3 June
● The LTTE destroyed a SLA artillery launch pad and seized military hardware, including a Buffel Armoured Personnel Carrier, as they attacked the SLA FDL along the Mannar-Vavuniya border (see separate story).
● The LTTE counter-ambushed a SLA DPU inside their territory in Palamodai on the Vavuniya Mannar border. The DPU unit suffered casualties and withdrew leaving behind a dead body, four claymore mines and a T-56 rifle.
● The SLA and police conducted search operations covering Grandpass, Fort and Maradana areas in Colombo city, Western Deputy Inspector General of Police Rohan Abeyawardene said. Private houses where persons from north and east provinces and upcountry are staying were subjected to careful search.
● The bodies of two Tamil Red Cross workers from Batticaloa, who had gone to Colombo for a training program were abducted Friday by men claiming to be Sri Lanka Police, were found in Ratnapura (see separate story).
● The SLA fired artillery from the bases in Palali, Vadamaradchi and Thenmaradchi into LTTE controlled territory. Several populated civilian areas shook due to the heavy fire.
● Fishermen from Valvettithurai to Point Pedro along the northern coastal areas of Jaffna Peninsula were barred by the SLA from going out fishing. Fishermen who set out to fish in the morning were asked to return home.
● Subramaniam Santheepan, 30, a postmaster and a father of two, was shot dead in Chavakachcheri, Jaffna, by armed men who followed him on a motorbike. Santheepan, from Mirusuvil North, was riding his motorbike with his wife and two children when he was shot.
2 June
● The SLA withdrew from a fresh ground operation towards Kudumpimalai (Thoppigala) when the LTTE put up stiff resistance amid two aerial bombardments by the SLAF, LTTE military spokesman Irasiah Ilanthirayan said. The SLA troopers were moving out of Mavadiyodai Bridge, on the route linking Badulla Road with Kudumpimalai jungle. Sri Lankan military officials in Colombo claimed that they had attacked two LTTE camps, but the Tigers said their positions were intact.
● The LTTE and SLA fought heavy artillery duels along the Thenmaradchi FDL in Muhamalai, but neither the SLA nor the LTTE officially released information on casualties or injuries. However, reports said SLAF helicopters flew at least three trips transporting dead and injured soldiers to Palali military base. The intense artillery exchange occurred amidst wide speculation that a large scale war is about to break out at along the northern FDL.
● Anti-aircraft guns were installed in police stations and major security detachments in Mannar, Talaimannar and Murunkan. Trained operators were also posted to the stations and detachments. Colombo instructed the police stations and security detachments to be on red alert against possible air strikes by the LTTE air wing.
● More than sixty Tamils were arrested during a search operation by the police in Mt Lavinia, Ratmalana, Wellawatte, Bambalapitiya, Mattakuliya, Kirilapone and Kohuwela areas of Colombo. SSP for Colombo Central region, Ajith Fonseka, said twelve special branch police groups participated in the search and most of the arrested were from the northeast and Hill country areas. Those who proved their identity and provided satisfactory reasons for their stay in the location were released after preliminary inquiry.
● Seven Tamil civilians were arrested in Uddapu, Chilaw, in SLA search operation.
● The police recovered bodies of four unidentified persons in the south of Sri Lanka. Two bodies were recovered at Wellawaya in Sabragamuwa, one body at Walakande in Matale, and the fourth at Madawachchi. The body recovered at Walakande was found with severe head and body injuries caused by very sharp instruments, while the other three bodies were found with gunshot injuries.
1 June
● The SLA and police arrested 12 Tamil civilians during a search operation in Wattala. The majority of the arrested are natives of the north east. Police said they were taken into custody when they failed to prove their identity by producing national identity cards and other legal documents.
● Attackers shot and killed a SLA soldier and a homeguard who were riding a motorbike in Thiruvegama, Kebitigollawa, which is south east of Vavuniya.
● An accidental bomb explosion killed three STF troopers in Thampaddai, Akkaraipattu, Amparai.
● Businesses and banks in Kaluvanchikudi, Batticaloa, shut down protesting against robberies at twelve business centres within three days. Armed men broke into the businesses and robbed jewels, goods and money during three consecutive nights.
