07 January
● The SLA in Jaffna announced a curfew from 6:00 p.m. until further notice near its Thenmaradchi FDL. The curfew covers Kachchai, Usan, Kodikamam and Meesalai south which are densely populated besides Muhamalai, Kilali and Kachai coast in Thenmaradchi FDL areas.
● Six civilians were seriously injured in a bomb explosion in the Central camp area in Amparai district, near a shop which sells agricultural products and chicken feed. The bomb had been hidden near the shop targeting a STF road patrol unit in Amparai Central camp area. The seriously injured are S. Tharamalingam, W. M. Kulathunga, A. M. M. Harun, A. L. Naufer, A. L. Naushath and I. M. Abeyaratna.
● Unidentified persons triggered a claymore device at Maharambaikulam in Vavuniya seriously injuring two SLA troopers. Police claimed a youth who is said to have triggered the claymore device died when a hand grenade he had on him exploded after having escaped from the site of the claymore attack. The youth killed was identified as Manoharan Mathanarajah, 23 of Konthakarakulam in Vavuniya, according to the information on the identity card found on his body.
● Three STF personnel were injured in a retaliation attack by the LTTE when the STF and police tried to penetrate into LTTE held Kanchikudicharu in Amparai district. The police and STF, from their camps in Thirukovil and Kanchirankuda, jointly attempted to penetrate into LTTE held Kanchikudicharu, in an attack lasting nearly an hour.
● Vavuniya police recovered the dead bodies of two youths at Pandarikulam area in Vavuniya. The two youths had been strangled to death.
● A man, identified as Arulappan Theivendran, 38, was shot dead by unidentified men at Neruyakulam in the Cheddikulam area.
● Seevaratnam Niranjan, 30, a father of three residing at Mootha Vinayagar Road, Nallur, Jaffna, was abducted by SLA personnel who arrived at his residence in a white van, according to complaint lodged by his wife at the Jaffna office of the SLHRC. She stated that she will be able to identify the security personnel involved, as she has seen them patrolling the streets near their home.
● Kanthiyalagan Srikanth, 21, of Navalar Road, Jaffna, a G C E Advanced Level student following AAT computer course, returning in the afternoon from his friend's home in Urumpirai disappeared without any trace.
● Subramaniam Selvarajah, 24, of Muthumari Amman Kovilady, Alvai in Vadamaradchchy, disappeared while proceeding towards Nelliady to purchase some provisions. Relatives claimed that they witnessed Selvarajah being interrogated by SLA soldiers.
● Eravur police recovered the body of a young fisherman with gunshot injuries in a jungle area in Savukkady, a coastal hamlet in the Eravur police division in Batticaloa. He was identified as Subramaniam Indran, 27, a family man from Arumugathan Kuddiruppu, Eravur, who had gone to Savukkady Saturday evening and had not returned home by Sunday morning. The police conducted a search and found Indran's body at Savukkady.
06 January
● A bus explosion on Galle Road, at Seenigama in Meetiyagoda Police area in Galle District claimed 15 lives and injured more than 40 (see separate story).
● Three SLA soldiers were killed when a civilian vehicle, which the troopers at Varikkuddiyar SLA camp commandeered to transport soldiers, was hit by a claymore mine blast at Thaddankulam, Vavuniya. A civilian was killed and another injured in the blast. Three SLA troopers and the owner of the vehicle, Rasanayagam Sharmilan, 32, were killed on the spot. The driver of the vehicle, Aarumugam Vaseekaran, 29 suffered minor injuries. Sharmilan and his driver went to collect sand when they were stopped by the SLA soldiers at Varikkuddiyar SLA camp on the Poovarasankulam - Cheddikulam road and ordered to transport 5 soldiers, two of them in military fatigues, to Cheddikulam. The vehicle was hit by the blast after it had passed the hamlet of Thaddankulam.
● A Sri Lanka military ship scheduled to transport civilians and military personnel to Trincomalee from KKS Harbour was cancelled as clashes erupted in the seas off Nagarkovil in Vadamaradchi East. Around 350 civilians who were transported to KKS HSZ from Jaffna were sent back. Gunshots and heavy rocket fire were heard in the seas off Nagarkovil.
● A SLA soldier was killed in a claymore attack near Uduvil SLA camp. The claymore was placed in front of a canteen run by the SLA, inside a military HSZ. The Uduvil camp serves as the nerve center for SLA's intelligence operation in Jaffna district. The soldier succumbed to his injuries while being taken to hospital.
● Two women were injured in a blast near Jaffna Secretariat at Kachcheri - Nallur road, near the abandoned Jaffna railway station. One of them, Ponnuthurai Philomina, 57, of Somasunderam road in Chundikuli succumbed to her injuries at hospital. The other woman was identified as K. Thiloshini.
