13 May
● A Buddhist monk who worked for peaceful coexistence among ethnic communities, was shot and killed in Trincomalee. Venerable Nandaratena Thera, the Chief Priest of the Mahadiulwewa Buddhist Rajamaha Vihare in Morawewa, Trincomalee, had participated in many events, including Pongu Tamil in 2005 in the eastern port town. The assassins went to the Vihare by motor cycle, called the priest out and fired at him, fleeing the scene immediately after the shooting. Morawewa and Mahadiulwewa were earlier known as Muthalikulam and Maha Vilankulam in Tamil. Both were traditional Tamil areas until successive governments implemented state aided colonization schemes in Trincomalee. Both villages are now Sinhalese dominated and their names have also been changed from Tamil into Sinhala.
● The SLA imposed restrictions on the sale of fuel in Mannar district. Fuel stations in Mannar town were ordered to sell a maximum of five litres of diesel to each vehicle and three litres of petrol to each motor cycle on any given day. Residents are allowed buy five litres of kerosene per day for domestic purposes. The fuel stations were further instructed not to sell fuel in plastic containers.
● More than 600 SLA soldiers cordoned off a large area in Kaithady, Jaffna, and conducted house-to-house search. Local residents were asked to remain inside their houses until the operation was completed. Locals were body searched and national identity cards for young men and women were examined. No one was arrested during the operations.
● SLA troopers on night patrol shot dead a security guard at Chandilipai, Jaffna. The SLA claimed they shot Nagarasa Wijayakumar, 32, a family man from Manipai, employed as a night security guard at the Divisional Secretariat, when he failed to stop at their command and tried to flee. They also said they recovered a hand grenade from his body.
● Armed men shot dead a youth at his house in Kanakipuram in Akkaraipattu, Amparai. Murugesupillai Ananthan, 22, a labourer and the father of two, was called out of his house and shot.
● SLA troopers opened fire on civilians fishing in a lake at Thampanam Veli, along the Chengkaladi-Badulla road in Batticaloa, seriously wounding a youth from the refugee camp at Aiyangeani village in Eravur. His father narrowly escaped injuries. Saravanapavan Pirabu, 18, is an IDP, displaced from Pankudaveli, in LTTE held territory, when the SLA launched offensives on his village. He and his father Nesathurai Sarvanapavan, 37, had been fishing in the lake when they were fired at. Many civilians from villages like Koduvamadu and Thampanam had to flee their villages as the SLA established new camps in these areas.
12 May
● The body of a youth, estimated to be about 25 years, was found along V.H Lane in Irupaalai East, Jaffna. The body had several gunshot wounds to the head and upper body, and was dressed in black trousers and a brown shirt. Residents speculated that the youth was killed in another location and the body dumped at Irupaalai. They added that sounds of vehicular activity were heard late the previous night from that location.
● Armed men in a white van forcibly abducted a youth from Vaddukoddai, Jaffna. Rasalingam Nagarajah, 22, originally from Thoppukadu, Karainagar, was abducted from his temporary residence in Vaddukkoddai, in the presence of his father.
● A postman working at the Kaithadi post office disappeared on his way to work by bus. SLA troopers had taken postman Subramaniam Sivatharsan, 28, for investigation the previous day and he was released after being severely tortured. The troopers confiscated his motor cycle and his National Identity card before releasing him, forcing him to take the bus to work the next day, during which time he disappeared.
● Regular prayers and religious functions in Hindu Temples in Velanai, Kayts, and in the other Jaffna islets in general, have come to a standstill following the killing of the main priest in one temple and the arrests of the chief priest and custodian of another temple in Velanai by the SLN in late April, early May. Hindu priests who attend to the temple poojas and serve as key social facilitators for religiously conservative residents of rural Tamil villages, are increasingly fearful of the harassment and ire directed against them by the SLN, and are refusing to attend to temple activities. Many priests have relocated to other areas, fearing for their lives. Ratnasabapathy Aiyar Somaskantha Kurukkal, 60, chief priest of Mudippillaiyar Hindu Temple was shot dead by SLN soldiers on 30 April. Subsequently, on May 3, SLN soldiers arrested the chief priest and the Trustee Board Chairman of Perunkulam Muththumaariamman Hindu temple at Velanai following alleged discovery of ammunition at the temple premises.