31 May
● DNA testing confirmed that a mutilated torso found in the Pungkudutheevu sea on March 14, packed in a military sand bag, belonged to the disappeared Catholic priest Rev. Fr. Jim Brown. Earlier a medical legal officer confirmed that blood samples from Fr. Brown's parents and the torso had been sent to a Colombo hospital. Rev.Fr. Thiruchelvam Nihal Jim Brown, 34, parish priest of Allaippiddi and his aide Wenceslaus Vincent Vimalan, 38, disappeared on August 20, 2006, after being interrogated by SLA soldiers at Mandaitheevu checkpoint.
● The owners of lodges in Colombo were ordered to send Tamils staying at lodges back to their native places in the north and east (see separate story).
● A Tamil civilian from Vavuniya, arrested in Colombo on May 24, was released after the prosecutors admitted there was no evidence against him. Kollupitiya police arrested Emmanuel Nesarajah, 39, a father of two and a carpenter, while he was walking along a road near the Presidential House. He told the police he had gone to Colombo in search of employment.
● Armed men lobbed hand grenades at SLA troopers and Karuna Group members jointly engaged in a cordon and search in Valaichenai, Batticaloa, injuring two troopers. The SLA troopers killed a youth, identified as Mahendran Gajendran, 27, when they returned fire. The SLA claimed the youth was a LTTE member and that a T56 rifle was recovered from him.
● A combined SLA and police search operation in Battaramulla, Talangama, resulted in the arrest of twelve Tamil civilians who were taken into custody as they failed to provide satisfactory reason for their stay in the location.
● Six people were killed when two three-wheelers transporting paramilitary Karuna Group personnel from Amparai to Poththuvil were ambushed at Inspector Eattam in Poththuvil. The attack took place in the wake of internal strife within the Karuna Group, and after 8 personnel of the breakaway Pillayan Group reportedly went missing in Polonnaruwa, allegedly at the hands of Karuna cadres.
30 May
● Tiran Alles, publisher of the Sinhala weekly Mawbima, was arrested by the TID, taken into custody from a private hospital in Colombo. Mr. Alles had been Chairman of the Civil Aviation Authority when Mangala Samaraweera was the Minister of Ports and Civil Aviation. Formerly a strong ally of President Mahinda Rajapakse, he became a political enemy following the dispute between the President and former Ministers Mangala Samaraweera and Sripathi Sooriyarachchi.
● An abandoned auto rickshaw with a suspicious parcel inside, found close to a Buddhist Shrine in the Fort area, Colombo, caused panic during the evening peak traffic time. SLA soldiers and policemen rushed to the site blocking traffic, but the bomb disposal squad discovered a number of bricks inside.
● Twenty Tamils were arrested in a cordon and search operation in Ratmalana and Mt. Lavinia areas of Colombo.
● The SLA and police arrested ten Tamil civilians in a cordon and search operation in Tissamaharagama, in Matara. The police said they were taken into custody as they failed to prove their identity and the cause for their stay in the location.
● A civilian, identified as Balasubramaniam, was killed in Iyakkachchi, north of the Elephant Pass, as the SLA intensified artillery shelling, hitting the houses in the village.
● More than one thousand SLA troopers and police officers launched an intensive cordon and search operation in Jaffna, covering Koddadi and Navanthurai coastal areas.
● The LTTE said they confronted a contingent of SLA troopers who attempted to advance through the LTTE defence line in Madu. The SLA suffered casualties and fled the battleground carrying their own casualties, Irasiah Ilanthirayan, the military spokesman of the Tigers told media. Sri Lanka military spokesman in Colombo, Brigadier Samarasinghe, told the press that five SLA troopers were killed in action in Madu. There were no LTTE casualties, according to the Tiger spokesman.
● Three SLAF bombers targeted a civilian area in Puthukkudiyiruppu, Mullaiththeevu, for a second day, injuring a 7-year-old girl named Nilaxana.
● Uyilangkulam checkpoint, gateway to LTTE controlled territory from Mannar, was reopened after a one-week closure, and a large number of civilians travelled across the divide soon after the opening. Farmers and fishermen transported their produce from LTTE held territory to Mannaar town. The SLA said the Uyilangkulam checkpoint will be opened on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays only.
