops retaliate as LTTE cadres opened
fire towards them in the Ampara district.
During subsequent search operations, two dead
bodies of LTTE cadres and two weapons are recovered.
The two-day peace talks between the Sri Lanka
Government and the LTTE begins in Geneva with a message from Norway
that the former faced the danger of losing the goodwill and foreign
aid if the situation did not improve.
Head of the Sri Lankan delegation Nimal Siripala
de Silva issues a 6,600-word statement at the inaugural of the
peace talks, blaming the LTTE for the current situation.
In his 3,000-word counter, the LTTE political
head and leader of the delegation, S. P. Tamilselvan sought to
hold the Sri Lankan Government responsible for the ground situation
and declared the peace talks were contingent upon implementation
of the 2002 CFA.
|
October 29
|
Five civilians and a suspected LTTE cadre, carrying
the bomb, are killed and two more civilians sustain injuries when
a claymore mine fixed to a bicycle exploded in the Uduuppidy area
of Jaffna district.
LTTE cadres shot at and injured four members of
a family, including an infant, one 11-year old girl and a woman,
in the Eravur area of Batticaloa district.The 11-year old girl,
identified as Pathmanathan Vinodini, succumbed to her injuries
later.
The two-day talks between the Sri Lanka Government
and LTTE concludes in Geneva without an agreement on any of the
issues or future engagement. The dialogue reportedly collapsed
on the subject of the closure of the A9 Highway, which links Jaffna
peninsula and the rest of Sri Lanka. The LTTE insisted that the
peace process was contingent on re-opening of the highway, while
the Government said it was compelled to close the highway for
security reasons and that the LTTE was raking up the issue as
it was not serious about discussing "core political issues."
|
October 30
|
A Pradesiya Sabha member (local councilor) of
Illangai Tamil Arasu Katchi party, identified as Kopala Sundaram,
is shot dead by unidentified assailants near Serunuwara Junction
in the Trincomalee district.
The UNCEF in a report has said that the prolonged
conflict between the LTTE and Sri Lankan Government has affected
nearly six lakh people in the country's Jaffna Peninsula who are
now facing food and fuel shortages due to closure of many businesses.
|
October 31
|
STF soldiers kill two LTTE cadres, Pavakkannan
and Satha, belonging to the outfit's political wing at Vinayagapuram
in the Ampara district.
Two of the six persons wounded in the bomb blast
on October 26-morning in a vegetable field located on Chelvi Cinema
Theatre road at Chenkalady in the Batticaloa district have reportedly
succumbed to their injuries.
|
November 1
|
A family of three, Sivarajah Yathavan, his wife
Abirami Yathavan and, P. Senthuran, father-in-law of Yathavan,
has reportedly taken full control of the LTTE operations in the
state of Victoria in Australia.
Government Defence spokesperson, Keheliya Rambukwella,
states that the Government will assist LTTE cadres deserting its
ranks and surrendering to the SFs by offering them foreign employment
after they are provided a few months of rehabilitation and vocational
training. According to Army statistics, more than 500 LTTE cadres
have surrendered to the SFs following the signing of the cease-fire
agreement in 2002.
Troops retaliate when four LTTE cadres opened
fire towards them in the Vakaneri area of Batticaloa district,
killing two of them, while the other managed to escape.
The number of Sri Lankan refugees to India has
crossed the 15,000-mark despite a drop in arrivals in October
2006. The total number of refugees in camps in Tamil Nadu is now
15,912, sources said. It includes 6,027 men, 5,451 women, 2,312
male children and 2,122 female children.
|
November 2
|
Seven LTTE cadres are killed and ten others sustain
injuries during a clash between the SFs and LTTE cadres in the
Kiran area of Batticaloa district.
Five civilians are killed when SLAF jets dropped
four shells near a hospital around 3-km from the LTTE headquarter
in Kilinochchi.
Government chief negotiator, Nimal Siripala de
Silva assured the Co-Chairs of the Tokyo donor conference that
it would seek an alternative land route to ensure an unrestricted
flow of essential items to the North within a couple of days if
the LTTE delays the reopening of the A9 highway with continuing
attacks.
Essential Services Commissioner, S.B. Divaratne,
said that the closure of the A9 highway has not caused any breakdown
in the supply of essential food items to the Jaffna peninsula
since the Government has supplied essential food items to Jaffna
by sea since August 17.
The UNP decides to participate in the All Party
Conference called by the President Mahinda Rajapakse to make a
southern consensus to seek a solution for the ethnic conflict.
|
November 3
|
Unidentified assailants shot dead a civilian,
Marimuthu Chandrasegaram, inside his house at Aachikulam in the
Samalankulam area of Vavuniya district.