11 May
● Sivaraj Paheerathan, a Jaffna University student kept in remand since his arrest on August 18, was released by the Colombo Chief Magistrate following a report from the Attorney General that there was no evidence to charge him under the Emergency Regulations or to detain him under the PTA. Paheerathan was taken into custody from the office of the Jaffna University Students Union, in the premises of Jaffna University, during a cordon and search operation by the SLA in the area. The SLA claimed he was in possession of leaflets issued by an organization called Peoples Liberation Army at the time of arrest. Later he was handed over to the Kankesanthurai Police, from where he was airlifted to Colombo.
● Armed men in a white van forcibly abducted a disabled family man from Kalaivani Road in Pandaitharippu, Jaffna. Theiventhiran Ragunathan, 36, of Vadaliyadaippu, had been living with relatives after being displaced from his home due to SLA offensives.
● Gnanaseelan Asokan, 24, of Nallur, Jaffna went missing on May 11 after going to Nallur temple to pray.
● An auto driver who disappeared on May 4, after going to Kokkuvil SLA camp for interrogation, was released by the SLA after being severely tortured in detention. Thurai Tharmalingam, 38, is from Raasa Veethi, Kalviyangkaadu, Jaffna. Kokkuvil SLA camp officials had earlier denied that they arrested Tharmalingam when approached by his wife.
● SLA troopers distributed notices listing the names of principals of leading schools in Jaffna town and some students, branding them members of the LTTE. The notice warned those listed that they would be killed if they failed to give up "terrorist activities." It was signed by a group calling itself 'Tamil Alliance to Save Sri Lanka'.
● The Colombo Chief Magistrate ordered remand until May 17 for a Jaffna Tamil woman charged with failing to register her name with Wellawatte Police. Ms Balasubramaniam Wimala Indra of Jaffna had travelled to Colombo and stayed with relatives in Wellawatte while waiting for documents that would enable her to travel to Germany. During a cordon and search operation she was taken into custody when she failed to produce the registration of her presence in the area with Wellawatte Police. When she was produced in court after 21 days in remand, the Terrorist Intelligence Department argued that she should be remanded until the investigation against her is completed. The Magistrate said that the police had informed her orally and in writing that the woman is suspected to be involved with terrorist activity and that therefore she did not have the authority to discharge the woman or release her on bail.
● Gunmen shot and killed a Samurthi officer at Nattpiddimunai in Kalmunai, Amparai. Yogarasa Thivaharan, 38, a father of one, was rushed to hospital in a critical condition but succumbed to his injuries. Originally from Karaitheevu, Thivaharan had married at Nattpiddimunai and was employed at the Samurthi Tamil Section in Kalmunai. The gunmen called him out of his house and shot him dead.
● A fuel station in Valaichennai, Batticaloa, owned by a Tamil business man, was attacked by a mob of more than 200 Muslims. The station is near the local railway station and is in an area regularly patrolled by Sri Lankan armed forces. The mob attacked the fuel station soon after Friday prayers and caused damages estimated to be more than Rs.500,000. SLA soldiers and traffic policemen were on duty at the time of the incident and Valaichennai police station is 150 metres from the petrol station. The owner, G. Somakanthan, said that even after he reported the impending attack to Valaichennai police, the police did not come to his aid. Only after he informed Batticaloa police chief, did the police intervene to bring the situation under control, he said.
● Three MiG-27 fast attack aircrafts belonging to the SLAF dropped 12 bombs in two sorties on Kaively Puthukkudiyiruppu in Mullaitheevu, causing damage to civilian residences. Two MiG-27s had dropped eight bombs in the same area the previous day. Local residents trained in safety measures escaped injuries by taking refuge inside bunkers during the air-attacks. Five houses were damaged by the two air attacks. Two 100kg gravity bombs fell near the house of a local resident, Suresh, who was hiding inside the bunker with his two children and escaped unhurt. More than 500 students in nearby Kaively Ganesha Vidiyalayam also scattered and took refuge inside school bunkers at the sound of the aircrafts.
10 May
● Two SLAF MIG fighter jets bombed Puthukkudiyiruppu in Mullaiththeevu. The MIG bombers flew at a very low altitude, causing panic among the villagers at Karnan Kudiyiruppu.
