19 May
● The LTTE and SLA exchanged intense artillery fire across their Thenmaradchy FDLs, with the fire fight focussing on Kovilakandy, Maravanpulo, and Thanankilappu in Jaffna. The SLA was firing from artillery bases in these areas towards LTTE controlled Pooneryn, across Jaffna lagoon, and LTTE gunners responded from the bases spread across Pooneryn. Several artillery shells allegedly exploded in SLA FDL positions, artillery bases and medical facilities. The LTTE FDL in Muhamalai also came under severe artillery attack.
● Two SLAF Kfir jets dropped four bombs on Kanchikudichanaru, Amparai. As residents had already been displaced by SLA offensives, no one was hurt.
● The STF had vacated a camp at Thangavelayuthapuram, Amparai on May 8. The camp had been set up in homes people had abandoned during an SLA offensive into LTTE territory in January. The STF troopers had removed tiles and other valuables from the houses and converted them into SLA sentry posts, those who had been back to the area said. The troopers also converted a local temple into a liquor bar and took property from the office of an NGO.
● The SLN took into custody two siblings who arrived in Pesalai in a fibre glass boat from Ilupaikadavai, in LTTE held territory in Mannar. Guruparan Kirushanthy, 18, and her
brother Guruparan Sajeevan, 16, of Mullaitheevu said they went to Pesalai to see relatives. The boatman who transported them was also taken into custody.
● Pakkianathan Vijeyasanthan, 32, a married man from Trincomalee who was abducted in Borella, Colombo on Friday, reported his presence to the Badulla police station. He was allegedly abducted by unidentified men in a white van and was later released in Badulla.
18 May
● Two fishermen from Thampadi in Kayts were shot dead by the SLN. The SLN claimed to have shot two LTTE cadres during a fire fight on the Kayts shores. But relatives identified the bodies as belonging to Gnanaruban Rutson, 18, and Robert Thevathas, 32, who had gone fishing the previous morning and failed to return.
● Gunmen sprayed gunfire towards Udupiddi SLA camp in Jaffna after creating road blocks to prevent the movement of pedestrians and vehicular traffic near the camp. Soldiers returned fire, but the gunmen escaped.
● Residents along the Vadamaradchy north coast in Jaffna reported sporadic skirmishes between SLN boats and the Sea Tigers. Residents of Munai, and civilians west of Kankesanthurai reported hearing sounds of artillery fire.
● A former employee of the Centre for Policy Alternatives and the deputy editor of the Tamil language version of the ‘Peace Monitor,’ magazine, Pakyanadan Wijai Shanthan, 32, disappeared near his wife’s office in Borella, Colombo. Shanthan had fled to India last November after the killing of Ketheeshwaran Loganathan, but had returned to Colombo in April.
17 May
● The Sri Lankan Military command in Palali announced new reduced curfew hours in Jaffna, from 8:00 p.m. to 4:00 a.m., a reduction of one hour.
● Artillery attacks by the SLA from their FDL in Iranaillupangulam, Nochikulam and Kalmadu towards civilian targets in LTTE controlled Vavuniya inflicted heavy damages on property and livestock in Kovilkunchukulam. More than twenty shells from SLA occupied areas exploded within the premises and the play ground of a mixed school. Since the students and teachers used bunkers effectively as trained, no one was hurt. A total of 334 students and 9 teachers attend the school
● The SLA said they handed over six bodies of LTTE cadres killed during a fire fight at the Vavuniya FDL, and were skking the assistance of the ICRC to hand the bodies over to the LTTE.
● Jaffna University undergraduates from outside the district are considering leaving the Peninsula due to the deteriorating security conditions for students. Escalating student abductions and the recent posters bearing a hit list of students have shaken the student community, and the frequent disruptions to lectures have affected academic progress, student leaders said.