The Indonesian Government is to investigate claims
that its waters are being used to ship illegal weapons to the
LTTE in Sri Lanka.
|
November 4
|
One STF soldier, identified as M. Jayawardana,
is killed and two others sustain injuries when LTTE cadres trigger
a claymore mine explosion and subsequently opened small arms fire
targeting a STF jeep near the 12th mile post on Ampara-Pothuvil
road in the Ampara district.
LTTE releases 22 underage recruits who lied about
their age to join the separatist campaign. The outfit claims that
the youths "joined the movement by lying about their age."
|
November 5
|
LTTE cadres kill a woman, Nagamani Rajani Devi,
employed in the EPDP office at Putur in the Jaffna district.
An EPDP supporter, identified as Raju, is killed
by LTTE cadres in the Valaichchenai area of Batticaloa district.
The SLMM states that Sri Lanka Government has
violated the CFA by the closure of A-9 highway and its continued
air attacks on the LTTE-held territory. The SLMM also notes that
the LTTE has violated the CFA by launching claymore mine attacks
against Government troops.
India has reportedly agreed to a recent request
by the Sri Lanka Government for supply of relief goods to internally
displaced persons in the North and East in the aftermath of the
closure of the A-9 highway since August 11. The supplies would
be undertaken through the Indian Red Cross and Sri Lanka Red Cross.
The Sri Lankan Defence Ministry states that 3300
people have died in Sri Lanka since December 2005 due to the escalation
of violence as fighting erupted between Government SFs and the
LTTE. Between November 17, 2005 and October 25, 2006, 860 SF personnel
and 549 civilians have been killed, the Defence Ministry said.
The number of LTTE cadres killed by the SFs has been estimated
at 1880. Another 1303 are believed to have been injured.
|
November 6
|
Dead bodies of three civilians, including two
identified as Yogarajah Jayalan and Abdul Jabar Mohamed Mansoor,
killed by the LTTE are recovered by the Uppuveli Police in Trincomalee
district.
Troops retaliate as two LTTE cadres open fire
towards them in the Thirunaveli area Jaffna district. Both of
them are killed during the encounter.
A suspected LTTE front organisation has threatened
to attack civilian targets, including hospitals and water reservoirs,
in southern Sri Lanka in retaliation against military strikes
on LTTE areas. The High Security Zone Residents’ Liberation Force,
which claimed responsibility for a series of attacks on troops
in the north earlier this year, said it is giving the military
a final warning to halt attacks on LTTE territory.
A former Chief Justice of India, P. N. Bhagwati,
has been nominated to head an international panel to supervise
a human rights investigation in Sri Lanka.
|
November 7
|
The SLMM spokesperson, Helen Olafsdottir, said
1,076 civilians have been killed since violence escalated at the
start of 2006.
Parliament votes to extend an emergency law to
deal with the surge in violence by one month.
The CID said that according to information available
to them, nearly 1000 people have disappeared throughout the island
since the recent upsurge in violence between the LTTE and Government
forces.
|
November 8
|
More than 45 civilians are killed at Vakarai in
the Batticaloa district as a welfare centre was allegedly hit
by the retaliatory fire of the military. The SLMM spokeswoman
Hellen Ollafsdottir said that monitors who visited the incident
site had counted 23 bodies at hospitals where also 135 injured
were treated. However, the LTTE claimed that 50 to 100 civilians
are killed when "indiscriminate fire" by the military hit a school
building where the displaced are housed.
The LTTE has reportedly rejected the Government
proposal for an "alternate route" to the A-9 highway. The outfit
claims it is not fit for travel.
|
November 9
|
The SLN foils a major LTTE attack on the civilian
passenger vessel 'Green Ocean I' with 300 Jaffna bound civilians
from Trincomalee in the sea off Nagarkovil destroying a flotilla
of Sea-Tiger boats, including three suicide boats. "We believe
more than 40 LTTE cadres were killed in the attack," told SLN
spokesperson Commander D.K.P. Dasanayaka, adding, two suicide
boats rammed into to two Dvora fast Attack Craft escorting ‘Green
Ocean I’, destroying one and damaging the other. However, LTTE's
military spokesperson, Irasiah Ilanthirayan, claims that a Sea-Tiger
flotilla clashed with the SLN, killing 25 SLN soldiers, capturing
four alive and destroying two Dvora Fast Attack Crafts when Sea-Tigers
engaged in training activities were provoked by the SLN vessels.