29 May
● The SLA and police conducted cordon and search operations in several parts of Colombo following a claymore attack the previous evening targeting a bus carrying STF personnel from Ratmalana in which eight were killed and 35 injured. Kotahena, Borella, Wellawatte, Bambalapitiya, Mount Lavinia, and Pettah areas were subjected to the search. Four suspects were taken to Ratmalana Police station for further interrogation.
● One person was killed and two injured when two SLAF fast attack crafts bombed Puthukudiyiruppu in Mullaiththeevu twice. Meyyaappillai Alaku, 56, a mother of three from from Chinna Chalampan, Oddusudan, was killed and I. Irasiah, 50 and Neelakandan Jegatheeswari, 26, from Karainagar, Jaffna, were injured. The attack targeted a civilian area and resulted in damage to 12 houses, while children from a school 75 meters from the attack site narrowly escaped.
● The president of the Kalmunai Auto Drivers' Union was shot by gunmen on a motorcycle. Two men used a T56 rifle to kill Illayathamby Shanthakumar, 40, a father of two, at a shop close to his house in Kalmunai, Amparai. Shanthakumar had previously had acrimonious exchanges Karuna Group members on union related issues, and locals speculate that this had a bearing on the killing. Athambawa Jabar, 38, who was nearby at the time of the shooting, sustained serious injuries.
● Brigadier Smarasinghe claimed that nine LTTE fighters were killed in a confrontation in Manal Aru (Weli Oya).
● Gunmen abducted Mylvaganam Vigneswaran, 20, and Kunasekaran, 32, both from Karupola village in Aaraiyampathi east, Kathankudi, Batticaloa. A Karuna Group office is near the Aaraimpathi STF camp, and Karuna Group members allegedly ride the motorcycles through Karupola regularly.
● Armed men opened fire on troopers at the Madduvil SLA camp in Thenmaradchi, Jaffna, killing two. The exchange of fire lasted nearly ten minutes and the SLA arrested a 14-year-old boy during a search soon after the fire fight.
● Two youths arrested by the SLA on charges of possessing claymore mines were produced before the courts in Chavakachcheri, Jaffna, where they maintained that they were innocent and that the SLA had planted the mines to incriminate them. Kumaru Thayananthan, 18, of Varani, Thenmaradchi, and Arumugam Kamlatheepan, 19, of Manthuvil, Thenmaradchi had been arrested the previous day.
● The relatives of three fishermen from Analaitheevu Island reported at the Jaffna office of the SLHRC that the men have not returned after going fishing on May 17. Jeganathan Jeyanthan, 24,Velautham Thevan, 30, and Thangarasa Jegan, 22, allegedly left for fishing in a catamaran and since there was heavy rain and strong winds on that day, relatives expressed fear that the men may have encountered trouble with their boats.
28 May
● Armed men in a white van took Mahendran Matheeskumar, 25, from his house in Mattakuliya, Colombo. The men first questioned Matheeskumar, who was outside his house speaking on his mobile phone. Then they took him away, saying he will be released after interrogation, his mother complained to the Civil Monitoring Committee, a Colombo-based human rights watchdog.
● A bomb exploded in Ratmalana near the domestic airport, targeting a military vehicle carrying STF troopers. Eight were injured and 35 injured in the blast which targeted a vehicle carrying STF troopers traveling from Katukurunte training base to Kadawatte STF camp.
● SLA soldiers on security duty along the A9 highway in Thenmaradchi, Jaffna, between Kodikamam and Chavakachcheri, were attacked by armed men. Local residents said they saw injured troopers being taken in military ambulances.
● Three civilians were killed in a bomb explosion near the well in a house compound at Poonthodam in Vavuniya. One body was found inside the well and the other 50 meters from the well. The third victim succumbed to his wounds while being rushed to:niyaa hospital. Kumarasamy Sureshkumar, 32, a father of two children, Chandran Thanushan, 26 and Satheeskumar were the men killed.
● A Tamil youth, Weeramalai Jegan, 29, was found dead in his paddy field at Kattaikadu, Munthal, Chilaw.