● Forty-five youths, placed in the protective custody in Jaffna prison after they sought protection fearing death from SLA soldiers and SLA-backed paramilitaries, were produced at Jaffna Magistrate Courts, and are to be released due to deteriorating hygiene conditions in the prison. 34 were released on surety bail of a relative, while nine did not want to leave the safety of the prison. Another two were not allowed bail as there are police cases filed against them.
● Armed men shot dead a building contractor in his house at Puthukkudiyruppu, Valaichennai, Batticaloa. Illayathamby Thayan, 37, a father of two from Puthukkudiyruppu, had worked as a building contractor for more than ten years and his wife is a Samudri Officer at Mangeani village.
● The EPDP paramilitary group led by Siva, operating from a SLA camp at Valaichennai fishing harbour in Batticaloa, is demanding that building contractors in Valaichennai provide bricks, sand and cement to build SLA sentry posts. Some contractors have been called to the EPDP office and had money demanded from them, while others have been threatened in their homes at nights for not complying. Two contractors have left Valaichennai to live in Batticaloa town, fearing for their lives.
● An attacker threw a hand grenade at a refugee camp at Saratha Vidyalayam in Manchaththoduvay, Kathankudi, Batticaola, injuring ten civilians, including four women. The incident occurred as civilians in the refugee camp were watching television outside their tents. The victims have been identified as Kanapathypillai Arasaratnam, Velayutham Segar, Sivarasa Nirmala, Sivarasa Suthagar, Packiyarajah Kalaimathy, Thiyagarajah Sivarasa, Mailvaganam Malini, Sabapathy Rajanikanth, Sinrasa Sinnathamby, and Sasikaran Viyakumar. Nearly 200 families displaced from Muthur and Sampur areas in Trincomalee currently live in temporary tents in the camp.
9 May
● The bodies of five youths, suspected to be paramilitaries belonging to a breakaway faction of the Karuna Group, were recovered buried in Kiran, Eravur, Batticaloa. One of the bodies was identified as that of Sinthujan alias Johnson Jeyakanthan, 31, a key Karuna Group operative. On the same day, gunmen shot and killed Johnson, 56, Sinthujan’s father, at his house in Kalvanchikudi, Batticaloa. P. Sumanathas, another suspected Karuna Group operative, was also abducted from his house in Kolaavillai, Amparai, and killed.
● A Sub Inspector attached to the Vellaaveli STF camp was killed during an attack aimed at SFT troopers in a security patrol in Vellaaveli, Batticaloa. M. P. De Silva, 41, succumbed to his injuries at hospital.
● Armed men in unnumbered vehicles abducted a Tamil youth travelling in a Muthur-to-Batticaloa bound bus
● Five workers were killed and another four injured when a boiler exploded in a rice mill in Saainthamaruthu, Kalmunai, Amparai. Three died on the spot and later two succumbed to burn injuries. A Ceylon Electricity Board transformer near the mill was also badly damaged in the explosion.
● Armed men shot dead Kalikutty Ramanan at Raja-Ela in Kanthalai, Trincomalee.
8 May
● Three men armed with T56 rifles forced their way into the house of Thavarasa Sujitharan, 19, along Kodikaamam-Point Pedro road at Yaththaalai, Varani, Jaffna, and shot him dead at point blank range. Sujitharan tried to escape running inside a room and locking himself but the killers forced open the door and sprayed him with bullets. Sujitharan’s house is in a SLA HSZ where the 52nd Brigade Base is also located.
● The TNA parliamentary group said they would join a peninsula wide school boycott if four Jaffna district high schools students, abducted by armed men the previous Friday, were not released. A consortium of private educational institutions in Jaffna had already urged the abductors to release the students and accused the SLA of complicity in the abductions. A number of student organizations appealed to the students for a peninsula wide boycott of schools, warning that the boycott would continue indefinitely until the students are released.
● Unidentified men in white vans abducted two Tamil youths, both natives of Jaffna, from Colombo. One youth was abducted from a telecommunication centre in Wellawatte. He had been staying in a house at Kalubowila, south of Colombo city. In the second abduction, armed men had dragged the youth from his house at Mayfield place in Kotahena, put him in a vehicle and sped away.