LTTE cadres activate a claymore mine targeting
an army motorbike in the Anaipathi area of Jaffna district, killing
two soldiers, identified as Sergeant G.A.S. Ganepola and Corporal
Bandara.
The Sri Lanka Government expresses its regret
over the killing of civilians in Vakarai and accused the LTTE
of using civilians as a human shield. Denying media reports, it
said that only 23 civilians died and 125 others were injured.
|
November 10
|
Unidentified assailants shot dead Jaffna district
TNA parliamentarian, Nadarajah Raviraj, and his personal security
officer near his home at Borella in the capital Colombo. TNA is
regarded to be a proxy party of the LTTE.
The SLN destroys one weapon laden LTTE suicide
craft and captured another that were sailing in the seas off Nilaveli
coast in the guise of ordinary fishing boats in the Trincomalee
district. At least six Sea-Tigers aboard are killed, according
to the SLN. Sources confirm that one of the boats was also carrying
the remains of Ariv Charles, a senior military leader attached
to the Charles Anthony Brigade of the outfit, who was killed in
a security forces retaliatory fire in the Batticaloa district
a few days back.
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan emphasizes
the urgent need to end the spiraling violence in Sri Lanka and
called on both sides to immediately return to the peace process.
|
November 11
|
LTTE 'pistol gang' cadres shot dead one civilian,
Swarna Kumara, and injured another on the Tihppankulam road in
the Jaffna district.
LTTE 'pistol gang' cadres shot dead one civilian,
identified as Egodawatte Aratchchige Podimahathmaya, at Kantale
in the Palauththu area of Trincomalee district.
Suspected LTTE cadres shot dead a civilian, Krishnapiallai
Mohandas, and injured another in the Kaththankudi area of Batticaloa
district.
|
November 12
|
Two civilians, identified as Thumb Ayyahjegan
and Kangarupan Kelli, are shot dead by the LTTE 'pistol gang'
cadres in the Anaipanthy area of Jaffna district.
The civilian influx from Uncleared areas (area
not under Government control) to cleared areas (area under Government
control) is continuing in the North and East, as the LTTE has
intensified their military preparations for more attacks on the
security forces.
A suspected LTTE frontal organization, High Security
Zone Residents' Liberation Force, vows to kill majority Sinhalese
civilians in southern Sri Lanka in retaliation for the alleged
Army bombing of a refugee camp in the Batticaloa district on November
8. It claims to represent Tamils displaced by Army high security
zones in the Jaffna peninsula.
LTTE military spokesperson Rasaiah Ilanthirayan
says that the Government's plan to bring food from India to Jaffna
was a clever device to divert attention from the issue of re-opening
the A-9 main highway at Muhamalai, adding, the best solution would
be to lift the barriers at Muhamalai and allow food to come from
the Wanni and South Sri Lanka. Opening the A-9 would obviate the
need to get supplies from abroad, he claims.
|
November 13
|
One soldier, Private L.R M. Sampath Kumara, is
killed and two others sustain injuries when LTTE cadres opened
mortar fire towards troops at Ponnar in the Kodikamam area of
Jaffna district.
Alan Rock, Special Advisor to the UN Special Representative
for Children and Armed Conflict accuses elements within the SFs
of helping the breakaway faction of the LTTE led by 'Colonel'
Karuna to abduct children to recruit as child soldiers and said
that there is 'credible evidence' that the Government soldiers
have forcibly rounded up the children for the Karuna group.
|
November 14
|
SLN destroys a large trawler carrying massive
quantities of arms, ammunition and explosives and killed eight
LTTE cadres on board in the seas off Kalpitiya, West of Kudiramale,
in the Puttalam district.
Three soldiers are killed in a LTTE-triggered
improvised explosive device explosion at Mantottam roadblock in
the Mannar district.
The architect of the Good Friday Agreement in
1998, which ended the subversive activities of the IRA, Paul Murphy,
reportedly arrives in Sri Lanka to assist the peace negotiations
between the Sri Lankan Government and LTTE.
A newly released UNICEF report states that as
of October 31, 2006, there were 142 outstanding cases of under
age recruitment by the LTTE and all of them were boys.According
to UNICEF statistics, as of October 31, 2006, there were 1598
outstanding cases of under age recruitment by the LTTE. Of these,
649 are under the age of 18, and 949 were recruited while under
18 but have now passed that age.
|
November 15
|
Four LTTE cadres are killed and one is wounded
by SFs at Ethawetunuwewa in the Welioya area of Moneragala district.