● The LTTE destroyed a SLA artillery launch pad and seized military hardware, including a Buffel Armoured Personnel Carrier, as they attacked the SLA FDL along the Mannar-Vavuniya border (see separate story).
● The LTTE counter-ambushed a SLA DPU inside their territory in Palamodai on the Vavuniya Mannar border. The DPU unit suffered casualties and withdrew leaving behind a dead body, four claymore mines and a T-56 rifle.
● The SLA and police conducted search operations covering Grandpass, Fort and Maradana areas in Colombo city, Western Deputy Inspector General of Police Rohan Abeyawardene said. Private houses where persons from north and east provinces and upcountry are staying were subjected to careful search.
● The bodies of two Tamil Red Cross workers from Batticaloa, who had gone to Colombo for a training program were abducted Friday by men claiming to be Sri Lanka Police, were found in Ratnapura (see separate story).
● The SLA fired artillery from the bases in Palali, Vadamaradchi and Thenmaradchi into LTTE controlled territory. Several populated civilian areas shook due to the heavy fire.
● Fishermen from Valvettithurai to Point Pedro along the northern coastal areas of Jaffna Peninsula were barred by the SLA from going out fishing. Fishermen who set out to fish in the morning were asked to return home.
● Subramaniam Santheepan, 30, a postmaster and a father of two, was shot dead in Chavakachcheri, Jaffna, by armed men who followed him on a motorbike. Santheepan, from Mirusuvil North, was riding his motorbike with his wife and two children when he was shot.
2 June
● The SLA withdrew from a fresh ground operation towards Kudumpimalai (Thoppigala) when the LTTE put up stiff resistance amid two aerial bombardments by the SLAF, LTTE military spokesman Irasiah Ilanthirayan said. The SLA troopers were moving out of Mavadiyodai Bridge, on the route linking Badulla Road with Kudumpimalai jungle. Sri Lankan military officials in Colombo claimed that they had attacked two LTTE camps, but the Tigers said their positions were intact.
● The LTTE and SLA fought heavy artillery duels along the Thenmaradchi FDL in Muhamalai, but neither the SLA nor the LTTE officially released information on casualties or injuries. However, reports said SLAF helicopters flew at least three trips transporting dead and injured soldiers to Palali military base. The intense artillery exchange occurred amidst wide speculation that a large scale war is about to break out at along the northern FDL.
● Anti-aircraft guns were installed in police stations and major security detachments in Mannar, Talaimannar and Murunkan. Trained operators were also posted to the stations and detachments. Colombo instructed the police stations and security detachments to be on red alert against possible air strikes by the LTTE air wing.
● More than sixty Tamils were arrested during a search operation by the police in Mt Lavinia, Ratmalana, Wellawatte, Bambalapitiya, Mattakuliya, Kirilapone and Kohuwela areas of Colombo. SSP for Colombo Central region, Ajith Fonseka, said twelve special branch police groups participated in the search and most of the arrested were from the northeast and Hill country areas. Those who proved their identity and provided satisfactory reasons for their stay in the location were released after preliminary inquiry.
● Seven Tamil civilians were arrested in Uddapu, Chilaw, in SLA search operation.
● The police recovered bodies of four unidentified persons in the south of Sri Lanka. Two bodies were recovered at Wellawaya in Sabragamuwa, one body at Walakande in Matale, and the fourth at Madawachchi. The body recovered at Walakande was found with severe head and body injuries caused by very sharp instruments, while the other three bodies were found with gunshot injuries.
1 June
● The SLA and police arrested 12 Tamil civilians during a search operation in Wattala. The majority of the arrested are natives of the north east. Police said they were taken into custody when they failed to prove their identity by producing national identity cards and other legal documents.
● Attackers shot and killed a SLA soldier and a homeguard who were riding a motorbike in Thiruvegama, Kebitigollawa, which is south east of Vavuniya.
● An accidental bomb explosion killed three STF troopers in Thampaddai, Akkaraipattu, Amparai.
● Businesses and banks in Kaluvanchikudi, Batticaloa, shut down protesting against robberies at twelve business centres within three days. Armed men broke into the businesses and robbed jewels, goods and money during three consecutive nights.
