A number of incidents have seen Sinhala civilians targeted, with twenty-six killed and a number of others injured in the past fortnight alone. This is an escalation in a war that has, traditionally, seen mostly Tamil civilians targeted.

 

While the government blamed the LTTE for the attacks, the Liberation Tigers have accused the government of deliberately using paramilitaries to target civilians, and then casting the blame on the Tigers.

 

In the latest incident, four Sinhalese paddy farmers were shot and killed at Nidanwala in Dimbulagala, Polonnaruwa, by unidentified attackers last Thursday. Three of them died on the spot while the fourth succumbed to his wounds after being admitted to Polonnaruwa hospital.

 

Earlier, on April 2, at least 16 people were killed and 25 others injured, as a blast ripped through a passenger bus in Kondaivedduvaan, on the outskirts of Amparai.

 

There were ten women among these killed. One female police constable and a SLA trooper were also killed.

 

The blast occurred as the bus approached a security checkpoint.

 

The normal procedure followed by personnel at such checkposts is to disembark all those on board the vehicle, frisk the passengers, and make sure that the vehicle is not a security risk.

 

The bomb, concealed in a bag and placed on the shelf above the seats in the bus, exploded, the police said.

 

A statement by the Defence Ministry said the explosion was the handiwork of the Liberation Tigers and was triggered from inside the bus.

 

The Government denounced the incident as "yet another treacherous act of the reckless terrorist outfit, with callous disregard to civilian lives".

 

The LTTE, however, denied its involvement and accused the Government of indulging in a disinformation campaign.

 

Liberation Tigers military spokesman Irasiah Ilanthirayan, charged Colombo with carrying out a "planned disinformation campaign," by accusing the Tigers of attacks on civilian targets, while encouraging paramilitary elements to carry out such attacks with the "motive of tarnishing the Tiger image."

 

"We note with concern the recent attacks on civilians in areas near the Sri Lankan military camps," Mr. Ilanthirayan told the media.

 

The previous night, on April 1, six Sinhala construction workers were killed and one Sinhala and two Tamil workers were seriously wounded in Batticaloa when attackers took them from their workplace and shot them.

 

Men with guns entered a children’s home under construction, took the workers 200 meters away and shot them.

 

The massacre took place 300 meters from the Sri Lankan counter-insurgency STF camp at Mailampaaveli, Batticaloa.

 

The victims were identified as Welage Chandrasiri, 42, from Kelani, T.M. Dhanapala, 54, and his son Dhanapala Wijetunga, 18, from Mahoya, T. Wijakon, 24, from from Mahiyangana and two brothers from Kurunagala, L.M. Dayananda Kapporal, 33, and Maduranga Kapporal, 30.

 

V. U. Nandanage, 41, from Welimada and two Tamils, Indran Pirapaharan and Maduramuththu Nagarasa from Savukkadi, were wounded and admitted to hospital.

 

The attackers had first shot at the electricity transformer rendering it useless before cutting and shooting the victims to death.

 

The LTTE blamed members of the paramilitary Karuna Group for the attack. The government blamed the LTTE.

 

The construction workers had been hired to construct a Children’s Home capable of housing 40 children for the charity organisation Village of Hope.

 

The men had been in the area for at least the last eighteen months, engaged in constructing the children home for Village of Hope organisation which takes care of tsunami affected children and widows.

 

Six mothers and 40 children are already in the home, where English and computer classes are held along with normal educational activities.

 

The home is located between Mylambaveli STF camp and Eravur police station, about one km from the Muslim area of Eravur.

 

 

A SLA soldier was killed and six others wounded in a claymore attack, when attackers targeted a group of SLA troopers on road patrol near Pandathatharippu in Valikamam, Jaffna. SLA soldiers who cordoned off the area following the road side blast beat civilians. One of the wounded soldiers was in serious condition.

 

 

● A claymore mine in Vavuniya killed at least 7 civilians and wounded 25, including four children. The claymore attack targeted a bus carrying Tamil civilians (see separate story).

 

● The Catholic clergy in Jaffna suspect that the mutilated torso found at Punkuduthivu sea on March 14, packed in a military sand bag and tied to a grindstone by barbed wire, likely belongs to the disappeared Catholic priest Rev. Fr. Jim Brown. The church has appealed to the Jaffna Magistrate to facilitate sending blood samples to Colombo to perform DNA tests. Rev.Fr. Thiruchelvam Nihal Jim Brown, 34, Parish Priest of Allaippiddy and his aide Wenceslaus Vincent Vimalan, 38, disappeared on August 20, 2006 after being interrogated by the SLA at Mandaithivu checkpoint. The extra effort taken by the killers to ensure the body remained at the bottom of the ocean have aroused suspicion that the body belongs to a VIP.

 

● The SLA and police arrested 12 Tamil civilians in Uddapu and Munthal, Tamil villages in Chilaw in a cordon and search operation. The arrested Tamils are natives of Trincomalee, Jaffna and Uddapu areas. Seven areas in these villages were cordoned off and a house-to-house was conducted.

 

● SLA troops conducted an extensive cordon and search operation in Vadamaradchchy in the villages of Vathiri, Alvai and Kottavaththai. Hundreds of young family men and women were taken from their homes to a public ground for questioning where they were paraded before masked men and later released.

 

 

● Seven SLN personnel were killed and a gunboat was sunk after a naval clash when three SLN gunboats blocked a Sea Tiger patrol in Mannar. "Our Patrol Unit Commander reported seven enemy casualties after the encounter which lasted for 15 minutes," LTTE Military Spokesman Irasiah Ilanthirayan said. The clash took place inside LTTE's territorial waters, according to the Tiger military spokesman. There were no casualties on LTTE side, he further said. The SLN claimed the clash had taken place 5 nautical miles off Bathlangunduwa. Meanwhile, the SLN in Colombo claimed to have sunk a LTTE boat and said one of the SLN Inshore Patrol Crafts was slightly damaged and a sailor had sustained minor injuries.

 

● A Tamil youth was shot dead by unidentified persons who in a white van at Palaiyootu, Trincomalee. The body was not identified. Earlier, an attempt had been made by unidentified persons to shoot another Tamil youth, but he fled from the scene with injuries.

 

● Three Tamil civilians, including two women, were arrested in a cordon and search operation in Wellawatte, Colombo. They were detained in Wellawatte police station and subjected to interrogation. Police said the three were taken into custody when they failed to prove their identity and the reason for their stay in the locality.

 

● A SLA soldier was killed a civilian seriously injured when two motorbikes collided at Kulappiddy junction, within Jaffna municipal limits. The soldier, L. Ariyadasa, 30, was rushed to hospital where he succumbed to his injuries. A number of civilians were injured in Sri Lankan armed forces involved traffic accidents in Jaffna Peninsula in the recent past. Over speeding is said to be the cause of many accidents.

 

● A Tamil trader, Paramaguru Ramesh, 36, was shot dead at Puduthukuddiyiruppu in Thampalakamam by unidentified men. The men stopped the three-wheeler in which he was travelling from Trincomalee town to his village and shot him dead.

 

● Armed men in a white van abducted a young Tamil trader in Karaveddy, Vadamaradchchi, Jaffna. Relatives lodged complaint at Nelliady police and at the Jaffna office of the SLHRC. Kandasamy Komaleswaran, 25, a resident of Vigneswara College Road, Karaveddy, was forcibly abducted from his home by the armed gang, and when the family members raised cries, they were threatened at gun point. A white van was seen moving around the area a short while before abduction and the youth was forced to walk up to the vehicle before being taken away in the same van.

 

● Thirty eight persons were arrested in cordon and search operations by the combined government armed forces in Tangalle, a town in Matara district. Of the arrested, nineteen were Tamils, and three Tamil were detained for further questioning.