President Mahinda Rajapakse states that India
"need not play a direct role" in the peace process in Sri Lanka.
He said, "India need not intervene directly. It will be enough
if it carries out a global campaign against the collection of
funds and arms by the LTTE", adding, "We are determined to devolve
power to the Northern and Eastern Provinces. We are examining
various models, including the Indian model (of federalism). We
are ready to talk about the Panchayati Raj system, which devolves
power to the villages."
|
November 16
|
18 LTTE cadres are killed and three soldiers wounded
in three separate clashes between troops and LTTE cadres in the
Batticaloa district.
Security forces in a retaliatory action killed
nine LTTE cadres when they opened fire towards troops' forward
defence line at Kadjuwatta in the Batticaloa district.
President Mahinda Rajapakse urges the LTTE to
lay down their arms and resume talks to pursue peace, democracy
and development in the country. He cites increased violence for
the spike in spending.
British peace envoy Paul Murphy, the architect
of Irish peace talks, urges parties to keep the lines of communication
open and says that there is striking similarity conflicts in Northern
Ireland and Sri Lanka.
Defence spokesperson and Minister, Keheliya Rambukwella,
said at a media briefing that it had been proved that the LTTE
harassed Indian fishermen and used their trawlers to transport
war material to strengthen its bases. "Since January 2006 there
have been eight such sea attacks, six of them in the seas off
Mannar. This shows how the LTTE cadres are harassing and making
use of Indian fishermen. The Indian Government should move fast
and act to protect their fishermen," he added.
|
November 17
|
The LTTE rejects President Rajapakse's offer to
lay down their arms and resume talks to pursue peace, democracy
and development in the country, calling it "joke."
Sri Lankan High Commissioner to India, C.R. Jayasinghe,
accuses the LTTE of "spreading misinformation globally to hide
the reality that the violence in Sri Lanka was solely instigated
by it."
The IDMC of the Norwegian Refugee Council, releasing
a report on displacement in Sri Lanka, announced that some 130,000
internally displaced people - more than half of those uprooted
by the current intensification of violence in Sri Lanka - are
cut off from international assistance and exposed to serious human
rights abuses.
According to statistics, 1623 civilians have
entered into the Government-controlled areas since November 2006,
said Military spokesperson Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe.
|
November 18
|
At least 23 persons are killed in continuing fighting
between the Sri Lanka military and LTTE in the northern and eastern
parts of the country. The military sources claim to have destroyed
three LTTE gunboats, killing at least 15 cadres at Mannar. However,
the LTTE claims that its cadres sank two navy boats, leaving 10
sailors dead.
An explosion targeting a military truck killed
four soldiers and four students from a nearby agriculture institute
in Vavuniya.
|
November 19
|
The dead bodies of four unidentified civilians
are recovered from the Trincomalee district.
Three bodies are recovered from Allesgarden,
a suburb in Trincomalee town, and one from Pattithidal in the
Muttur division.
Two civilians, Sebasthiyan Moisath Sivakumar and
I. M. Rohith Laxman, are shot dead by LTTE cadres in the Varadayanagar
area of Trincomalee district.
The SLMM states that Sri Lankan troops opened
fire on a group of agriculture students at close range in Vavuniya
district on November 18, killing five, after a LTTE ambush on
Government forces. The Sri Lankan Government orders opening of
the A 9 highway that links rest of the country to the Jaffna peninsula
for transportation of essential commodities.
|
November 21
|
Unidentified assailants trigger a claymore mine
explosion at Gnaniyar Valavu in the Varani Thenmaradchi area of
Jaffna district, killing one soldier and injuring three others.
The Co-Chairs of the Tokyo Donors Conference,
the U.S., European Union, Japan, and Norway, issuing a joint statement
after meeting in Washington in U.S., condemns the systematic ceasefire
violations by both the Sri Lanka Government and LTTE and urges
both parties to immediately cease hostilities.
The TNA parliamentarians from Batticaloa district
have written a letter to the Parliamentary Speaker, saying they
have received death threats over the phone and were informed specifically
that if they did not resign from being Members of Parliament,
they would be killed.
|
November 22
|
Suspected LTTE 'pistol gang' cadres shot dead
two civilians, identified as Ponnadorai Ramakrisnan and Kannanthambi
Sathrarajah, close to the rail tracks at Sangama in the Trincomalee
district.