31 May
● DNA testing confirmed that a mutilated torso found in the Pungkudutheevu sea on March 14, packed in a military sand bag, belonged to the disappeared Catholic priest Rev. Fr. Jim Brown. Earlier a medical legal officer confirmed that blood samples from Fr. Brown's parents and the torso had been sent to a Colombo hospital. Rev.Fr. Thiruchelvam Nihal Jim Brown, 34, parish priest of Allaippiddi and his aide Wenceslaus Vincent Vimalan, 38, disappeared on August 20, 2006, after being interrogated by SLA soldiers at Mandaitheevu checkpoint.
● The owners of lodges in Colombo were ordered to send Tamils staying at lodges back to their native places in the north and east (see separate story).
● A Tamil civilian from Vavuniya, arrested in Colombo on May 24, was released after the prosecutors admitted there was no evidence against him. Kollupitiya police arrested Emmanuel Nesarajah, 39, a father of two and a carpenter, while he was walking along a road near the Presidential House. He told the police he had gone to Colombo in search of employment.
● Armed men lobbed hand grenades at SLA troopers and Karuna Group members jointly engaged in a cordon and search in Valaichenai, Batticaloa, injuring two troopers. The SLA troopers killed a youth, identified as Mahendran Gajendran, 27, when they returned fire. The SLA claimed the youth was a LTTE member and that a T56 rifle was recovered from him.
● A combined SLA and police search operation in Battaramulla, Talangama, resulted in the arrest of twelve Tamil civilians who were taken into custody as they failed to provide satisfactory reason for their stay in the location.
● Six people were killed when two three-wheelers transporting paramilitary Karuna Group personnel from Amparai to Poththuvil were ambushed at Inspector Eattam in Poththuvil. The attack took place in the wake of internal strife within the Karuna Group, and after 8 personnel of the breakaway Pillayan Group reportedly went missing in Polonnaruwa, allegedly at the hands of Karuna cadres.
30 May
● Tiran Alles, publisher of the Sinhala weekly Mawbima, was arrested by the TID, taken into custody from a private hospital in Colombo. Mr. Alles had been Chairman of the Civil Aviation Authority when Mangala Samaraweera was the Minister of Ports and Civil Aviation. Formerly a strong ally of President Mahinda Rajapakse, he became a political enemy following the dispute between the President and former Ministers Mangala Samaraweera and Sripathi Sooriyarachchi.
● An abandoned auto rickshaw with a suspicious parcel inside, found close to a Buddhist Shrine in the Fort area, Colombo, caused panic during the evening peak traffic time. SLA soldiers and policemen rushed to the site blocking traffic, but the bomb disposal squad discovered a number of bricks inside.
● Twenty Tamils were arrested in a cordon and search operation in Ratmalana and Mt. Lavinia areas of Colombo.
● The SLA and police arrested ten Tamil civilians in a cordon and search operation in Tissamaharagama, in Matara. The police said they were taken into custody as they failed to prove their identity and the cause for their stay in the location.
● A civilian, identified as Balasubramaniam, was killed in Iyakkachchi, north of the Elephant Pass, as the SLA intensified artillery shelling, hitting the houses in the village.
● More than one thousand SLA troopers and police officers launched an intensive cordon and search operation in Jaffna, covering Koddadi and Navanthurai coastal areas.
● The LTTE said they confronted a contingent of SLA troopers who attempted to advance through the LTTE defence line in Madu. The SLA suffered casualties and fled the battleground carrying their own casualties, Irasiah Ilanthirayan, the military spokesman of the Tigers told media. Sri Lanka military spokesman in Colombo, Brigadier Samarasinghe, told the press that five SLA troopers were killed in action in Madu. There were no LTTE casualties, according to the Tiger spokesman.
● Three SLAF bombers targeted a civilian area in Puthukkudiyiruppu, Mullaiththeevu, for a second day, injuring a 7-year-old girl named Nilaxana.
● Uyilangkulam checkpoint, gateway to LTTE controlled territory from Mannar, was reopened after a one-week closure, and a large number of civilians travelled across the divide soon after the opening. Farmers and fishermen transported their produce from LTTE held territory to Mannaar town. The SLA said the Uyilangkulam checkpoint will be opened on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays only.