 

 

● Medical officers of Vavuniya public hospital abstained from duties, going on medical leave, in protest against a paramilitary group demanding money. The paramilitaries had issued death threats if the money was not paid. Vavuniya police said they have received no complaints on the matter. The MOs, however, said that they had reported the matter to the Ministry of Health and its Secretary and to other authorities related officials. "We will continue to perform our duties only if the Health Ministry assures our safety and takes immediate action to investigate the matter," the MOs added.

 

● Raveendran Ravi, 54, and Sindhu Ravi, 42, husband and wife and parents of four recently displaced from Vavuniya, were killed in Paalampiddi, Vavuniya when a SLA DPU triggered a claymore mine targeting the IDP couples' bicycle. They were attacked while they were cycling towards their IDP camp in Thadchanaamaruthamadu.

 

● SLA soldiers stopped hundreds of Catholic worshippers assembled at St James Church in Sillalai Parish, Jaffna, from celebrating Maundy Thursday, and ordered them to leave the Parish because they had not obtained prior permission to hold the ceremony. Rev.Fr. Roshan, the Parish Priest and the Secretary to the Jaffna Bishop, had finished conducting a special sacrament when SLA soldiers ordered a halt to the event. They also ordered the Parish priest to call in at the SLA camp the following morning for an inquiry.

 

● SLAF Kfir bombers flew over Vadamaradchi East and bombed Iyakkachchi and Kaddaikkaadu villages in LTTE controlled Vadamaraadchi East in Jaffna. A few houses were damaged in the attack.

 

● The SLA ordered all residents of Thampalakamam, a traditional Tamil village, along Trincomalee-Kandy road, Trincomalee, to register their names, addresses and other related details with the police station in Kovilady.

 

● Armed men shot dead a Tamil youth in Meeravodai, Valaichenai, Batticaloa. The killers shot P. Kokilaraja, 21, at his residence and fled from the scene.

 

● SLA troopers opened fire on two farmers travelling on a tractor to work in paddy fields at Ottuveli, behind Valaichenai Paper Factory in Batticaloa, seriously injuring one of them. The injured farmer, Abubucker Anees, 30, of School Road, Meeravodai, Valaichenai, was rushed to hospital. Valaichenai police claimed Karuna paramilitary group members had been exchanging fire with LTTE and when the farmers happened to pass by later, they were shot at by armed men waiting in ambush. However, local residents in the area said that the SLA troopers shot and injured the farmer.

 

● Attackers shot and killed four Sinhalese paddy farmers at Nidanwala in Dimbulagala, Polonnaruwa (see separate story).

 

● Three passengers were killed and 53 injured when a private bus turned turtle at Teldeniya in Kandy. 20 passengers are in critical condition.

 

● Six Tamil civilians were arrested in a cordon and search operation in Kandy, in the central province. Five of the arrested are natives of Jaffna and one person is from the upcountry. Police said they were taken into custody as they failed to prove their identity with valid documents. They also failed to give reason for their stay in Kandy during the preliminary investigation.

 

● A claymore mine weighing about 10 kg was recovered from the third floor of a building in Wattala, a town in western province. The bomb disposal squad of the SLA rushed to the site and diffused the mine. In a search operation in the area, the police took into custody seven persons, most of them are Tamils.

 

● A fisherman fishing with two others in a fibreglass boat in Talaimannar Sea went missing after unidentified persons fired at his boat. Two other fishermen escaped from the fire and reached the coast safely in the boat. They said Mr. Nelson, 32, had fallen into the sea with gunshot injuries and drowned.

 

 

● Two civilian passengers were killed and four wounded on Kaivaeli - Puthukkudiyiruppu Road in Mullaiththeevu when SLAF Kfir jets bombed the area. B. Pradeep, from Moongilaaru, Mullaitheevu was one of the passengers killed in the air strike and the other was not identified. Luxmanan Kunaratnam, 30, father of two from Vallipunam, Kandiah Anandarajah, 45, from Ampalavan Pokkanai, Amirthalingam Arignan, 27, from Manthuvil in Puthukkudiyiruppu and Sittampalam Tharmasenan, 29, father of one from Visvamadu, were wounded in the attack.

 

● The Puthukkudiyir'uppu office of White Pigeon, an NGO fitting prosthesis, was damaged in the aerial attack on Puthukkudiyiruppu, Millaitheevu. However, the Sri Lankan military in Colombo claimed they had attacked a Sea Tiger base in Mullaiththeevu.

 

● The body of a youth with hands bound and several gunshot wounds was recovered in shrub jungles between Kanagampuliyadi Junction and Puthur in Jaffna. Local residents said there was heavy presence of SLA soldiers in the area the previous night and they heard several gun shots. Residents said that SLA soldiers conducted an intensive search operation near Manthuvil into late evening the previous day. Residents speculate that the youth must have been abducted Tuesday, taken to Meesalai North area and shot during the night.

 

● The bullet ridden body of Theivendiran Sasitharan, 20, a resident of Kondavil was discovered near Station Road in Kondavil, Jaffna. The youth had been forcibly abducted by a group of eight gunmen half an hour earlier near Kondavil Hindu Vidyalayam while returning home after transporting his sister to her school. The armed men on four motorcycles took Sasitharan to an isolated place adjoining the Jaffna Secretariat Store for questioning. While being interrogated Sasitharan broke free from his abductors, but he was chased by the armed gang and shot dead in an adjoining farm land. The motor cycles of the armed group were seen parked for a long time along Palaly Road, near a SLA camp in Thinnavely.

 

● The SLA arrested 15 people after a cordon and search operation in the villages of Siththandy, Morakkoddanchenai and Santhively in Eravur, Batticaloa. After initial interrogation, all the arrested persons were handed over to the Eravur Police for further investigation.

 

● Armed men shot dead a mason at Sunkankerny in Valaichenai, Batticaloa. The killers stopped Kumarasamy Varathan, 42, a father of four and a resident of Valaichenai main street, and his friend as they were riding on a motorcycle along School Road, allowed his companion to go free, and shot the mason dead, killing him on the spot. The victim and his friend were returning home after attending a birthday party.

 

● The body of a youth was recovered from the HSZ surrounding the Sapuskanda oil refinery of the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation in Kelaniya, Colombo. Sapuskanda Police said the body belonged to a 26-year-old Tamil native of Chavakachcheri, Jaffna, but declined to give his name or other details. No injuries were found on the body but police suspect he had been killed and his body dumped in the HSZ.

 

● Thirteen plantation Tamils, including two women, were arrested in Kataragama, in the south, in a combined cordon and search operation by the SLA and Police. The Tamils were staying with their relatives at Gowthamigama colonisation scheme at the time of arrest. Tamils and Sinhalese families have been residing in the scheme without any differences since the scheme was established. Kataragama Police said the arrested are being detained at the Police station and the police are investigating their background.

 

 

● A man and a woman were killed when a SLA DPU infiltrated into LTTE controlled territory in Samalankulam, Vavuniya North. The DPU attackers knifed the victims after they were injured by a claymore.

 

● Vavuniya police claimed LTTE cadres shot and injured two home guards in an area close to the Mamayilankulam tank area in Vavuniya.

 

● Four civilians were wounded when SLAF Kfir jets bombed Alampil in Mullaithivu. The wounded were identified as Sebamalai Manohararajah, 45, Chinnan Luxmykanth, 57, Deiyvam Sriharan, 28, and Sundaralingam Baskaran, 29.

 

● Two armed men, alleged to be Karuna Group members, shot dead a refugee at the Koralankerny refugee camp in Kaluvankerny, Eravur, Batticaloa. Cithiravel Sivanathan, 28, displaced from Pankudaveli, Paduvankarai, in the LTTE held territory, was taking a bath at a well near the camp when he was shot by the men who were on a bicycle.