The Sri Lankan Government states that it is willing
to immediately resume stalled peace talks with the LTTE, but accused
the outfit of not cooperating. The political wing of the LTTE-breakaway
faction led by 'Colonel' Karuna, TMVP, announces that it is ready
to lay down arms provided the 'repressive acts' of the LTTE chief
Velupillai Prabhakaran are brought 'under control'.
The 'Colonel' Karuna group has officially been
added to the U.N. Secretary General's "list of shame", that aims
to discredit Governments and armed groups committing grave crimes
against children.
The LTTE rejects a Government request for a guarantee
that a convoy of essential items to be sent to the northern Jaffna
peninsula by road would be allowed to pass safely through the
LTTE-held territory. Government spokesperson Rambukwella said
that Nordic truce monitors and a U.N. envoy have misled Sri Lanka's
main financial donors about cease-fire violations by the Military.
The LTTE ideologue, Anton Balasingham, is reportedly
suffering from an advanced stage of cancer and is battling for
his life. He was the chief negotiator for the LTTE in all major
negotiations until his illness worsened.
|
November 23
|
Three home guards are killed when
cadres of the LTTE opened small arms fire towards home guards
on duty at Atambagashandiya in the Vavuniya district.
At least 12 LTTE cadres are killed
when the STF opened fire on a group of LTTE cadres who shot dead
three Police personnel and a home guard in the Ampara district.
Five security force (SF) personnel sustained injuries in the incident.
The Sri Lankan Military foils a major
LTTE attack on SF's defence positions in the Kirimichchi and Kadjuwatte
areas of Batticaloa district, in which seven soldiers are injured.
The LTTE has reportedly planted thousands
of anti-personnel mines in and around Vakarai in the Batticaloa
district to block civilians leaving the area, reveals a surrendered
LTTE cadre to the SFs.
Troops kill at least
nine LTTE cadres following the killing of two civilians by LTTE
in Batticaloa. Four policemen died in the encounter.
Four SF personnel
are killed and five others injure in an LTTE attack at Bakkiella
in Ampara.
Three SF personnel
guarding a checkpoint at Kebitigollawa are killed by the LTTE.
|
November 24
|
The dead bodies of five LTTE cadres
are recovered from Piramanayankulam area in the Vavuniya district
on November 24. The slain terrorists are suspected to have been
killed in retaliatory firing after they opened fire on a Sri Lankan
military foot patrol on November 23-night.
|
November 25
|
Elite police commandos kill four
LTTE cadres in an encounter in the eastern district of Ampara.
The outfit, however, claims four soldiers are killed.
|
November 26
|
Sri Lankan Army shot dead at least
21 LTTE cadres in separate incidents in the Batticaloa district.
A sympathiser of the EPDP, Shankarpilla
Senasaran, is killed by LTTE in the Northern Province.
|
November 27
|
In his annual Heroes’ day statement
delivered at an undisclosed location in the northern part of the
country, the LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakaran accuses the Sinhala
leaders of "duplicity" and said this left the Tamils with no choice
but to strive for "political independence." According to copies
of his speech made available to the media, Prabhakaran said, "Both
our liberation movement and our people never preferred war to
a peaceful resolution. We have always preferred a peaceful approach
to win the political rights of our people. We have never hesitated
to follow the peaceful path to win our political rights. That
is why we held peace talks, beginning in Thimpu right through
to Geneva, on several occasions, at various times, and in many
countries." He asserted that the LTTE will continue the ‘freedom
struggle’, and claimed that President Mahinda Rajapakse had rejected
his final call in his Heroes’ Day statement last year to find
a resolution to the Tamil national question with urgency.
Sri Lankan Naval troops destroy
a LTTE trawler engaged in smuggling weapons and ammunition and
claim to have killed six of its cadres on board at Negombo in
the Colombo district.
|
November 28
|
Suspected LTTE cadres shot dead
a civilian, identified as Somasuntharam Inban, and injure two
others at sixth mile post in the Trincomalee district.
The LTTE kills one SF personnel
and injure two others at Kadjuwatta, in the Batticaloa district.
|
November 30
|
Two unidentified gunmen shot dead
Gilbert Anandarajah, a Grama Sevakar (local government
official), at Jaffna divisional secretariat in the Jaffna district.