● Armed men opened fire on a police jeep at Savukkady in Thalavai in the Eravur police division in Batticaloa, seriously injuring three policemen. The attack was on a police unit returning from a refugee camp at Savukkady in Thalavai.
● Sri Lankan Police, without producing any warrant, raided the Colombo office of the Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation and searched the office, NGO officials at the TRO office in Colombo told media. The raid follows raids on Vavuniya and Trincomalee offices Friday. "The continuous harassment of TRO is having a tremendously negative impact on the delivery of humanitarian assistance to the affected people of the NorthEast," the TRO, the only organization working in some of the most severely affected parts of the NorthEast, said in a press statement. Four TRO officials and workers were taken to the Police station at 3:30 pm and it was not until 9:30 pm that the last male employee was released, according to a TRO press statement.
05 January
● Six persons were killed in an explosion inside a bus at Kalapittiya near Nittambuwa, 36 km northeast of Colombo. Around fifty passengers were wounded, 10 seriously, as the bus, on its way to Giriulla from Nittambuwa, caught fire following the explosion (see separate story).
● Two Agriculture Department officials were killed and 2 wounded when a vehicle belonging to the department, transporting fruit plants, was hit by a Sri Lankan DPU claymore mine blast in Nedunkerni, 37 km northeast of Vavuniya. One of the two claymore mines triggered by the DPU attackers exploded. The SLA launched an artillery attack, firing around 25 shells towards the attack site, after the claymore explosion. The officials killed were identified as Agriculture Officer (AO) Tharmalingam Ganesalingam, 59, father of 3 and Subject Matter Officer (SMO) Vetrivel Mahendran, 52, a father of 3. Two seriously wounded, identified as K. Kurukulasingham, 53, an agriculture staff and Arumugam Sithiravelautham, the driver of the department vehicle, were rushed to Nedunkerni hospital and transferred to Vavuniya hospital. Mr. Sithiraveluatham is in critical state, according to Vavuniya hospital. ICRC official from Vavuniya, Meytrauo Claire, together with Sri Lanka Red Cross (SLRC) officials facilitated the transport of the dead and wounded.
● Two SLN sailors were injured in a claymore attack at Allesgarden area along Trincomalee-Nilaveli road. The truck transporting SLN personnel returning home on leave hit a claymore mine along the roadside. More troops rushed to site and launched a cordon and search operation blocking the transport services between Nilaveli and Trincomalee.
● Armed men opened fire at Sector 3, Thalikulam on Mannar road in Vavuniya on policemen staying in a temporary camp, killing one policeman on the spot and seriously injuring another. The attackers shot with pistols targeting the policemen in the camp. Residents said heavy gunfire was heard from the site as police clashed with the attackers.
● Sri Lankan STF personnel and the Police simultaneously stormed the regional offices of the Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation in Trincomalee and Vavuniya, and interrogated the NGO officials who were present at the offices seizing all the documents. Four TRO workers were taken by the STF and the police from the Vavuniya office. Administrative Officer of the TRO in Vavuniya, Sathiyamoorthy, Programme Officer P. Thevarajah, Accountant Nirosha and Office Assistant Priya were taken by the SLA and the Police, TRO officials in Colombo told media. All the documents at the office were seized by the military and the police and taken in a lorry to Vavuniya Police station.
● Gunmen riding a motorbike shot and killed a 27-year old man in Adiyapatham Road in Kokuvil. A group known as Ellalan Padai claimed responsibility for the killing. In the same incident, another youth who was standing by the street was injured.
Navaratnam Manoraj from Manipay was identified as the victim in the Kokuvil shooting. Ellalan Padai accused Manoraj of being involved in anti-social activities. The injured youth was identified as R. Maheswaran, 26, from Raja Veethy Kopay.
● Three civilians were shot dead in Trincomalee and their bodies were found with gunshot injuries, one at Chelvanayakapuram, about 2 km off north of east port town and the other two at Allesgarden. Uppuveli Police said the victims, between the ages 19 and 30, were Tamils.
04 January
● Seven civilians were injured, two critically, when SLAF Kfir jets bombed a tsunami resettlement village in Alampil in Mullaithivu district during the third day of SLAF bombers targeting coastal areas in Mullaithivu. The critically injured, Muthurajah Moses, 9, and Mrs. Nesamany Mariyanayagam, 61, were admitted to the Mullaithivu Government hospital and the others returned home after treatment. A surveillance drone belonging to the SLAF was observed from 5:30 a.m. in the area and Kfir jets followed, dropping eight bombs on the hamlet. Several temporary houses were destroyed and permanent houses built by Non Governmental Organizations were damaged in the bombing.