 

● Armed men took a labourer from his house for interrogation and shot him dead at Parathipuram, Aiyankerny, in Eravur, Batticaloa. Kanapathipillai Suresh, 21, succumbed to his wounds while being rushed to hospital. He worked as a labourer in rice grinding mill in Kalmunai. Suresh was sleeping at his house when the killers called him out for interrogation and shot him in front of the house.

 

● The SLA arrested more than 35 IDPs who had gone to 38th Colony, Palayadivettai and Nellikaddu villages, located on the border between Amparai and Batticaloa, to inspect the houses from which they had fled. The detained were taken to Kondaivettuvaan SLA camp in Amparai. SLA troopers have been accused of looting properties in the villages of IDPs in LTTE held territories and transporting them openly in tractors and lorries to their camps.

 

● A two-year old displaced child died at Kaluwanchchikkudy IDP Transit Camp by accidentally falling into a small pond while its mother was bathing in the pond. As the IDPs in Batticaloa district face many problems in the Transit Camps including water and sanitation, they are compelled to use water for bathing and washing clothes, from improvised ponds where rainwater is collected. The child fell in such a pit and died. P. Ariyaneththiran, a TNA parliamentarian for Batticaloa said the death could have been avoided if authorities had supplied adequate water to the transit camps.

 

● Two armed youths on a motorcycle opened fire on a Karaithivu STF road patrol unit, killing a STF trooper in Kalmunai town, Amparai. The STF troopers chased the youths trying to escape and shot one of them dead within a short distance. Kalmunai police claimed the youths were LTTE and that the STF had recovered a pistol from the killed youth.

 

● Two gunmen shot dead a motor mechanic at Pandiruppu, Kalmunai in Maruthamunai, Amparai. The killers shot the mechanic while he was standing in front of his motor repair garage located near Maruthamunai on Kalmunai main street. The victim was identified as Arunalsalam Jute Jeyakumar, 29, a father of one child from Manalchenai, Kalmunai.

 

● Armed men shot dead a young married man in Periyaneelavanai, Kalmunai, Amparai. The killers abducted Poopalpillai Kamaleswaran, 22, resident of Mahalingam Road, Periyaneelavanai, from his home while he was with his wife and children, led him towards a nearby beach and shot him at point blank range, killing him on the spot.

 

● Mr. Edward Gunasekara, Gampaha district parliamentarian who rejoined the main opposition UNP, complained to the Speaker that his life was under threat and to take steps to provide protection to him. He said the government should be held responsible if anything happens to him. Mr. Gunasekara was one of the eighteen dissident parliamentarians of the UNP who crossed over to the government and accepted cabinet, non-cabinet ranks and deputy minister posts. Mr. Gunasekara resigned as Deputy Minister for Railways and rejoined the UNP.

 

● A reporter of the Tamil News Information Centre was abducted by the SLA while he was riding motor bike along Uduppiddy road. Kopal Suresh, 31, from Arasady, Karaveddy had been working in the Tamil News Information Centre as an official Reporter.

 

 

● Sixteen civilians were killed and 27 wounded when a bomb exploded inside a bus at the Sri Lankan military check post at Kondaivedduvaan, Amparai (see separate story).

 

● SLA soldiers and Police arrested ten Tamil civilians during a cordon and search operation in Thankalai, Hambantota. All the arrested Tamils were Northeast and the plantation sector.

 

● Kalavanchikudy police recovered the body of a family man with hands bound, multiple stab wounds and severe torture marks, dumped into a well in Eruvil, Kaluvanchikudy, Batticaloa. The victim was identified as Kathiramalai Kanthasamy, 28, a father of one, from Eruvil.

 

● SLA troopers shot dead two youths in Kurukalputhukulam, Vavuniya. The police claim the dead were LTTE cadres.

 

● A person from Anpuvalipuram and another from Ilinganagar in Uppuveli Police division were taken away forcefully by unidentified persons in a van. Their whereabouts remain unknown.

 

 

● Six construction workers were massacred and three seriously wounded when attackers shot them about 300 meters from the Sri Lankan counter-insurgency STF camp at Mailampaaveli, Batticaloa (see separate story).

 

● The naked body of a youth, bound in barbed wire and with several gunshot wounds and deep, extensive torture marks, was discovered inside bush jungles in an isolated area near Kerudavil, Manthuvil in Thenmaradchy, Jaffna. Mahalingam Thavarajah, 26, was from Vembadi, Vadamaradchy, Jaffna, and was living in Meesalai, North Kodikamam, when he was abducted and killed. He was abducted by the SLA along with three other youths in Meesalai.

 

● Sri Lanka Military High command in Palaly military base announced, using the official military radio, that the curfew across Jaffna district has been extended by three hours to last from 6:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. Previously the designated curfew hours were from 8:00 p.m. to 4:00 a.m. All areas in Jaffna including Vadamaradchy, Thenmaradchy, Valigamam and Islet regions are to be affected by the new curfew hours. The SLA command warned Jaffna residents that violators of the curfew will be arrested and punished. The SLA usually extends the curfew hours when it moves heavy equipment and weapons to FDLs or when it is preparing for war.

 

● Kanapathi Sivarajah, 35, a day labourer who earned a meagre living doing manual work to support his family, was abducted by armed men from his home and shot dead near a cemetery in Kaithady, Jaffna.

 

● Gunmen shot dead two men and dumped their bodies in Thirunavatkulam, Vavuniya. The victims were identified as Kulasekaranathan Soumian, 32, and Yogarajan Baheerathan, 27.

 

● A SLN sea patrol unit arrested 30 Jaffna residents in Delft seas trying to flee to Tamil Nadu in South India as refugees. After the SLA’s closure of the A9, the only land route to Jaffna, and the resulting scarcity of essential food and medicine, together with the prevailing climate of terror from being abducted, killed, intimidated and harassed by the SLA and its paramilitary collaborators, many in the peninsula have risked their lives on the perilous seas to seek refuge in Tamil Nadu. Fishermen in Delft, for a payment of 15,000 rupees per person, take the fleeing civilians up to the Sri Lanka-India sea boundary where fishermen from Tamil Nadu take over and help them to reach Tamil Nadu shores. Food, medicine and other essential commodities which are hard to find in the peninsula are available in Delft.

 

● Dehiwela Police and SLA soldiers arrested 7 plantation Tamils, including two women, in a sudden cordon and search in Kohuwela, a suburb of Colombo. All the arrested are natives of Nuwara Eliya and Badulla. Tamil employees of hotels and shops in Kohuwela were rigorously questioned before they were arrested.

 

 

● Armed men shot and injured two Tamil persons, including a woman, in the heart of Trincomalee town. The woman was identified as Shanthi Sivamohan, 32, who works in a non-governmental organization.

 

● Gnanapiragasam Weslie, 36, a resident Kerniyadi, a suburb of Trincomalee town, was injured in a shooting in the heart of the eatern port town and succumbed to his injuries the next day. Unidentified men shot him when he was driving a three-wheeler along Old Moor Street. A Tamil young woman, Shanthi Sivamanoharan, 32, was also injured in the incident.

 

● Six youths staying at the St. Antony's Church Welfare Centre in Muthur, Trincomalee, were arrested by SLA. Although the SLA told the parents the youths were being taken for interrogation, the youths remained in custody. They were handed over to Muthur police six days later to be produced before the courts. The SLA had subjected them to severe interrogation during their detention in the Muttur SLA camp. They were identified as Arulnayagam Joseph Jesuthasan, 25, Sebastian Joseph Jebatheepan, 28, Pushparajah Pushpakanthan, 20, Muharasa Murali, 22, Prakash Sripaskaran, 28, and Selvanayagam Amalraj, 25.