● Armed men abducted three labourers from their house at Kathar Chinakulam in Vavuniya and shot them dead. Subramaniam Chandrasegaran, 28, a father of two, Sinnathurai Vigneswaran, 24, a father of two and Manamohan Mohanathas, 24, were killed. Their wives said the armed men who took away their husbands spoke fluent Tamil.
16 May
● K. G. Wijayasinghe, 43, a police constable attached to Eravur Police station, committed suicide by shooting himself. He was allegedly in a disturbed state due to family related problems. Wijayasinghe, a father of three, was from Malkoduwawe, a small hamlet in Kurunagala. He had assumed duties at Eravur Police station three days earlier.
● Eravur Police questioned some Muslim youths regarding the burning of three shops in the town on 6 May. Pamphlets issued in the area named the youths as responsible for arson, but not arrests were made.
● Two LTTE commandos were killed in a clash on the Mullikulam FDL in Vavuniya. Vavuniya police contacted the ICRC to hand the body over to the LTTE.
● SLN Kayts Coast Guards arrested a fisherman who, after his boat had capsized in Mannar Sea, fought for his life for two days, and swam back to the shore at Velanai, Mandathivu. F. Denistus Miranda, 33, a father of five of Pesalai, Mannar, has gone fishing when he was thrown overboard. After being handed over to Kayts police and then the courts, suspicion was raised regarding his identity. Miranda told the magistrate that SLN at Pesalai allow fishermen to fish only after they surrender their National Identity Cards to the SLN and hence he was not in possession of his NIC.
● The SLA at Avarangkal in Valikamam East, Jaffna, observed the movements of a lorry during curfew hours and fired at the vehicle.
● Alwinas Piriyatharsan, 27, from Naranthanai north, Kayts, Jaffna, went missing after he went to obtain permission to travel to Colombo at the Assistant Government Agent's office in Kayts.
15 May
● Kanakaratnam Mohanraj, 17, was killed on the spot and his father was wounded when SLA fired artillery shells hit their house in Pooneryn. The scattered body of the student, killed when he had gone home for his lunch break, was recovered at his home.
● A Sri Lanka Transport Board bus plying the Navvaly-Chavakachcheri route in Thenmaradchy, Jaffna, was burnt. The attackers forced the passengers to alight from the bus before setting fire to the vehicle near the Vaddukkoddai Agricultural Institute on Urumpirai road in Maruthanaamadam. Chunnakam Police and SLA soldiers rushed to the scene but were unable to contain the fire.
● A civilian was killed in crossfire when Sri Lanka Police attempted to arrest a robbery suspect in Vavuniya. Robbers attempting to rob a house in Pandarikulam the previous week were caught by civilians and handed over to the police. On information provided by the robbers, the police surrounded a house in Vavuniya. K. Mahendran, 52, a family man and a mason by profession was caught in crossfire when police attempted to arrest a suspect in the house.
● A Tamil youth was shot and injured in Uppuveli, Trincomalee. The SLN said that troops stationed at a local detachment had fired at an unidentified person when he attempted to enter the camp through the rear entrance. The SLN claimed it recovered some weapons from the man.
● Two Tamil boys were injured when a hand grenade concealed under garbage, exploded near a Hindu Temple at Chelvanayakapuram, Trincomalee. The explosion occurred when people living in the vicinity of the temple were engaged in clearing garbage along the roadside. Sri Lankan armed forces rushed to the scene and conducted investigations following the explosion.
● The SLA has instructed filling stations in Mannar town to obtain the names of persons who purchase fuel and the registration numbers of their vehicles and driving licence. Employees of filling station are also obtaining names and signatures of residents who purchase kerosene for domestic use as instructed by the SLA. People in large number were seen from morning till evening in front of the fuel filling station owned by Maanthai West Co-operative Society, at the entrance to Mannaar town, following the introduction of fuel restriction.