● Vavuniya Police said they shot dead a man, alleged to be a member of the Liberation Tigers, near Pandarikulam Amman temple road in Vavuniya. Two youths opened fire at the police, and one was killed and the other escaped when the police returned fire, the police said.
● The LTTE said they repulsed another Sri Lankan offensive along the Vavuniya Mannar border. The Tigers recovered a dead body of a Sri Lankan trooper and claimed to have seized military hardware, including an AK-LMG, following an intense fight that lasted for 30 minutes. Two LTTE fighters were killed in action. The Sri Lankan troopers, who launched the offensive towards Kurichuddakulam, west of Thampanai, were forced to withdraw after sustaining heavy casualties.
● Marimuththu Kanakamma, a mother of seven, was wounded when two SLAF bombers attacked Karnankudiyiruppu in Puthukkudiyiruppu.
7 May
● SLAF bombers dropped bombs over a fuel storage at Vaddakkachchi, Kiliniochchi. The fuel storage belonged to the Chamber of Commerce of Private Businesses in Kilinochchi. Some houses located in the vicinity of the fuel storage were also damaged in the air strike.
● LTTE officials handed over the bodies of five SLA soldiers, killed in action during a SLA offensive the previous day, to a delegation of the ICRC at Vaddakkandal, where the LTTE Mannar district political secretariat is located. The ICRC delegates then handed the bodies to SLA officials at Uyilangkulam army check point in Sri Lanka government held territory. One AK-LMG, 40 mm rocket gun with shells, seven T-56 automatic rifles, a claymore mine, RPG ammunition, 28 hand grenades and 11 bullet-proof jackets, different ammunitions and military equipments were seized by the Tigers following a search operation in the area.
● All Eravur business establishments, government schools, government offices, and banks shut down demanding the arrest of the arsonists who burnt three shops the previous morning. A consortium of mosques, Muslim organizations, and the Jamiyathul Ulama Board in the area organized the protest. Security was strengthened with a large number of police and STF personnel stationed along the main roads.
● Masked armed men shot dead Poopalapillai Chelvanayagam, 52, a labourer and father of four, outside his residence in Sooriyapuram, Kaluvanchikkudi, Batticaloa, and then fled the scene.
● Gunmen shot dead Mammangam Rasakumar, 30, an IDP employed as a shop assistant, in Koralankerni, Eravur, Batticaloa.
● SLA soldiers cordoned off and search large residential areas in Kokuvil east, Jaffna. Potpathi road, Medical Faculty road, Ka'lngkarai Road, Railway Station Road, and Temple Road areas were subjected to house-to-house search. Youths were subjected to severe interrogation.
● Armed men opened fire on the SLA Udupiddi junction camp and its sentry posts, positioning themselves between Udpuiddi junction and the road to Vathiri in Vadamaradchchi, Jaffna, blocking the road for public traffic. The fire fight lasted nearly fifteen minutes, and the attackers escaped after the exchange of fire.
● Jaffna University students boycotted lectures protesting against unlawful entry by armed men into the campus the previous Saturday morning, who destroyed memorial photographs of students killed in the conflict and stole funds raised by students to support the refugees in the east. Students from all faculties on campus joined the protest.
● TNA Jaffna parliamentarians and Jaffna Technical College (JTC) students made a public appeal calling for the immediate release of four high school students who went missing the previous week. The parliamentarians said failure to free the students, and postponing the creation of an environment conducive to learning, would result in mass protests and demonstrations by the public and student community. The SLA in Jaffna, anticipating student agitation in reaction to the abduction, deployed troopers in large numbers in front of Jaffna schools, conducting checks and blocking outsiders entering the schools.
● The SLA conducted cordon and search operation in Thiriyaai, Trincomalee, following an attack on a group of SLA soldiers the previous night in which one soldier was injured.
● Armed men shot dead a Tamil youth at Manatcheanai, in government held Muthur south, Trincomalee. A group of armed men in a white van dragged S. Sasitharan, 29, out of his house, and fired at him.
● SLA soldiers and police personnel evacuated all employees of the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC), and conducted an extensive search of the premises after they received a tip off from an unidentified source that a bomb was about to detonate within the offices. Roads leading to the CMC office and its surroundings were temporarily closed for traffic and civilian movements till the search operation was over. Nothing suspicious was found.