The Cambodian Prime Minister,
Hun Sen, has promised the Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ratnasiri
Wickremanayake to choke the flow of weapons from his country to
the LTTE, during the latter’s visit to Cambodia. Hun Sen reportedly
admitted that for the first time in 2005 arms were smuggled out
of his country for terrorist activities in Sri Lanka, and assured
Sri Lankan Prime Minister to trust Cambodia that "no more
weapons would enter Sri Lanka."
|
December 1
|
A suicide attack by the LTTE targeting
the Defence Secretary, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, who is also the brother
of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, at Dharmapala Mawatha in Colombo
injure seven army personnel and seven civilians. Two of the injured
army personnel subsequently succumb to their injuries. The suicide
bomber rammed his three-wheeler into the convoy of the Defence
Secretary. Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, who was en route to the Presidential
Palace for an official meeting, escapes unhurt. The headless body
of an unidentified person, believed to be the suicide bomber,
is recovered from the incident site. At least eight vehicles,
including that of the Defence Secretary, are damaged in the attack.
Two Sri Lanka Police constables
are killed in a claymore mine attack by unidentified assailants
near the junction of Clock Tower road and Hospital road near Jaffna
town.
|
December 2
|
One soldier, Private A.M.H. Athapaththu,
is killed and another sustains injuries when LTTE cadres hurl
a hand grenade at an Army foot patrol in Velvettithurai in the
Jaffna district.
SLAF bombs a civilian settlement
in the Mullathivu district, a day after the unsuccessful attempt
on the life of Defence Secretary Gothabaya Rajapakse by a suspected
LTTE suicide bomber. One civilian is reportedly killed during
the aerial raid.
|
December 3
|
A woman, Pakkianathan Calista
Nirmala, is shot dead by unidentified gunmen in her house along
Antony Road at Palaiyootu in the Trincomalee district.
|
December 4
|
At least six LTTE cadres are killed
in retaliatory fire when the outfit cadres ambush the STF personnel
at Sangaman Kanda in the Ampara district. One soldier succumbs
to his injuries while four others sustain bullet injuries during
the ambush.
|
December 5
|
Sri Lankan troops kill at least
16 LTTE cadres in the Vaharai region of Batticaloa district. Two
soldiers are reported to have died in the incident.
LTTE cadres shot dead two civilians
in the Vavuniya district.
|
December 6
|
Four civilians are killed and
another injured when LTTE cadres trigger claymore mine explosions
targeting SF personnel and hit civilians instead, at the Telecommunication
Department in the Jaffna district.
At least three civilians, including
a teacher, are killed and nine students sustain injuries, when
the LTTE cadres fire artillery targeting the Somadevi School and
Kallar village in the Trincomalee district.
Two soldiers are killed when LTTE
cadres trigger a claymore mine explosion targeting an army tractor
at Putukkulam in the Vavuniya district.
|
December 7
|
Two civilians, identified as Bernard
Kingsely and Velu Jeyakanthan, are shot dead by unidentified gunmen
at Aathimoddai village along the Trincomalee-Nilaveli road.
The Sri Lankan Government rejects
the SLMM’s request for a clarification regarding the re-imposition
of the PTA.
At least 2203 civilians has crossed
over to the un-cleared areas in the Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu
districts through Manthai and Uyilankulam checkpoints while an
estimated 2539 civilians has arrived in Vavuniya from un-cleared
areas from between December 1 to December 7.
|
December 8
|
A civilian, Sithamparapillai Pathmanathan,
is shot dead by unidentified gunmen at Sithandy under Eravur police
division in the Batticaloa district.
The Sri Lanka Government has allowed
the Norwegian special envoy Jon Hanssen-Bauer and Norwegian Ambassador
Hans Brattskar to visit Kilinochchi.
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December 9
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At least 45 people are reported
to have died during clashes between Sri Lankan troops and LTTE
cadres in the northeastern district of Trincomalee.
A suspected LTTE cadre shot dead
a civilian, Sellaiya Thangarasa, at VadukodaI in the Jaffna district.
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December 10
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At least 19 civilians are killed
and 25 others sustain injuries when SLA personnel fire artillery
shells at Kandalady Government School in the Vaharai area of Batticaloa
district.
At least 12 soldiers are killed
and 51 others sustain injuries when the LTTE cadres directed heavy
artillery and mortars towards Kaddimuravikulam, Kadjuwatta, Kirimichchiya
and Madurankerni in the Batticaloa district. A Sri Lankan military
spokesperson said that a large number of LTTE cadres are also
killed and many more are reportedly injured when the troops retaliated.
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December 11
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Government troops clashed with
the LTTE in the Eastern province leaving at least 24 soldiers
dead and 69 injured. Unconfirmed reports quoting civilians who
are in the process of leaving LTTE-held areas, adds that as many
as 50-60 LTTE cadres also died in the retaliatory fire by the
troops and similar numbers sustain injuries.
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December 12
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LTTE cadres trigger a claymore
mine explosion leaving one soldier dead and injuring two others
at Kallady area in the Mannar district.