29 May
● The SLA and police conducted cordon and search operations in several parts of Colombo following a claymore attack the previous evening targeting a bus carrying STF personnel from Ratmalana in which eight were killed and 35 injured. Kotahena, Borella, Wellawatte, Bambalapitiya, Mount Lavinia, and Pettah areas were subjected to the search. Four suspects were taken to Ratmalana Police station for further interrogation.
● One person was killed and two injured when two SLAF fast attack crafts bombed Puthukudiyiruppu in Mullaiththeevu twice. Meyyaappillai Alaku, 56, a mother of three from from Chinna Chalampan, Oddusudan, was killed and I. Irasiah, 50 and Neelakandan Jegatheeswari, 26, from Karainagar, Jaffna, were injured. The attack targeted a civilian area and resulted in damage to 12 houses, while children from a school 75 meters from the attack site narrowly escaped.
● The president of the Kalmunai Auto Drivers' Union was shot by gunmen on a motorcycle. Two men used a T56 rifle to kill Illayathamby Shanthakumar, 40, a father of two, at a shop close to his house in Kalmunai, Amparai. Shanthakumar had previously had acrimonious exchanges Karuna Group members on union related issues, and locals speculate that this had a bearing on the killing. Athambawa Jabar, 38, who was nearby at the time of the shooting, sustained serious injuries.
● Brigadier Smarasinghe claimed that nine LTTE fighters were killed in a confrontation in Manal Aru (Weli Oya).
● Gunmen abducted Mylvaganam Vigneswaran, 20, and Kunasekaran, 32, both from Karupola village in Aaraiyampathi east, Kathankudi, Batticaloa. A Karuna Group office is near the Aaraimpathi STF camp, and Karuna Group members allegedly ride the motorcycles through Karupola regularly.
● Armed men opened fire on troopers at the Madduvil SLA camp in Thenmaradchi, Jaffna, killing two. The exchange of fire lasted nearly ten minutes and the SLA arrested a 14-year-old boy during a search soon after the fire fight.
● Two youths arrested by the SLA on charges of possessing claymore mines were produced before the courts in Chavakachcheri, Jaffna, where they maintained that they were innocent and that the SLA had planted the mines to incriminate them. Kumaru Thayananthan, 18, of Varani, Thenmaradchi, and Arumugam Kamlatheepan, 19, of Manthuvil, Thenmaradchi had been arrested the previous day.
● The relatives of three fishermen from Analaitheevu Island reported at the Jaffna office of the SLHRC that the men have not returned after going fishing on May 17. Jeganathan Jeyanthan, 24,Velautham Thevan, 30, and Thangarasa Jegan, 22, allegedly left for fishing in a catamaran and since there was heavy rain and strong winds on that day, relatives expressed fear that the men may have encountered trouble with their boats.
28 May
● Armed men in a white van took Mahendran Matheeskumar, 25, from his house in Mattakuliya, Colombo. The men first questioned Matheeskumar, who was outside his house speaking on his mobile phone. Then they took him away, saying he will be released after interrogation, his mother complained to the Civil Monitoring Committee, a Colombo-based human rights watchdog.
● A bomb exploded in Ratmalana near the domestic airport, targeting a military vehicle carrying STF troopers. Eight were injured and 35 injured in the blast which targeted a vehicle carrying STF troopers traveling from Katukurunte training base to Kadawatte STF camp.
● SLA soldiers on security duty along the A9 highway in Thenmaradchi, Jaffna, between Kodikamam and Chavakachcheri, were attacked by armed men. Local residents said they saw injured troopers being taken in military ambulances.
● Three civilians were killed in a bomb explosion near the well in a house compound at Poonthodam in Vavuniya. One body was found inside the well and the other 50 meters from the well. The third victim succumbed to his wounds while being rushed to:niyaa hospital. Kumarasamy Sureshkumar, 32, a father of two children, Chandran Thanushan, 26 and Satheeskumar were the men killed.
● A Tamil youth, Weeramalai Jegan, 29, was found dead in his paddy field at Kattaikadu, Munthal, Chilaw.