● A Buddhist monk who worked for peaceful coexistence among ethnic communities, was shot and killed in Trincomalee. Venerable Nandaratena Thera, the Chief Priest of the Mahadiulwewa Buddhist Rajamaha Vihare in Morawewa, Trincomalee, had participated in many events, including Pongu Tamil in 2005 in the eastern port town. The assassins went to the Vihare by motor cycle, called the priest out and fired at him, fleeing the scene immediately after the shooting. Morawewa and Mahadiulwewa were earlier known as Muthalikulam and Maha Vilankulam in Tamil. Both were traditional Tamil areas until successive governments implemented state aided colonization schemes in Trincomalee. Both villages are now Sinhalese dominated and their names have also been changed from Tamil into Sinhala.
● The SLA imposed restrictions on the sale of fuel in Mannar district. Fuel stations in Mannar town were ordered to sell a maximum of five litres of diesel to each vehicle and three litres of petrol to each motor cycle on any given day. Residents are allowed buy five litres of kerosene per day for domestic purposes. The fuel stations were further instructed not to sell fuel in plastic containers.
● More than 600 SLA soldiers cordoned off a large area in Kaithady, Jaffna, and conducted house-to-house search. Local residents were asked to remain inside their houses until the operation was completed. Locals were body searched and national identity cards for young men and women were examined. No one was arrested during the operations.
● SLA troopers on night patrol shot dead a security guard at Chandilipai, Jaffna. The SLA claimed they shot Nagarasa Wijayakumar, 32, a family man from Manipai, employed as a night security guard at the Divisional Secretariat, when he failed to stop at their command and tried to flee. They also said they recovered a hand grenade from his body.
● Armed men shot dead a youth at his house in Kanakipuram in Akkaraipattu, Amparai. Murugesupillai Ananthan, 22, a labourer and the father of two, was called out of his house and shot.
● SLA troopers opened fire on civilians fishing in a lake at Thampanam Veli, along the Chengkaladi-Badulla road in Batticaloa, seriously wounding a youth from the refugee camp at Aiyangeani village in Eravur. His father narrowly escaped injuries. Saravanapavan Pirabu, 18, is an IDP, displaced from Pankudaveli, in LTTE held territory, when the SLA launched offensives on his village. He and his father Nesathurai Sarvanapavan, 37, had been fishing in the lake when they were fired at. Many civilians from villages like Koduvamadu and Thampanam had to flee their villages as the SLA established new camps in these areas.
12 May
● The body of a youth, estimated to be about 25 years, was found along V.H Lane in Irupaalai East, Jaffna. The body had several gunshot wounds to the head and upper body, and was dressed in black trousers and a brown shirt. Residents speculated that the youth was killed in another location and the body dumped at Irupaalai. They added that sounds of vehicular activity were heard late the previous night from that location.
● Armed men in a white van forcibly abducted a youth from Vaddukoddai, Jaffna. Rasalingam Nagarajah, 22, originally from Thoppukadu, Karainagar, was abducted from his temporary residence in Vaddukkoddai, in the presence of his father.
● A postman working at the Kaithadi post office disappeared on his way to work by bus. SLA troopers had taken postman Subramaniam Sivatharsan, 28, for investigation the previous day and he was released after being severely tortured. The troopers confiscated his motor cycle and his National Identity card before releasing him, forcing him to take the bus to work the next day, during which time he disappeared.
● Regular prayers and religious functions in Hindu Temples in Velanai, Kayts, and in the other Jaffna islets in general, have come to a standstill following the killing of the main priest in one temple and the arrests of the chief priest and custodian of another temple in Velanai by the SLN in late April, early May. Hindu priests who attend to the temple poojas and serve as key social facilitators for religiously conservative residents of rural Tamil villages, are increasingly fearful of the harassment and ire directed against them by the SLN, and are refusing to attend to temple activities. Many priests have relocated to other areas, fearing for their lives. Ratnasabapathy Aiyar Somaskantha Kurukkal, 60, chief priest of Mudippillaiyar Hindu Temple was shot dead by SLN soldiers on 30 April. Subsequently, on May 3, SLN soldiers arrested the chief priest and the Trustee Board Chairman of Perunkulam Muththumaariamman Hindu temple at Velanai following alleged discovery of ammunition at the temple premises.