● Fourteen Tamil civilians arrested in a cordon and search operation in Wellawatte, Colombo, when they failed to prove their identity and the reason for their presence in the location. The police took about 25 Tamil civilians into custody but eleven were released after they proved their identity and the purpose of staying in the location.
● Two youths, one a Tamil and another a Sinhalese, were discharged by the Colombo Magistrate when the prosecuting police officer told the court there was no evidence to implicate them with any crime. They had been charged with taking photographs of Borella police station with their cell-phone camera. Borella Police arrested Balasubramaniam Ram Kumar of Point Pedro and his Sinhala friend Sunil of Warakapola while they were allegedly taking photographs of Borella Police Station from the first floor of the Borella public market two months ago. Since then both had been detained under the PTA.
14 May
● A Muslim youth was shot dead at Aaththimoaddai, Saambaltheevu, along Trincomalee-Nilaveli road. Mohamed Azaath, 25, a native of Irrakakandy, Nilaveli, had been employed as a driver in a private sector van transporting passengers to and from Nilaveli. He had stopped his vehicle at Aaththimoaddai junction to take passengers when an unidentified person waiting at the bus halt got into the vehicle and fired at him.
● A young woman with 2 children from Naaranthanai in Kayts has disappeared in Trincomalee where she had gone to get a ticket on a ship bound for Jaffna, her parents said in a complaint to Jaffna office of the SLHRC. Anjani Robert Lessia, 36, has not been heard from since April 13. She had left Jaffna for Colombo on March 11 to receive her husband from abroad. As he could not return as planned due to the volatile situation in Sri Lanka, Lessia had phoned her parents on April 13 said she was proceeding to Trincomalee to travel back to Jaffna on the passenger ship. She has not been heard from since.
● Sivasami Raku, 24, a mentally retarded youth from Velanai in the islets of Jaffna has been missing since April 19, when he was last seen on his way to Jaffna town, his parents said in a complaint to the Jaffna office of the SLHRC.
● Arudpragasam Ravikumar, 25, of Nallur, Jaffna, went missing while going to work.
● The LTTE and SLA exchanged intense artillery fire across their Thenmaradchy FDLs, with the fire fight focussing on Kovilakandy, Maravanpulo, and Thanankilappu in Jaffna. The SLA was firing from artillery bases in these areas towards LTTE controlled Pooneryn, across Jaffna lagoon, and LTTE gunners responded from the bases spread across Pooneryn. Several artillery shells allegedly exploded in SLA FDL positions, artillery bases and medical facilities. The LTTE FDL in Muhamalai also came under severe artillery attack.
● Two SLAF Kfir jets dropped four bombs on Kanchikudichanaru, Amparai. As residents had already been displaced by SLA offensives, no one was hurt.
● The STF had vacated a camp at Thangavelayuthapuram, Amparai on May 8. The camp had been set up in homes people had abandoned during an SLA offensive into LTTE territory in January. The STF troopers had removed tiles and other valuables from the houses and converted them into SLA sentry posts, those who had been back to the area said. The troopers also converted a local temple into a liquor bar and took property from the office of an NGO.
● The SLN took into custody two siblings who arrived in Pesalai in a fibre glass boat from Ilupaikadavai, in LTTE held territory in Mannar. Guruparan Kirushanthy, 18, and her
brother Guruparan Sajeevan, 16, of Mullaitheevu said they went to Pesalai to see relatives. The boatman who transported them was also taken into custody.
● Pakkianathan Vijeyasanthan, 32, a married man from Trincomalee who was abducted in Borella, Colombo on Friday, reported his presence to the Badulla police station. He was allegedly abducted by unidentified men in a white van and was later released in Badulla.
18 May
● Two fishermen from Thampadi in Kayts were shot dead by the SLN. The SLN claimed to have shot two LTTE cadres during a fire fight on the Kayts shores. But relatives identified the bodies as belonging to Gnanaruban Rutson, 18, and Robert Thevathas, 32, who had gone fishing the previous morning and failed to return.