● A SLA soldier was killed and two wounded when a group of attackers triggered a claymore mine targeting a SLA vehicle in Pirappumadu, Vavuniya, a predominantly Sinhala settlement.
● Gunmen in a white van abducted an employee from the humanitarian de-mining organization ‘Halo Trust’, an international NGO functioning in the Jaffna peninsula. Subramaniam Parameswaran, 29, of Racca Road, Jaffna, was at home with his wife and two children when unidentified persons in a white van held his wife and children at gunpoint and abducted him forcefully, his wife, Esther Marilyn Parameswaran, told the officials of the SLHRC, Jaffna branch. So far, eight employees from ‘Halo Trust’ have been either killed or abducted and disappeared in Jaffna Peninsula.
● An employee of Danish Demining Organisation, another NGO in Jaffna peninsula, sought refugee with the SLHRC Jaffna office, saying that he fears death at the hands of the SLA and the Tamil paramilitary cadres operating with it. The young deminer, a resident on Palaly road in Punalikattuvan, working for the Danish organisation, said to the SLHRC Jaffna office that on January 1, he and his friends going along Palaly road were chased by armed men on three motorcycles trying to shoot them. He had managed to escape while his friends had been caught and subjected to torture by those who had chased them. The young man further said to the SLHRC that he had gone underground from January 1 before seeking refuge now.
● Two brothers of a youth abducted from his Kokuvil residence by armed men alleged to be SLA troopers and Tamil paramilitary members Tuesday midnight, surrendered at the SLHRC Jaffna office, fearing for their lives. The youths were placed in protective custody of Jaffna prison. 30 unidentified armed men had gone to Varaki Amman Kovilady road at Kokuvil west in Jaffna to the residence of Ravidran Rajinthan and forced him into their vehicle. His father, who tried to prevent him being taken way, was shot and seriously injured. 33 youths, including the two who sought asylum at the SLHRC Friday, have been placed in the safety of Jaffna prison.
● Family members of a final year science faculty student from Kokuvil East Jaffna, missing since Wednesday, registered a complaint with the SLHRC Jaffna office that they suspect the student has been abducted. Arunagirinathan Niruparaj, 25, senior student in Jaffna campus mysteriously disappeared while engaged in moving from his house to another house in Kokuvil. His footwear and motor cycle, left abandoned in the house, showed evidence that he had been taken away forcibly.
● Armed men in a white van abducted Thuraisingham Balraj, 23, employed in the postal department, from his house on Chemani road at Nallur.
● Armed men arriving at the house of Thiraviyam Satkunam, 30, at Vathiri, Karavedy in Vadmaradchi, shot and seriously injured him. He died the following day at Jaffna Teaching Hospital from gunshot wounds to the head.
● Welikanda police recovered two claymore devices in a house near a police sentry post in Senapura-Kattuvanvila area in Welikanda police division, on a tip received from local residents, and arrested two persons on suspicion. Kattuvanvila is predominantly a Muslim area and the two arrested persons are Muslims.
● Two policemen were injured in a mortar attack at Chalampaikulam on Mannar road, seriously injuring two policemen.
03 January
● SLAF Kfir jets bombed Verugal areas in LTTE controlled territory in Trincomalee district. The SLAF claimed that identified LTTE targets were bombed. Casualty information was not released.
● The entire population of Kokupadaiyan village in Mannar district sought refuge in adjacent villages due to fear following the previous day’s aerial strike on Padahuthurai by the SLAF. Kokupadaiyan village is in area controlled by the LTTE. About 269 members of 63 families fled from Kokupadaiyan village and sought refuge in villages in Pontheivukandal and Neelamadu in Nanattan Divisional Secretariat Division in Mannar district.
● A Tamil mother and her daughter were arrested by the Maskeliya Police in the central province on receipt of information that they had taken photographs of the Mousakelle reservoir, in a HSZ. The mother and daughter were residents of Jaffna and now residing in Colombo. They had gone to see their relatives in Maskeliya.
● Armed men abducted Thavanayagam Tharsan 16, a grade 10 student at Pethalai Vipulananda Vidyalayam, at Pethalai in Valaichenai police division in Batticaloa. He was abducted near a shop at Pethalai Ramanan junction, as he was on his way to attend a personal errand.
● Gunmen shot dead a young woman at Pt. Pedro, Jaffna. Two armed men on a motorcycle called Ms. Kamalini Kanapathippillai, 30, out of her house at Vallipura Pariyariar Road in Point Pedro, Vadamaradchi shot her dead and escaped.
● Armed men shot and seriously injured Karthikesu Kirushnathas, 53, a family man from Kudathanai, Vadamaradchchi east in the HSZ. He stopped his motor cycle by road side to allow a SLA convoy to pass along the Jaffna-Pt. Pedro Road. Two unidentified men who appeared behind him shot and injured him while he was about to resume his journey.