A soldier is shot dead by suspected
LTTE ‘pistol gang’ cadres at a newspaper office in the Jaffna
District.
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December 13
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Troops clashed with the LTTE cadres
leaving at least five cadres dead at Meeyankulam and Welikanda
area in the Batticaloa district. During a subsequent search operation,
11 of the 12 soldiers who went missing after a clash with the
LTTE cadres on October 5 were found dead, and one among them,
Sergeant K.M.S. Rathnayake, was found injured and abandoned by
the LTTE at the incident site.
Troops found bunkers constructed
and abandoned by the LTTE cadres using canopies supplied by the
UNHCR meant to provide shelter for IDP at Kajuwatte and Panichchankerni
in the Batticaloa district.
The SLA chief Sarath Fonseka has
said that the LTTE would be driven out of the Eastern province
"so that civilians could pursue their daily lives peacefully."
The SLA said that the strength
of the LTTE has been weakened since the Karuna faction broke away
in March 2004. "But, this is not the first instance the LTTE has
lost its hold in the Eastern province. During the period 1993
- 1994, LTTE influence was swept away under then Commander Eastern
province Brigadier Lucky Algama," it said.
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December 14
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The UNICEF officials in the Batticaloa
district hand over at least 12 LTTE cadres, including five injured,
who had been forcibly recruited, to the Batticaloa Police.
Hindustan Times quoting
the pro-LTTE Website Tamil Net reports that the LTTE had
lost 818 cadres (including 250 women cadres) during various operations
this year alone. Since the death of ‘Lieutenant’ Sanker, the first
LTTE cadre to be killed in military action on November 27, 1982,
the LTTE has lost 18,742 cadres, the report added.
Anton Balasingham, political adviser
of the LTTE, passes away in London after a spell of illness. A
close associate of LTTE chief Velupillai Prabakaran, Balasingham
had participated as chief negotiator of the LTTE in almost all
political negotiations, beginning with the Thimpu talks in 1985.
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December 15
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Seven internally displaced civilians
traveling from Kathiraveli to Vaharai in the Batticaloa district
in a tractor are killed when an artillery shell fired by the SLA
explodes their vehicle.
Four unidentified assailants shot
dead a civilian, identified as Ambikaipahar Manickavasagar, in
the Vepankulam area of Vavuniya district.
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December 17
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The LTTE is believed to be facing
its worst shortage of ammunition, particularly mortar and artillery
rounds, as troops continue to intensify pressure on the outfit
in the Eastern region. Quoting a recent LTTE signal monitored
in the East, an unnamed official said the LTTE is desperately
seeking to smuggle in fresh consignments of ammunition. Senior
military officials said the LTTE would not be able to mount major
offensives in the Eastern province due to a shrinking arsenal.
The CID investigating the mysterious
disappearance of the Eastern University V.C., Sivasubramanium
Ravindranath, since December 15, has uncovered that his temporary
driver had maintained links with the LTTE.
SLA states that a total of 13,910
civilians have vacated the un-cleared areas (areas not under Government
control) of Vakarai in Batticaloa district and reached troops
at Riditenna and Valachchenai since November 1.
The U.S. is to release financial
aid to Sri Lanka to meet with the unexpected refugee situation
in the country, the White House announced.
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December 18
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Three civilians are shot dead
by ‘pistol gang’ cadres of the LTTE at Chenkaladi in the Batticaloa
district.
The LTTE warns the Army that they
would resort to pre-emptive strikes if the military pushes ahead
with a declared plan to drive them out of the outfit-held territory
in the East.
The Army accuses the LTTE of forcibly
detaining the refugees and civilian population in the areas under
its control and using them as "human shields".
The military has hemmed the LTTE
in to a 14-mile (22-km) stretch of coastline around Vakarai and
has already driven the outfit out of territory near the strategic
northeastern port of Trincomalee further north.
Australian Foreign Minister, Alexander
Downer, addressing a gathering on terrorism and Islamic extremism
at the IISS in London stated that Australia is considering a ban
on the LTTE.
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December 19
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LTTE cadres lob a hand grenade
at the Kalmunai political office of the TMVP in the Ampara district,
the political wing of the outfit’s breakaway faction led by ‘Colonel’
Karuna, killing two of the TMVP cadres and injuring another.
The LTTE breakaway faction led
by ‘Colonel’ Karuna warns it would be forced to take its fight
against the LTTE to Government-controlled areas in the East if
the Government failed to assure the security of political cadres
of the group.