● Gunmen sprayed gunfire towards Udupiddi SLA camp in Jaffna after creating road blocks to prevent the movement of pedestrians and vehicular traffic near the camp. Soldiers returned fire, but the gunmen escaped.
● Residents along the Vadamaradchy north coast in Jaffna reported sporadic skirmishes between SLN boats and the Sea Tigers. Residents of Munai, and civilians west of Kankesanthurai reported hearing sounds of artillery fire.
● A former employee of the Centre for Policy Alternatives and the deputy editor of the Tamil language version of the ‘Peace Monitor,’ magazine, Pakyanadan Wijai Shanthan, 32, disappeared near his wife’s office in Borella, Colombo. Shanthan had fled to India last November after the killing of Ketheeshwaran Loganathan, but had returned to Colombo in April.
17 May
● The Sri Lankan Military command in Palali announced new reduced curfew hours in Jaffna, from 8:00 p.m. to 4:00 a.m., a reduction of one hour.
● Artillery attacks by the SLA from their FDL in Iranaillupangulam, Nochikulam and Kalmadu towards civilian targets in LTTE controlled Vavuniya inflicted heavy damages on property and livestock in Kovilkunchukulam. More than twenty shells from SLA occupied areas exploded within the premises and the play ground of a mixed school. Since the students and teachers used bunkers effectively as trained, no one was hurt. A total of 334 students and 9 teachers attend the school
● The SLA said they handed over six bodies of LTTE cadres killed during a fire fight at the Vavuniya FDL, and were skking the assistance of the ICRC to hand the bodies over to the LTTE.
● Jaffna University undergraduates from outside the district are considering leaving the Peninsula due to the deteriorating security conditions for students. Escalating student abductions and the recent posters bearing a hit list of students have shaken the student community, and the frequent disruptions to lectures have affected academic progress, student leaders said.
● Armed men abducted three labourers from their house at Kathar Chinakulam in Vavuniya and shot them dead. Subramaniam Chandrasegaran, 28, a father of two, Sinnathurai Vigneswaran, 24, a father of two and Manamohan Mohanathas, 24, were killed. Their wives said the armed men who took away their husbands spoke fluent Tamil.
16 May
● K. G. Wijayasinghe, 43, a police constable attached to Eravur Police station, committed suicide by shooting himself. He was allegedly in a disturbed state due to family related problems. Wijayasinghe, a father of three, was from Malkoduwawe, a small hamlet in Kurunagala. He had assumed duties at Eravur Police station three days earlier.
● Eravur Police questioned some Muslim youths regarding the burning of three shops in the town on 6 May. Pamphlets issued in the area named the youths as responsible for arson, but not arrests were made.
● Two LTTE commandos were killed in a clash on the Mullikulam FDL in Vavuniya. Vavuniya police contacted the ICRC to hand the body over to the LTTE.
● SLN Kayts Coast Guards arrested a fisherman who, after his boat had capsized in Mannar Sea, fought for his life for two days, and swam back to the shore at Velanai, Mandathivu. F. Denistus Miranda, 33, a father of five of Pesalai, Mannar, has gone fishing when he was thrown overboard. After being handed over to Kayts police and then the courts, suspicion was raised regarding his identity. Miranda told the magistrate that SLN at Pesalai allow fishermen to fish only after they surrender their National Identity Cards to the SLN and hence he was not in possession of his NIC.
● The SLA at Avarangkal in Valikamam East, Jaffna, observed the movements of a lorry during curfew hours and fired at the vehicle.
● Alwinas Piriyatharsan, 27, from Naranthanai north, Kayts, Jaffna, went missing after he went to obtain permission to travel to Colombo at the Assistant Government Agent's office in Kayts.
15 May
● Kanakaratnam Mohanraj, 17, was killed on the spot and his father was wounded when SLA fired artillery shells hit their house in Pooneryn. The scattered body of the student, killed when he had gone home for his lunch break, was recovered at his home.