 

● Fighter helicopters of the SLAF attacked a Multi Purpose Co-Operative Society lorry and two other lorries belonging to private traders parked near the Puliyangkulam LTTE checkpoint on the A9, north of the Omanthai SLA checkpoint. Following the night mission airstrike by the LTTE on Katunyake airbase, the SLAF has been engaging its bombers and helicopters in late night attacks.

 

● SLA soldiers extended a fishing ban in Vadamaradchy north, affecting more than 4 000 fishing families living along the coastal villages from Valvettiththurai in Vadamarachchy North to Manatkadu in Vadamarachchy East. SLN gunboats fired at fishing crafts in the seas off Jaffna and chased away the fishermen. The armed forces manning checkpoints and bunkers along the coastal area too fired at the fishermen engaged in fishing without any prior warning.

 

● Armed men in a white van abducted Suvaikeenpillai Vayooran alias Balachandran, 39, a father of 6 from Pasaiyoor in Jaffna.

 

● Gunmen in a white van abducted Francis Segar Amilton, 16, of Koiyathottam in Jaffna town from his house.

 

● Sinnathamby Shanmugalingam, 35, a family man from Poonari Madam in Kokuvil was reported missing after going to his neighbouring village of Nachchimarkovilady.

 

● Sinnakandu Jegaseelan, 27, the owner of a cycle repair shop on Main street, Jaffna, was reported missing after going to the SLA civil administrative office at Colombuthurai to obtain permission to leave Jaffna.

 

● Jeyarasa Jeyatheleepan, 19, a student was reported missing after leaving his house at Colombuthurai on personal errands.

 

● SLA troopers took away a youth staying at Kambarmalai in Vadamardcy, according to local residents.

 

 

● M. K. Sivajilingam, a TNA parliamentarian for the Jaffna district, was interrogated by Sri Lanka's Terrorism Investigation Division (TID) for nearly 10 hours for alleged links with the Liberation Tigers. The TID accused the MP of alleged involvement in procuring a vehicle for the LTTE. Sivajilingam said that Colombo is planning to interrogate other TNA MPs with similar concocted false accusations with the intention of suppressing dissent and stopping the MPs from highlighting the human rights abuses of the government. He added that Colombo may be planning to arrest him under false charges when he returns to the TID for further interrogation.

 

● Police recovered the body of a labourer in front of Peoples' Bank, V. C. road, Valaichenai, Batticaloa. Vinayagamoorthy Vijayanathan, 30, a father of and a resident of Shanmugalingam Road, Karuvakerny, in Valaichenai, had left home to buy provisions in Valaichenai town the previous afternoon and failed to return. Relatives said he was abducted and then killed.

 

● Unidentified persons triggered a claymore device at Parayanalankulam in Vavuniya killing five SLA troopers travelling in a tractor.

 

● A young IDP was killed by a stray bullet believed to be fired by the SLA at Manatkadu in Vadamarachchy East, Jaffna. G. Manoharan, 24, from Mantkadu, succumbed to his injuries at hospital. He had been displaced by 2004 tsunami and was staying in the Transit camp when the bullet hit him. The SLA and SLN had been conducting joint military exercises in the coastal areas of Vadamarachchy, including the populated Manatkadu and other villages.

 

● Two armed men on a motorbike followed a family man cycling along Palaly road at Punnalikaduvan, Valigamam, Jaffna, and shot him. N. Krishnarajah, 38, of Old Police Station Road in Chunnakam remained unattended on the roadside until he was taken to hospital in a critical condition by local residents. The incident occurred within the SLA HSZ close to Palaly SLA main base.

 

● Two armed men on a motorbike assaulted an elderly man, held a pistol to his head, and robbed nearly half a million rupees off him on Stanley Road in Jaffna town, within the SLA HSZ. R. K. Sellathurai, 68, of Masiapitty in Sandilipay, Valigamam, was admitted to hospital. Stanley road lies close to Subash and Gnanams hotels where Jaffna SLA 51-2 brigade has its head quarters. One end of Stanley Road is sealed off for public use and guarded by SLA troopers 24 hours a day.

 

● Dehiwala Police took eleven Tamil civilians, including two women, into custody in a sudden cordon and search operation in Kohuwela, a suburb of Colombo. All of the arrested are natives of the NorthEast, and had been staying with relatives and friends. They were detained and questioned to find out the reason for their stay in Kohuwela.

 

● Two Tamil youths were taken into custody by the SLA in a cordon and search operation at Eechantivu, a Tamil village in Kinniya, Trincomalee. They have been identified as Sellathurai Gnanasegaram, 27, and Pirapaharan Jeyenthiran, 23.

 

 

● Eight civilians, including four children, were killed when the SLA fired mortars from Murakkoddaanchaenai SLA camp towards Siththaandi 3rd division. One of the wounded succumbed to injuries at Batticaloa hospital. Two 2-year-old girls and 2 boys under 18 were among the victims. Three of the children were from a single family. Six shells were fired towards the civilian settlement and eight houses were damaged. The mortar attack on the civilian settlement followed a LTTE raid on SLA positions in the area on 21 March. There were no LTTE units firing mortars from Siththaandi towards SLA positions.

 

Nallam Thavamani, 30, her daughter Nallam Niroja, 2, three children from a single family – Perinparajah Ranjitha, 2, Perinparajah Sasikumar, 15, and Perinparajah Vasanthakumar, 18 – and Alagaiah Vijalaluxmy, 42, Nagamani Thambithurai, 42, and Ilayathambi Sinnaththurai, 50, were killed straight away. The name of the wounded person who died in hospital was not released.

 

● Two civilians arrested by the armed forces at Alankerny in Kinniya during a cordon and search remained in custody, with no word of their whereabouts.

 

 

● LTTE forces thwarted a pre-dawn attempt by SLA troopers and paramilitary cadres of the Karuna Group from Chenkalady Black Bridge SLA camp in Batticaloa to advance into Koduvamadu area in LTTE held territory. The LTTE recovered the bodies of two paramilitary members and eight T-56 rifles. The four injured paramilitary cadres – identified as Thutchan, Varman, Nesan and Thevikan – were rushed to hospital. The SLA and the Karuna Group personnel withdrew to their camps following the failed attempt.

 

● The SLA in Batticaloa launched MBRL fire from their camps towards LTTE held territories in Batticaloa, forcing government offices and schools to close. The SLA launched MBRL fire from the 23rd Brigade in Batticaloa, Sathurukondan, Mylambaveli, Kommanthurai, Murakottanchenai, Kumburumoolai and Valaichenai brigade camps. More than 80% of residents in LTTE areas have already been displaced by the unrelenting artillery and mortar fire launched by the SLA. Their properties have been badly damaged by the shelling.

 

● Armed men shot dead an elderly couple at their house, 300 meters from Palaly Road in the HSZ that is always guarded by SLA troopers. Vairamuthu Sivaganeshathasan, 59, a trader and his wife Sarojini Sivaganeshathasan, 53, were killed, but their grandson, Sivakumar Kapilan, 9, escaped injury. As there were no near neighbours, Kapilan spent the whole night crying beside his grandparents' bodies. Villagers became aware of the killings only when he came out at dawn. A van and lorry belonging to the trader, who is said to be a millionaire, were found in his compound.

 

● Sinnaththurai Rajendra, 34, of Ilanthaikkulam road, Kolumbuththurai who went to Jaffna city on 25 March, was reported missing by relatives.

 

● Gunasegaram Kunaharan, 19, from Bharathy road, Chankanai East, who went to buy provisions, disappeared on 3 March, his relatives said in a complaint lodged at the SLHRC in Jaffna.