11 May
● Sivaraj Paheerathan, a Jaffna University student kept in remand since his arrest on August 18, was released by the Colombo Chief Magistrate following a report from the Attorney General that there was no evidence to charge him under the Emergency Regulations or to detain him under the PTA. Paheerathan was taken into custody from the office of the Jaffna University Students Union, in the premises of Jaffna University, during a cordon and search operation by the SLA in the area. The SLA claimed he was in possession of leaflets issued by an organization called Peoples Liberation Army at the time of arrest. Later he was handed over to the Kankesanthurai Police, from where he was airlifted to Colombo.
● Armed men in a white van forcibly abducted a disabled family man from Kalaivani Road in Pandaitharippu, Jaffna. Theiventhiran Ragunathan, 36, of Vadaliyadaippu, had been living with relatives after being displaced from his home due to SLA offensives.
● Gnanaseelan Asokan, 24, of Nallur, Jaffna went missing on May 11 after going to Nallur temple to pray.
● An auto driver who disappeared on May 4, after going to Kokkuvil SLA camp for interrogation, was released by the SLA after being severely tortured in detention. Thurai Tharmalingam, 38, is from Raasa Veethi, Kalviyangkaadu, Jaffna. Kokkuvil SLA camp officials had earlier denied that they arrested Tharmalingam when approached by his wife.
● SLA troopers distributed notices listing the names of principals of leading schools in Jaffna town and some students, branding them members of the LTTE. The notice warned those listed that they would be killed if they failed to give up "terrorist activities." It was signed by a group calling itself 'Tamil Alliance to Save Sri Lanka'.
● The Colombo Chief Magistrate ordered remand until May 17 for a Jaffna Tamil woman charged with failing to register her name with Wellawatte Police. Ms Balasubramaniam Wimala Indra of Jaffna had travelled to Colombo and stayed with relatives in Wellawatte while waiting for documents that would enable her to travel to Germany. During a cordon and search operation she was taken into custody when she failed to produce the registration of her presence in the area with Wellawatte Police. When she was produced in court after 21 days in remand, the Terrorist Intelligence Department argued that she should be remanded until the investigation against her is completed. The Magistrate said that the police had informed her orally and in writing that the woman is suspected to be involved with terrorist activity and that therefore she did not have the authority to discharge the woman or release her on bail.
● Gunmen shot and killed a Samurthi officer at Nattpiddimunai in Kalmunai, Amparai. Yogarasa Thivaharan, 38, a father of one, was rushed to hospital in a critical condition but succumbed to his injuries. Originally from Karaitheevu, Thivaharan had married at Nattpiddimunai and was employed at the Samurthi Tamil Section in Kalmunai. The gunmen called him out of his house and shot him dead.
● A fuel station in Valaichennai, Batticaloa, owned by a Tamil business man, was attacked by a mob of more than 200 Muslims. The station is near the local railway station and is in an area regularly patrolled by Sri Lankan armed forces. The mob attacked the fuel station soon after Friday prayers and caused damages estimated to be more than Rs.500,000. SLA soldiers and traffic policemen were on duty at the time of the incident and Valaichennai police station is 150 metres from the petrol station. The owner, G. Somakanthan, said that even after he reported the impending attack to Valaichennai police, the police did not come to his aid. Only after he informed Batticaloa police chief, did the police intervene to bring the situation under control, he said.
● Three MiG-27 fast attack aircrafts belonging to the SLAF dropped 12 bombs in two sorties on Kaively Puthukkudiyiruppu in Mullaitheevu, causing damage to civilian residences. Two MiG-27s had dropped eight bombs in the same area the previous day. Local residents trained in safety measures escaped injuries by taking refuge inside bunkers during the air-attacks. Five houses were damaged by the two air attacks. Two 100kg gravity bombs fell near the house of a local resident, Suresh, who was hiding inside the bunker with his two children and escaped unhurt. More than 500 students in nearby Kaively Ganesha Vidiyalayam also scattered and took refuge inside school bunkers at the sound of the aircrafts.
10 May
● Two SLAF MIG fighter jets bombed Puthukkudiyiruppu in Mullaiththeevu. The MIG bombers flew at a very low altitude, causing panic among the villagers at Karnan Kudiyiruppu.