● A Sri Lanka Transport Board bus plying the Navvaly-Chavakachcheri route in Thenmaradchy, Jaffna, was burnt. The attackers forced the passengers to alight from the bus before setting fire to the vehicle near the Vaddukkoddai Agricultural Institute on Urumpirai road in Maruthanaamadam. Chunnakam Police and SLA soldiers rushed to the scene but were unable to contain the fire.
● A civilian was killed in crossfire when Sri Lanka Police attempted to arrest a robbery suspect in Vavuniya. Robbers attempting to rob a house in Pandarikulam the previous week were caught by civilians and handed over to the police. On information provided by the robbers, the police surrounded a house in Vavuniya. K. Mahendran, 52, a family man and a mason by profession was caught in crossfire when police attempted to arrest a suspect in the house.
● A Tamil youth was shot and injured in Uppuveli, Trincomalee. The SLN said that troops stationed at a local detachment had fired at an unidentified person when he attempted to enter the camp through the rear entrance. The SLN claimed it recovered some weapons from the man.
● Two Tamil boys were injured when a hand grenade concealed under garbage, exploded near a Hindu Temple at Chelvanayakapuram, Trincomalee. The explosion occurred when people living in the vicinity of the temple were engaged in clearing garbage along the roadside. Sri Lankan armed forces rushed to the scene and conducted investigations following the explosion.
● The SLA has instructed filling stations in Mannar town to obtain the names of persons who purchase fuel and the registration numbers of their vehicles and driving licence. Employees of filling station are also obtaining names and signatures of residents who purchase kerosene for domestic use as instructed by the SLA. People in large number were seen from morning till evening in front of the fuel filling station owned by Maanthai West Co-operative Society, at the entrance to Mannaar town, following the introduction of fuel restriction.
● Fourteen Tamil civilians arrested in a cordon and search operation in Wellawatte, Colombo, when they failed to prove their identity and the reason for their presence in the location. The police took about 25 Tamil civilians into custody but eleven were released after they proved their identity and the purpose of staying in the location.
● Two youths, one a Tamil and another a Sinhalese, were discharged by the Colombo Magistrate when the prosecuting police officer told the court there was no evidence to implicate them with any crime. They had been charged with taking photographs of Borella police station with their cell-phone camera. Borella Police arrested Balasubramaniam Ram Kumar of Point Pedro and his Sinhala friend Sunil of Warakapola while they were allegedly taking photographs of Borella Police Station from the first floor of the Borella public market two months ago. Since then both had been detained under the PTA.
14 May
● A Muslim youth was shot dead at Aaththimoaddai, Saambaltheevu, along Trincomalee-Nilaveli road. Mohamed Azaath, 25, a native of Irrakakandy, Nilaveli, had been employed as a driver in a private sector van transporting passengers to and from Nilaveli. He had stopped his vehicle at Aaththimoaddai junction to take passengers when an unidentified person waiting at the bus halt got into the vehicle and fired at him.
● A young woman with 2 children from Naaranthanai in Kayts has disappeared in Trincomalee where she had gone to get a ticket on a ship bound for Jaffna, her parents said in a complaint to Jaffna office of the SLHRC. Anjani Robert Lessia, 36, has not been heard from since April 13. She had left Jaffna for Colombo on March 11 to receive her husband from abroad. As he could not return as planned due to the volatile situation in Sri Lanka, Lessia had phoned her parents on April 13 said she was proceeding to Trincomalee to travel back to Jaffna on the passenger ship. She has not been heard from since.
● Sivasami Raku, 24, a mentally retarded youth from Velanai in the islets of Jaffna has been missing since April 19, when he was last seen on his way to Jaffna town, his parents said in a complaint to the Jaffna office of the SLHRC.
● Arudpragasam Ravikumar, 25, of Nallur, Jaffna, went missing while going to work.