 

● A young family man from Kankuveli in Muthur, Tricnomalee, was abducted by two persons on a motorbike. They blindfolded Munusamy Kalirasa, 34, and took him on the motorbike towards Thehiyaththakandiya, a neighbouring Sinhala village.

 

 

● Two SLA troopers and four Eelam Peoples' Democratic Party (EPDP) members were killed at Kommanthurai SLA camp in Batticaloa when explosives in a tractor blew up when the troopers opened fire as the driver of the tractor failed to stop on orders. Two SLA troopers, two policemen and five civilians were injured.

 

M. A. Piriya Banda, 23, of Methirigiriya, and Punchi Banda, 34, of Polanaruwa were identified as the SLA troopers killed. The EPDP members killed were Velautham Thayaparan, 25, of Thimilaitheevu, Sachithananthan Vigneswaran, 25 of Kommanthurai and Kovinthan Mathanarajah,12, of Kommanthurai, all three from Batticaloa district. Yamuna, 42 and Sinthuja, 03 were the two civilians injured.

 

Following the explosion, SLA launched heavy rocket fire on LTTE held territories. Almost 90% of the EPDP office located near Komanthurai SLA camp was damaged in the blast while the army commander's office suffered minor damages.

 

● A youth on motorbike threw a hand grenade at a group of Sri Lanka police officers on road patrol in Arayamapthy, Kathankudy, Batticaloa, injuring two policemen. Sergeants Karunaratne, 36, and Veerasinghe, 33, were the two police personnel injured. The police opened fire but the youth escaped unhurt.

 

● Exchange of heavy mortar and artillery fire and MBRL fire occurred between the LSA and LTTE along the FDLs from Muhamalai to Kilali in Jaffna. Beginning Monday night, the firing continued until Tuesday evening. The SLA launched mortar and artillery fire from Thenmaradchy south, west, Kokilakandy and Thanankilappu areas towards LTTE held positions. Hundreds of fishermen fishing in the Jaffna lagoon narrowly escaped when shells fell and exploded in the lagoon.

 

● A youth from Navalar Road, Jaffna, disappeared after being stopped at Arasady Junction in Nallur for interrogation by SLA soldiers. Lakshumanan Nishanthan, 23, a businessman, was travelling towards Nallur in his van when he was stopped at the checkpoint. Local witnesses saw the van being driven by another driver without Nishanthan about an hour later. Relatives said SLA officials admitted they were holding Nishanthan and had told them he would be released after questioning, but they have not had any additional details on his whereabouts, and fear for his safety. His van was found abandoned about a hundred metres from the checkpoint.

 

● Two armed men on a motorbike shot dead a minibus driver who was having tea at a cafe on Jaffna-Kachcheri road behind Jaffna Secretariat. L. Chandranath, 23, was rushed to hospital where he succumbed to his wounds. Chandranath, who had earlier functioned as the time-keeper for private buses in Jaffna town, was working as the driver of a minibus plying between Jaffna town and Kachcheri area. He was having tea while his minibus waited for passengers near the cafe.

 

● Two members of the Socialist Equality Party, Nadaraja Nimaleswaran, 27, of Velanai in the Jaffna Islets, and his friend, Yuganathan Mathivathanan, 23, disappeared on 22 March their way to Punkuduthivu, according to a complaint filed with the Jaffna SLHRC by their relatives.

 

 

● The SLA and SLN conducted war rehearsals from Palaly military base to Kankesanthurai naval base, suggesting an imminent escalation of conflict between the LTTE and Sri Lanka Armed Forces in the north. The exercises also took place in the seas of Valvettithurai, Myliddy and Kankesanthurai and the adjoining coastal areas, lasting for more than an hour.

 

● Armed men on motorbike shot dead a family man while he was eating at a food stall opposite Jaffna college, Vaddukodai. The killers, entering the food stall pretending to be normal customers, opened fire on Murgesu Sangarapillai, 45, from Karainagar. Sangarapillai, on his way to Jaffna town from his home in Karainagar on his motorbike and had stopped midway to have breakfast at the food stall.

 

● An employee of Jaffna Municipal Council, shot and injured by SLA troopers in front of the Jaffna SLHRC in an earlier incident, sought safety. SLHRC officials took steps to place Mr. Baskaran, a resident of Sirupitty, Vadamaradchy east, under the protective custody of Jaffna prison after he surrendered at their offices fearing for his life. After the shooting, Baskaran had gone home, but on being continuously threatened at Sirupitty and scared of being killed by the SLA, he sought refuge at the SLHRC.

 

● Sri Lanka Police took two Tamils, one woman and one man, into custody in Seeduwa, near Colombo, in cordon and search operations following the air strike on Katunayake air base by the LTTE. One of the arrested is a native of Jaffna and the other is from Batticaloa.

 

 

 

● Three troopers from Kanthuvil STF were injured when unidentified men attacked a road patrol unit at Sankaman on the border of Amparai district. Two of the attackers were killed when the STF retaliated. Amparai police claimed that the two youths are LTTE cadres and they recovered their bodies following the search after the exchange of gunfire. The police also claimed that a T-56 rifle and two magazine rounds were recovered from the bodies of the two youths.

 

 

● Gopalapillai Illankumaran, 27, a family man, went missing without a trace after he left to his spouse's house in Nunavil Chavakachcheri from his mother's residence in Vellanai, an islet of Jaffna. Illankumaran had recently come from Vanni with identity documents showing his Vanni address and SLA troopers checking him on his way to Jaffna may have abducted him, his family members claimed. Many, coming from the islets on personal errands to Jaffna town, have gone missing, according to media reports.

Sixty-seven people were killed and twenty-nine abducted by armed men, while sixty-eight were reported missing in the Jaffna peninsula during the period from January to March 2007, according to a report by the Jaffna SLHRC.

 

Though complaints had been made about these human rights violations to the law enforcing authorities in the peninsula, no one had been arrested by the authorities in connection any of the complaints, the human rights body said.

 

The killings and abductions were carried out during curfew hours in the nights, as well as in broad day light by armed men in white van, gunmen in military uniforms and men on motorcycles.

 

The following particulars are found in the report compiled by the human rights organisation in Jaffna:

 

● Armed men killed 20 people in January, 8 in February and 39 in March, making a total of 67.

 

● Gunmen in white vans, SLA soldiers and SLA-backed paramilitaries abducted 10 civilians in January and 19 in March, altogether 29.

 

● A total of 68 civilians, 20 in January, 31 in February and 17 in March, have been reported missing. These persons went missing after leaving their homes on personal errands or business related travel inside the peninsula.

 

● More than 18 persons have sought safety through SLHRC Jaffna office, complaining that they feared being killed by the Sri Lankan military forces and the paramilitary personnel operating with them in the Jaffna peninsula.

 

● Two bodies of persons shot and killed between January and March remain unidentified in the Jaffna Teaching hospital mortuary.

 

The report, which does not include any statistics from Sri Lanka’s armed forces, was compiled from data registered with the SLHRC and the media in the peninsula.

 

One of thousands of Tamil families driven from their homes by Sri Lankan bombardment this year

Despite urgent appeals by aid agencies, over 200,000 Tamil people who fled their homes last month following intense Sri Lankan bombardment of their homes in Batticaloa district continue to languish in squalid refugee camps.

 

The international donor community remains indifferent to the plight of the IDPs (Internally Displaced People) even as Sri Lankan and international media have both ceased reporting on the escalating humanitarian crisis.

 

A lack of facilities in the makeshift shelters, a growing shortage of food, torrential rain and over-crowding are making living conditions unbearable and has turned the refugee camps into breeding ground for disease, aid workers say.

 

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned last week that human faeces, garbage and over crowding were creating serious health hazards in the camps.