● Forty-five youths, placed in the protective custody in Jaffna prison after they sought protection fearing death from SLA soldiers and SLA-backed paramilitaries, were produced at Jaffna Magistrate Courts, and are to be released due to deteriorating hygiene conditions in the prison. 34 were released on surety bail of a relative, while nine did not want to leave the safety of the prison. Another two were not allowed bail as there are police cases filed against them.
● Armed men shot dead a building contractor in his house at Puthukkudiyruppu, Valaichennai, Batticaloa. Illayathamby Thayan, 37, a father of two from Puthukkudiyruppu, had worked as a building contractor for more than ten years and his wife is a Samudri Officer at Mangeani village.
● The EPDP paramilitary group led by Siva, operating from a SLA camp at Valaichennai fishing harbour in Batticaloa, is demanding that building contractors in Valaichennai provide bricks, sand and cement to build SLA sentry posts. Some contractors have been called to the EPDP office and had money demanded from them, while others have been threatened in their homes at nights for not complying. Two contractors have left Valaichennai to live in Batticaloa town, fearing for their lives.
● An attacker threw a hand grenade at a refugee camp at Saratha Vidyalayam in Manchaththoduvay, Kathankudi, Batticaola, injuring ten civilians, including four women. The incident occurred as civilians in the refugee camp were watching television outside their tents. The victims have been identified as Kanapathypillai Arasaratnam, Velayutham Segar, Sivarasa Nirmala, Sivarasa Suthagar, Packiyarajah Kalaimathy, Thiyagarajah Sivarasa, Mailvaganam Malini, Sabapathy Rajanikanth, Sinrasa Sinnathamby, and Sasikaran Viyakumar. Nearly 200 families displaced from Muthur and Sampur areas in Trincomalee currently live in temporary tents in the camp.
9 May
● The bodies of five youths, suspected to be paramilitaries belonging to a breakaway faction of the Karuna Group, were recovered buried in Kiran, Eravur, Batticaloa. One of the bodies was identified as that of Sinthujan alias Johnson Jeyakanthan, 31, a key Karuna Group operative. On the same day, gunmen shot and killed Johnson, 56, Sinthujan’s father, at his house in Kalvanchikudi, Batticaloa. P. Sumanathas, another suspected Karuna Group operative, was also abducted from his house in Kolaavillai, Amparai, and killed.
● A Sub Inspector attached to the Vellaaveli STF camp was killed during an attack aimed at SFT troopers in a security patrol in Vellaaveli, Batticaloa. M. P. De Silva, 41, succumbed to his injuries at hospital.
● Armed men in unnumbered vehicles abducted a Tamil youth travelling in a Muthur-to-Batticaloa bound bus
● Five workers were killed and another four injured when a boiler exploded in a rice mill in Saainthamaruthu, Kalmunai, Amparai. Three died on the spot and later two succumbed to burn injuries. A Ceylon Electricity Board transformer near the mill was also badly damaged in the explosion.
● Armed men shot dead Kalikutty Ramanan at Raja-Ela in Kanthalai, Trincomalee.
8 May
● Three men armed with T56 rifles forced their way into the house of Thavarasa Sujitharan, 19, along Kodikaamam-Point Pedro road at Yaththaalai, Varani, Jaffna, and shot him dead at point blank range. Sujitharan tried to escape running inside a room and locking himself but the killers forced open the door and sprayed him with bullets. Sujitharan’s house is in a SLA HSZ where the 52nd Brigade Base is also located.
● The TNA parliamentary group said they would join a peninsula wide school boycott if four Jaffna district high schools students, abducted by armed men the previous Friday, were not released. A consortium of private educational institutions in Jaffna had already urged the abductors to release the students and accused the SLA of complicity in the abductions. A number of student organizations appealed to the students for a peninsula wide boycott of schools, warning that the boycott would continue indefinitely until the students are released.
● Unidentified men in white vans abducted two Tamil youths, both natives of Jaffna, from Colombo. One youth was abducted from a telecommunication centre in Wellawatte. He had been staying in a house at Kalubowila, south of Colombo city. In the second abduction, armed men had dragged the youth from his house at Mayfield place in Kotahena, put him in a vehicle and sped away.