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December 20
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At least three cadres of the LTTE
breakaway faction led by ‘Colonel’ Karuna are killed in a clash
with the LTTE in Vavuniya district.
Military spokesman Brig. Prasad
Samarasinghe accuses LTTE of abducting at least 455 underage combatants
from Government-controlled areas this year and asked the outfit
to stop the practice.
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December 22
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The LTTE warns that ongoing violence
in Eastern Sri Lanka would escalate into a full-scale war.
The Media Center For National
Security said that troops are determined to drive out the outfit
from Vakarai, Kadiraweli, Komathalamadu, Palchanai and Panichchankerni
north in the Eastern Province ‘until the last civilian is freed
from the clutches of the LTTE.
The establishment of the IIGEP
of Sri Lanka has come to the final stage with the EU announcing
its nominee for the monitoring panel. EU Commissioner for External
Relations Benita Ferrero-Waldner has nominated former French Minister
Bernard Kouchner as the EU nominee for the IIGEP.
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December 23
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Unidentified assailants shot dead
two civilians, identified as Navaratnam Sivendran and Sellathamby
Gunasingham, injure six others in the Puthukudiruppu area of Batticaloa
district.
The Northern Province Governor,
Rear Admiral (Retd) Mohan Wijewickrama confirms that the de-merger
of the northeast province is proceeding as planned.
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December 24
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Two local LTTE cadres, Jegan and
Maradijaan, are killed and six others sustain injuries in a retaliatory
fire by STF personnel in the Kanchanakuda area of Ampara district.
Suleiman, the general manager
of the Jordanian ship, Farha III, owned by the International Al
Salam (Peace) Company for Trade and Transport, states that the
ship's 25 crewmembers have been released and are handed over to
the ICRC and would be heading to the Sri Lanka capital of Colombo.
The SLN brushes off speculation
that the Jordanian ship, which drifted towards Mullaitivu seas
following a technical failure, was carrying arms to the LTTE.
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December 25
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Three soldiers, identified as
Lance Corporal P.A.A. Pushpa Kumara, Private H.R. Dayarathna Bandara,
and Private A.M.P.K. Ariyarathne are killed when the LTTE cadres
triggere a claymore mine targeting an Army patrol in the Kudamiyan
north area of Jaffna district.
Security forces retaliate when
LTTE cadres lob two hand grenades towards troops who were conducting
a search and clear operation at Nayanyurai, injuring nine soldiers.
During subsequent search, troops recovere four dead bodies of
the outfit cadres.
The LTTE releases the 25-member
crew, including 13 Jordanians, 11 Egyptians and an Iraqi captain,
of the captured Jordanian ship Farha 111, which was carrying rice
from India to South Africa.
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December 27
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Two LTTE cadres are killed in
a clash that ensued between SFs and the outfit’s cadres when they
attempted to infiltrate the Muhamalai FDL in the Jaffna district.
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December 28
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Three soldiers are killed and
an equal number of them are injured in a LTTE-triggere claymore
mine explosion at Chavakachcheri in the Jaffna district.
The TULF President, V. Anandasangaree,
urges President Mahinda Rajapakse to put the de-merger of the
northeast province on hold on the plea that it would only strengthen
the LTTE.
According to the MCNS figures,
23095 civilians have arrived to the Government controlled areas
in the Eastern Province since November 1.
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December 29
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Galgamuwa Police in the Puttalam
district recovers the dead bodies of two PLOTE members, abducted
earlier by the LTTE on December 27, from the Simbalangamuwa area
on the Kurunegala – Anuradhapura main road.
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December 30
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LTTE cadres, hiding inside the
IDP’s camp, open fire towards a group of soldiers distributing
foodstuff and medicine to the refugees at the Parangiyamadu IDP
centre in the Kiren area of Batticaloa district. In the retaliatory
fire, troops kill three LTTE cadres.
One soldier is killed and two
others sustain injuries in a LTTE artillery fire towards Kaddu
Murivlikulam in the Welikanda region of Polonnaruwa district.
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December 31
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President Mahinda Rajapakse states
that his Government was committed to keep the process of negotiations
with the LTTE open in order to solve the ethnic separatist conflict.
The SLMM said it would curtail
its monitoring activities for a "short period" as it re-groups
and reconsiders its operations in the wake of continuing hostilities
between Government troops and the LTTE. All SLMM district offices
will remain open during the workshop early this month but the
monitoring activities will be reduced though not completely suspended,
an SLMM spokesperson said adding that the monitors were yet to
fix a date for the regrouping in Colombo.
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