 

“The grounds are littered with faeces and great patches of urine. Children urinate against walls, on tents and near water sources. School furniture has been burned for firewood,” UNICEF said in a statement.

 

The recent torrential rain has worsened the situation with several temporary shelters in Mankadu, Erivil, Kaluvanchikudy, Thethathivu and Vedar Kudiruppu collapsing.

 

According to the Kaluvanchikudy Regional Secretary heavy rain continuing for the third day collapsed temporary shelters in interim camps creating additional hardships.

 

Absence of proper drainage system has led to puddles of water inside tents in make-shift refugee camps.

 

Relief agencies say their operations in the war-torn eastern district lacks tents, medicine, baby food and clothes for the IDPs.

 

The scarcity of sheltering space has often resulted in three families having to share one tent.

 

In one location, only a hundred tents have been provided by the Government Agent Batticaloa where 700 are required to shelter the IDPs, the Regional Secretary added.

 

The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) last month made an urgent appeal for funds describing the situation ‘urgent and critical’.

 

According to Tamil media, with a ration of between just 100 and 200 grams of rice per family per day refugees are struggling to have even one square meal per day and shortage of milk food is severely affecting children.

 

According to WFP it can only look after the food needs of 100,000 IDPs through April and there are an estimated 240,000 IDPs in the district.

 

WFP said a lack of commitment to the Tamil refugees’ welfare from the Sri Lankan government has left thousands of others without food supplies.

 

“The district still awaits food to cover the government commitment of 40,000. Currently there is enough food in the district to cover 70,000 with the remainder being sent next month. However, some 30,000 people are still without food,” the Inter Agency Standing Committee, a combine of UN and other relief agencies said last month.

 

Mass displacements of people and the subsequent use of schools as refugee camps has disrupted the education of over 30,000 Tamil students.

 

“The sound of multi-barrel rockets being launched is just terrible. We know parents and children are staying away from school because they are too scared to go,” UNICEF Batticaloa Head Christina de Bruin said.

 

Squalid living conditions are not the only worry the IDPs in eastern Sri Lanka have. They are also living in fear of roving gunmen from the paramilitary Karuna Group and Sri Lankan soldiers.

 

Karuna group cadres are roaming the refugee camps intimidating and abducting refugees, aid agencies say.

 

In March Amnesty International raised the alarm about armed paramilitaries operating in refugee camps in government held territories but the practice continues.

 

Purna Sen, Asia Pacific director at Amnesty International said: “The Karuna faction appears to operate throughout Batticaloa town with the complicity of the Sri Lankan authorities.”

 

“The people who have been forced to flee the fighting are in an extremely vulnerable position: they have left behind their livelihoods and their homes, they may not know the area and they are likely to be very scared. The government has a responsibility to ensure that camps are safe and civilian in nature - it is unacceptable for men with guns to be wandering around as if they are in control,” She added.

 

Adding to the woes of the refugees, the Sri Lankan army has been forcefully resettling refugees in recently captured Vaharai, effectively using them as human shields, creating a buffer zone to protect themselves from any LTTE attacks.

 

Aid agencies have protested against this action by the security forces and UNHCR has reportedly withdrawn from all resettlement operations in the East.

 

“Any return to places of origin in accordance with the guiding principles of internal displacement should be voluntary, in safety and with dignity. UNHCR and other agencies have not yet done in-depth assessments in Vakarai. This is linked to sustainability and safety of return,” a statement issued in March by UNHCR said.

 

“The presence of TMVP [Karuna Group] armed cadres is reported in Vakarai and this may lead to security problems similar to those IDPs faced in the Batticaloa displacement sites,” the UNHCR added.

 

The overall security situation in Batticaloa district remains volatile with frequent clashes between the Sri Lankan army and the LTTE, according to aid workers and refugees.

 

“It is still very difficult to operate, the roads are closed, no communications and there is more fighting,” UN Spokesperson Orla Clinton said.

The Presidency of Mahinda Rajapakse has primarily been one of renewed war in the Northeast and repression in the south. Whilst the Tamils have borne the brunt of state violence in the past 18 months, the tide of rabid Sinhala nationalism that has emerged in that time has cowed the southern liberals and the Left. Nothing has contributed more to the all-pervasive sense of fear than the ceaseless killings and disappearances that have come to mark President Rajapakse’s rule above anything else. Of course, the ‘shadow war’ began littering Sri Lanka’s roadsides and fields with bound and mutilated corpses well before ‘Mahinda Chinthana’ became the state philosophy. But human rights abuses became common place only afterwards.

 

What has been striking, however, is the feeble response of the international community, led by the West. The 2002-3 Norwegian peace talks were heavily laced with the liberal ethos of human rights. Indeed the pressing humanitarian needs of hundreds of thousands of Tamils – the stated primary concern of the LTTE were marginalized by the internationally backed peace process whilst human rights protection was held aloft as the magic pill for Sri Lanka’s ethnic crisis (a quick read of the joint statements issued after the last four of the six rounds will illustrate our point). So what happened to that international commitment to human rights when President Rajapakse resumed the war? The international indifference to the cascade of bloodied corpses speaks volumes: the priority is to ensure Sri Lanka defeats the LTTE and ends the Tamil challenge to the state. Which is why, apart from occasional handwringing, there is no credible effort to restrain the Sri Lankan state.

 

But amid this inaction, a curious international campaign is underway: a call to establish an international human rights monitoring body. For much of the past year a coalition of international and local human rights groups, including the recently unfairly vilified Amnesty International, and activists have been agitating for such an independent body. They argue, correctly, that the Sri Lankan state cannot be entrusted with monitoring. This pressure compelled President Rajapakse last year to appoint a Commission of Inquiry (COI) and accept the appointment of a panel of international observers, the International Independent Group of Eminent Persons (IIGEP). A number of international actors- including the European Union and India - have appointed prominent individuals to it.

 

But that has been the sum total of international action. The COI itself is an eyewash, as any seasoned observer of Sri Lanka’s politics will attest. The IIGEP has been inaugurated, but its profile is so low-key as to be almost invisible. For the past two decades, the primary driver for continuing abuses by the state armed forces has been the heavily institutionalized culture of impunity in Sri Lanka. In short, the security forces are certain that anything goes in the name of national security. Their confidence is entirely justified. Not only is the Sri Lankan state unconcerned, provided the war is won, neither, really, is the international community. Whilst doing nothing else and simply appointing an individual to the IIGEP, the leading states involved in Sri Lanka have effectively (and knowingly) provided Sri Lanka with a fig leaf behind which to approach international fora like the UN Human Rights Council.

 

In the meantime, the campaign to establish international human rights monitoring meanders along making much noise but little progress against effective resistance by the Sri Lankan state. This resistance has less to with Sri Lanka’s arguments (indeed the country with the second most recorded disappearances after Iraq doesn’t really have a case) than lacklustre international commitment to protecting rights against this state. In a despicable appeal to the Sinhala chauvunism now riding high in the south, some advocates such as Human Rights Watch (HRW), have even argued that a monitoring mechanism would be primarily be useful in cornering the LTTE.

 

The assumption that the Tamil liberation movement is antithetical to international human rights protection is erroneous. The central Tamil grievance is state oppression. For decades we have argued ourselves hoarse that it is the slow genocide by the state that we are resisting. Any mechanism that will effectively restrain the Sinhala dominated state from continuing its violence against our people would be welcome. As such, an effective independent monitoring mechanism would be an important first step. But beyond monitoring lies the true problem: the lack of commitment by leading international states to restrain friendly states crushing rebellious peoples, no matter how brutally.