● Vavuniya Police said they shot dead a man, alleged to be a member of the Liberation Tigers, near Pandarikulam Amman temple road in Vavuniya. Two youths opened fire at the police, and one was killed and the other escaped when the police returned fire, the police said.
● The LTTE said they repulsed another Sri Lankan offensive along the Vavuniya Mannar border. The Tigers recovered a dead body of a Sri Lankan trooper and claimed to have seized military hardware, including an AK-LMG, following an intense fight that lasted for 30 minutes. Two LTTE fighters were killed in action. The Sri Lankan troopers, who launched the offensive towards Kurichuddakulam, west of Thampanai, were forced to withdraw after sustaining heavy casualties.
● Marimuththu Kanakamma, a mother of seven, was wounded when two SLAF bombers attacked Karnankudiyiruppu in Puthukkudiyiruppu.
7 May
● SLAF bombers dropped bombs over a fuel storage at Vaddakkachchi, Kiliniochchi. The fuel storage belonged to the Chamber of Commerce of Private Businesses in Kilinochchi. Some houses located in the vicinity of the fuel storage were also damaged in the air strike.
● LTTE officials handed over the bodies of five SLA soldiers, killed in action during a SLA offensive the previous day, to a delegation of the ICRC at Vaddakkandal, where the LTTE Mannar district political secretariat is located. The ICRC delegates then handed the bodies to SLA officials at Uyilangkulam army check point in Sri Lanka government held territory. One AK-LMG, 40 mm rocket gun with shells, seven T-56 automatic rifles, a claymore mine, RPG ammunition, 28 hand grenades and 11 bullet-proof jackets, different ammunitions and military equipments were seized by the Tigers following a search operation in the area.
● All Eravur business establishments, government schools, government offices, and banks shut down demanding the arrest of the arsonists who burnt three shops the previous morning. A consortium of mosques, Muslim organizations, and the Jamiyathul Ulama Board in the area organized the protest. Security was strengthened with a large number of police and STF personnel stationed along the main roads.
● Masked armed men shot dead Poopalapillai Chelvanayagam, 52, a labourer and father of four, outside his residence in Sooriyapuram, Kaluvanchikkudi, Batticaloa, and then fled the scene.
● Gunmen shot dead Mammangam Rasakumar, 30, an IDP employed as a shop assistant, in Koralankerni, Eravur, Batticaloa.
● SLA soldiers cordoned off and search large residential areas in Kokuvil east, Jaffna. Potpathi road, Medical Faculty road, Ka'lngkarai Road, Railway Station Road, and Temple Road areas were subjected to house-to-house search. Youths were subjected to severe interrogation.
● Armed men opened fire on the SLA Udupiddi junction camp and its sentry posts, positioning themselves between Udpuiddi junction and the road to Vathiri in Vadamaradchchi, Jaffna, blocking the road for public traffic. The fire fight lasted nearly fifteen minutes, and the attackers escaped after the exchange of fire.
● Jaffna University students boycotted lectures protesting against unlawful entry by armed men into the campus the previous Saturday morning, who destroyed memorial photographs of students killed in the conflict and stole funds raised by students to support the refugees in the east. Students from all faculties on campus joined the protest.
● TNA Jaffna parliamentarians and Jaffna Technical College (JTC) students made a public appeal calling for the immediate release of four high school students who went missing the previous week. The parliamentarians said failure to free the students, and postponing the creation of an environment conducive to learning, would result in mass protests and demonstrations by the public and student community. The SLA in Jaffna, anticipating student agitation in reaction to the abduction, deployed troopers in large numbers in front of Jaffna schools, conducting checks and blocking outsiders entering the schools.
● The SLA conducted cordon and search operation in Thiriyaai, Trincomalee, following an attack on a group of SLA soldiers the previous night in which one soldier was injured.
● Armed men shot dead a Tamil youth at Manatcheanai, in government held Muthur south, Trincomalee. A group of armed men in a white van dragged S. Sasitharan, 29, out of his house, and fired at him.
● SLA soldiers and police personnel evacuated all employees of the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC), and conducted an extensive search of the premises after they received a tip off from an unidentified source that a bomb was about to detonate within the offices. Roads leading to the CMC office and its surroundings were temporarily closed for traffic and civilian movements till the search operation was over. Nothing suspicious was found.