● Armed men opened fire on the SLA camp near Udupiddy junction in Vadamaradchi. Following the attack, the SLA began reinforcing security around camps at Navindil, Thikkam, northern coast of Vadamaradchi, Alvai and Vallai. The roads in front of these camps were closed for public and all vehicles and persons using the roads were forced to use vacant tracts of land nearby. The residents along these roads were directed by the SLA to keep their main gates and entrances always open and to remove fences and other obstructions, allowing free movement for its troopers.
02 January
● SLAF bombers killed at least 16 civilians, including 6 children, and seriously wounding 35 civilians at the coastal hamlet of Padahuthurai, in Mannar (see separate story).
● SLAF Kfir jets bombed Panichchenkerny area in Vaharai region in LTTE controlled Batticaloa district. The remaining local residents and the Internally Displaced Persons fled in panic and gathered around the Vaharai Government hospital for protection. No casualties were reported from the bombing.
● Soldiers from the Vavunathivu SLA camp fired mortar and artillery shells on LTTE held areas in Vavunathivu, Batticaloa. SLA spokesperson Prasath Samarasinghe said the attack was retaliation for LTTE artillery fire on Vavunathivu SLA camp during which one SLA trooper was injured. Unconfirmed reports said that a sentry point on the LTTE FDL caught fire in the attack.
● Four SLA troopers were injured in a mortar attack launched by the Liberation Tigers on a SLA sentry post along the western boundary of Vaharai. SLA troops from their camps are continually launching rocket fire on Vaharai areas causing residents to live in fear and anxiety, reports said.
● Unidentified persons triggered a claymore device at Thonikal area in Vavuniya, seriously injuring two police constables in an attack targeting a police road patrol unit.
The police and the SLA conducted a search operation in the area immediately after the attack.
● More than 30 armed men went on motorcycles to M. Raveendran's house at Vasuki Amman Kovialady in Kokuvil and shot and injured his father when he tried to stop them from taking his son away. The injured, S. Ravindran, 40, could not be immediately taken to the hospital due to a SLA imposed curfew.
● Armed men went to the house of V. Kamalanathan, 56, a family man, in Kokuvil and cut him with swords causing serious injuries.
● Three youths passing by the SLA camp near Kulapitty junction in Kokuvil were detained by the troopers for interrogation and are reported missing.
● Unidentified persons lobbed a hand grenade on the SLA sentry post near Arasady junction in Nallur, Jaffna. This was followed by indiscriminate gunfire from the SLA camps in Nallur, Kalviyankadu and Thirunelvely but no one was injured.
01 January
● The SLA launched mortar fire from their camps in Kiran, Chenkalady Black Bridge and Vavunathivu towards LTTE held Vavunathivu, Kurinchamunai, Navatkadu, Pankudaveli, Illupayadichenai and Pulipainthakal areas. The SLA said that the attack was in retaliation to earlier LTTE attacks on their camps.
● Three SLA troopers were killed when gunmen exchanged gunfire with SLA foot patrol in Maanaandi Junction in Thikkam, in Vadamaradchy north. The fire fight lasted nearly 45 minutes. Palaly High Command acknowledged the attacks but did not give details of casualties.
● Gunmen in Navindil, near Nelliady Junction along Point Pedro, Jaffna Road, fired at an SLA foot patrol. The fire fight lasted 10 minutes and no casualties were reported. Following the attack, the SLA closed the Jaffna-Point Pedro road for more than two hours and detained fifteen youths for further investigations.
● A SLA soldier was killed and another four injured in a claymore mine attack at Naavalady in the coastal village of Inparuddy in Vadamaradchi north, on the Jaffna peninsula. SLA troopers were on a routine patrol when they were hit by the road side blast. The area was cordoned off and searched by the troopers. Villagers said about 15 youths were arrested by the troops and taken to local SLA camp.
● Armed men attacked police constables in two separate incidents at Poonthotam junction and near the welfare centre in Poonthotam in Vavuniya. Two police constables were injured in the attack near the welfare centre but no one was injured in the attack at Poonthotam junction. Though gun shots were also heard in Kurumankadu area no one was reported hurt.
● Four bullet ridden bodies of abducted civilians were recovered by Police – two in the nearby jungle area and two near the Post Office – in Damana in Amparai district. Unidentified persons abducted 5 civilians from the area Saturday and killed the 4 aged people, leaving only an 18 year old boy. The victims were identified as Ms. M. Kusumavathy, 65, Ms. K. Mallika, 44, T.M. Suthubanda, 60, and A. Karunarathne, 54.
● An employee of the Bugmitiya Post Office was injured and admitted to the Amparai General Hospital when unidentified persons fired at him at Bugmitiya in Damana Police division while he was on his way to work.