 

 

The death of Mr. T. Jeyakumar was mourned in the Vanni and marked by a parade there, while his public funeral was held in Melbourne, Australia. Photo TamilNet

Tamils in Australia and across the Pacific last week said farewell to a stalwart of the Diaspora Community, Mr. Thillainadarajah Jeyakumar, 54, who died unexpectedly on March 29 at his home in Melbourne, Australia.

 

Over 3,000 Tamils from across Australia and the Pacific filed past Mr. Jeyakumar’s body at a state funeral held in Melbourne on April 3.

 

Many mourners broke down in tears as they said farewell to a man they had come to know over the past 20 years as a Tamil nationalist and strong advocate for the Eelam cause.

 

During his 20 years at the head of the Tamil Coordinating Committee in the Asia Pacific, Mr. Jeyakumar united the Tamil Diaspora in the region behind the Tamil cause and built such a momentum that when the tsunami struck the Tamil homelands in 2004 Australian Tamils flew to the island in unprecedented numbers to assist their people.

 

Tributes were also received from India, Sri Lanka, UK, and other locations where Mr. Jeyakumar’s services to his people had taken him.

 

(top) Several thousand people filed past Mr. Jeyakumar's casket in Melbourne, Australia; (above) the long-serving Tamil activist is survived by his wife, Yoga, and son, Karthic. Photos TamilNet

Mr. Jeyakumar’s casket was taken to the hall at 3:00 pm and people gathered outside started filing past the coffin. The funeral concluded at 8:00 pm, after everyone had had the opportunity to file past the coffin and pay their respects.

 

With an LTTE flag draped over the body, thousands of Tamils paid floral tributes with red and yellow roses. Many wreaths and bouquets brought by mourners were also placed behind the casket.

 

A service was also held in the Vanni, with the head of the LTTE’s political wing, Mr. S. P. Tamilselvan lighting the ceremonial flame.

 

The leader of the Liberation Tigers, Velupillai Pirapaharan, conferred the Maamaniathar (Great Human) award on Mr. Jeyakumar.

 

The humanitarian situation in Sri Lanka’s embattled eastern province continued to deteriorate this week as hundreds of thousands of displaced Tamils there faced growing shortages of food and shelter.

 

Displaced by successive Sri Lankan military offensives over the past few months, an estimated 200,000 people are living in squalid conditions without adequate sanitation and security.

 

International aid organizations and United Nations agencies working with the IDPs in the East have warned of a looming humanitarian crisis and made urgent appeals for international support.

Refugees collect food handouts for their families. But supplies are runnning out. Photo TamilNet

 

As yet, however, there has been no response from the international donor community.

 

The Common Humanitarian Action Plan for Sri Lanka has only received 33 per cent of its required funding for food aid and has called the latest influx a major humanitarian challenge.

 

But Sri Lanka Government spokesperson K. Rambukwella dismissed the severity saying only 52,000 are displaced, contradicting his own administration's official figures.

 

Meanwhile, the government, whilst not providing assistance is forcibly returning refugees to areas considered unsafe against their wishes and the advice of refugee agencies.

 

"Sri Lankan authorities are using threats and intimidation to force civilians who fled recent fighting in Sri Lanka’s civil war to return home," Human Rights Watch (HRW), a rights watchdog, accused Colombo in a press release issued 16 March.

 

Just over two weeks ago, a staggering 130,000 people fled their homes in LTTE controlled Vavunatheevu and Karadiyanaru to escape from a renewed Sri Lankan military onslaught on their villages.

 

They took refuge in already overcrowded refugee camps in Army-controlled territories pushing the total number of IDPs in the Batticaloa district to well over 200,000.

 

"There is no room for thousands of new war-displaced in crammed refugee camps in Sri Lanka's east, so many are sheltering under trees or in schools and churches," Reuters report, datelined 13 March, said.

 

Many of the camps are in local schools, preventing the education of ten thousand more Tamil children.

 

“Because of the new influx of IDPs, 110 schools remain closed in the district. Around 23,000 students from Paduvankarai are not attending schools,” Batticaloa Zonal Director of Education, A. M. E. Paul said.

 

“Students in 18 other schools face difficulties as they witness the daily trauma of IDPs and fellow students staying in the premises as refugees,” he said.

 

The World Food Programme (WFP) made an urgent appeal for funds to support its operations, described the need for international assistance as “critical and urgent.”

 

Meanwhile, accusing the Sri Lankan state of forcibly resettling IDPs to recently captured areas north of Batticaloa town without considering their safety and wishes, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has ceased all operations relating to resettlement of refugees.

 

The UNHCR pull out comes following protests from the UN agency echoed by the international human rights group, Human Rights Watch (HRW), against the government decision to forcefully resettle IDPs in Muttur and Vakarai.

 

Reports have said of government officials denying aid to refugees who refuse to board buses taking them to their former homes in areas that are still volatile.

 

On February 15, the WFP Regional Director for Asia Tony Banbury said “unless we receive new funding very soon, we will run out of food supplies by the end of April.”

 

“After all the suffering endured by the victims of the fighting in Sri Lanka, they should not be hurt further by a lack of international support and concern,” he added.

 

“We will do everything we can to ensure that all these victims of the conflict – many of them women and children – get the assistance they so desperately need,” he said.

 

The international community including the co-chairs of peace process, USA, European Union, Japan and Norway have been silent on the continuing military offensive and indifferent to the resulting human suffering.

 

A delegation of members of Parliament from Tamil National Alliance (TNA) have met foreign ambassadors and sought urgent help.

 

Thangeswari Kadiraman, TNA MP for Batticaloa said "There are 89 refugee camps, but still, many thousands are living outside with only trees for cover. And the rains are complicating the situation."

 

However, there has been no international response.

 

Whilst there has been no response to the international aid agencies’ appeals, neither has there been condemnation of the Sri Lankan counter-insurgency strategy of driving hundreds of thousands of Tamils from their homes by indiscriminate bombardment.

 

In some districts, WFP has already been forced to put on hold its Mother and Child Nutrition and school feeding programmes in order to re-direct its limited resources towards the newly displaced.

 

It has also suspended most food-for-work rehabilitation projects in districts ravaged by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.

 

Following several months of government embargoes on LTTE-controlled areas, WFP said it “urges the Government and the LTTE to guarantee unimpeded access by WFP and other humanitarian organizations to the displaced people.”

 

The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has pulled out of all refugee resettlement operations in Sri Lanka’s East after accusing the Government of forcibly resettling displaced Tamils in areas considered to be unsafe.

Tamil refugees are being forced onto busses taking them back into embattled areas. Photo TamilNet

 

The move comes amid accusation that the Sri Lankan security forces are using Tamil civilians as human shields for artillery attacks and ground offensives against the Liberation Tigers.

 

Echoing protests by UNHCR, Human Rights Watch (HRW) also raised concerns last week over the reports of people being forcibly returned to their villages.

 

The Sri Lankan government has formally rejected the accusations and insists that all resettlement will be voluntary and the participation of UNHCR.

 

But Sri Lanka’s minister for Resettlement and Relief Services, Rishad Badurdeen admitted the government had forcibly moved displaced people.

 

He was quoted by local media as saying that around 10 per cent of the people were reportedly moved to a resettlement camp against their will.

 

The Sri Lankan military also confirmed forcible resettlement had taken place. Military spokesman Prasad Samarasinghe admitted to reporters that last week a group of people were transferred to UNHCR transit camp in Killivedi against their will.

 

And UNHCR Spokesperson Ron Redmond in Geneva referring to the Government assurances said ground reports suggest otherwise.

 

“Reports indicate that this [voluntary resettlement] has not been the case and we also are disturbed by statements attributed to local authorities that all assistance may be stopped if internally displaced people remain in Batticaloa and that the Government would not be able to guarantee their safety,” he said.

 

Meanwhile refugees living in camps in government-held Batticaloa told Reuters that Sri Lankan officials had threatened to halt food and water handouts if they did not agree to return to their homes in the embattled areas.

 

“According to one of the reports, women and children at one site were forced to board buses despite pleas that they couldn’t leave while their husbands were still at work and children at school,” Mr. Redomond said.

 

The UNHCR distanced itself from the Government’s actions by ceasing to participate in refugee resettlement operations in the East.

 

Amin Awad, head of UN refugee agency UNHCR in Sri Lanka announcing their decision to pull out of resettlement work in the East said "we are saying that we are not involved with this situation, we don't want to give the IDPs the impression that we are assisting or facilitating or promoting return,"

 

"The conditions in Vakarai are not right for resettlement and there is work to be done on services and minimum conditions for return,"

 

"We feel that the minimum conditions of security, demining, removal of UXOs (unexploded ordnance), need to be put in place and also food stocks and quantities of

relief items should be in place and some services like basic health."

 

The UN agency estimates that the government has returned approximately 10,000 people against their will to Vaharai north of Batticaloa town and Sampur south of Trincomalee where landmines have not been cleared and infrastructure has been destroyed due to fighting.

 

Government defense spokesman Keheliya Rambukwelle responding to allegations of forcible resettlement said “it is their right to be resettled in their original places. The government is fulfilling that right. If someone interprets it as forceful resettlement, well then that’s disappointing.”

 

“This whole journey is not a bed of roses. It’s a tough journey to deal with 100 – 150,000 people,” he argued.

 

“In the process you might have a few cases where some people don’t want to be resettled.”

Tamil Eelam Air Force pilots after their first claimed mission. Photo LTTE

LTTE leader Velupillai Pirabakaran with Air Tigers. Photo Alex/LTTE

In a graphic demonstration of their home-grown air capability, the Liber ation Tigers Monday launched a bombing raid against the Sri Lankan Air Force’s (SLAF) heavily defended main airbase at Katunayake.

 

Two aircraft of the Tamil Eelam Air Force (TAF) launched a night raid Monday, dropping several bombs on the hangers where Sri Lanka’s main jet bomber fleet are kept.

 

The adjacent international airport, 35 kilometres (20 miles) north of Colombo, was not hit, but it closed briefly before resuming operations a few hours later.

 

Whilst the government says only two helicopter gunships were slightly damaged, airmen coming off duty told reporters in Colombo that several SLAF jet bombers were put out of action by fierce fires which broke out in the hangars struck by the LTTE aircraft.

 

Up to 40% of the SLAF’s strike capability has been knocked out, they said.

 

B. Raman, a former counter-terrorism head of India’s external intelligence service, said in an analysis this week that the “TAF air strike has severely damaged, if not destroyed, at least a half of the aircraft holdings of the SLAF.”

 

“The Sri Lankan Government has imposed a total black-out on the losses [it] suffered [so as] to hamper any damage assessment by the media and other analysts,” he wrote.

 

Three air force men were killed and another 16 wounded in the raid which began at 12.45 am.

 

The LTTE admitted responsibility the daring raid, publishing for the first time photos of their fledgling airforce, showing a group of pilots and a small aircraft.

 

The LTTE said Monday’s attack was in retaliation for SLAF bombing of Tamil civilians.

 

"Other Sri Lanka military installations will also be targets of our future attacks," LTTE military spokesman Rasiah Ilanthirayan told reporters.

 

Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapakse held an emergency meeting of the country’s security leadership Monday as the government imposed a total blackout on the LTTE bombing raid.

 

During the day Monday journalists were kept away from the airbase by heavily armed air force troops who searched surrounding areas with dogs.

 

Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) officials who attempted to visit the Air Force base Monday to initiate inquiries into the attack were refused access to the site by top Air Force officials, an SLMM spokesman told the Daily Mirror.

 

SLMM spokesman Thorfinur Omarsson said the monitors however managed to visit the injured at the Negombo hospital and would make another attempt to visit the air base Tuesday stressing it was important that access is granted for the monitors to rule on the incident.

 

Meanwhile, only two propeller-driven Pucara ground attack aircraft and a seaplane took off from Katunayake all day Monday.

 

A significant section of the SLAF’s jet bomber fleet, including several Israeli-made Kfirs are based at Katunayake.

 

At least six Kfirs were housed in the hangers bombed by two LTTE aircraft in the early hours Monday.

 

The LTTE bombs had triggered fires and secondary explosions in the hangars, airmen who came off duty Monday told reporters.

 

The Sri Lankan government has played down the attack saying only two bombs dropped by the LTTE aircraft exploded.

 

But several press reports in the early hours quoted residents being woken by at least four loud blasts followed by gunfire.

 

Tourists in the international terminal speaking to international agencies also reported a series of loud explosions amid gunfire.

 

The Tamil Eelam Air Force of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, which has been in existence for at least nine years without the Sri Lankan intelligence having the least idea about its location and capability, went into action for the first time since its creation in the early hours of March 26. It was a conventional air attack and not a suicide mission.

 

Two aircraft of the TAF flew over the Sri Lankan Air Force base at Katunayake near Colombo and dropped four bombs. At least three SLAF personnel were killed and about 20 injured. Two helicopters, reportedly given by Pakistan, were badly damaged. There was also some damage to the Israeli aircraft of the Sri Lankan Air Force.

 

The LTTE has claimed that both its planes returned safely to base and has released a photograph of Prabakaran with the officers of the TAF. It is reported that the approach of an unidentified aircraft towards the base was detected by the Sri Lankan Air Force radar, but the anti-aircraft units at the base failed to go into action. The SLAF pilots' capability for night operations is poor and the Air Tigers took advantage of this to fly over the base unintercepted and bomb it.

 

The Sri Lankan authorities immediately closed the nearby civilian airport and diverted all incoming flights to Indian airports.

 

The LTTE has projected its air strike as in retaliation for the repeated bombing of civilian areas by the Sri Lankan Air Force, which has killed a large number of innocent Tamil civilians. Many of these air strikes of the SLAF were carried out by mercenary Ukrainian pilots.

 

It was not only a reprisal air strike, but also a pre-emptive air strike to prevent an offensive operation, which the Sri Lankan Armed Forces are planning to launch in the Northern Province in order to liberate the areas under the control of the LTTE there. A fresh team of Pakistani counter-insurgency experts and air force officers has recently arrived in Colombo to assist the Sri Lankan Armed Forces in their planned operations in the Northern Province.

 

Apprehending this offensive, the LTTE has stepped up its arms procurement efforts. As reported earlier, it has already managed to replenish its stocks of explosives. It had undertaken a detailed study of the Hizbollah operations against Israel in July last year in order to draw lessons from it. It was also trying to procure from the Hizbollah the surface-to-surface rockets, which it had used effectively against Israeli targets.

 

It is not yet known whether it has succeeded in procuring them. If it has, it may bring them into action against military and economic targets in Colombo.

 

The war against the LTTE started by President Mahinda Rajapakse after assuming office in November, 2005, with the help of Pakistan, has now entered a new phase.

 

 

 

A newly unveiled Tamil Tiger "air force" of between two and five light planes is no match on paper for Sri Lanka's dozen fighter jets, but they pose a proven threat the military would be ill-advised to underestimate, experts say.

Tamil Eelam Air Force pilots return from their first official mission. Phote LTTE

 

The Tigers smuggled small, propeller-driven planes into the island in pieces aboard merchant ships they owned after a 2002 ceasefire and reassembled them, analysts said. The truce has now broken down into renewed civil war.

 

Monday's pre-dawn air strike on the island's biggest air force base, close to Colombo's international airport - the first such LTTE attack - may sound like something out of a Biggles schoolboy novel, but it should be cause for worry.

 

"This air attack appears to have taken the air force by complete surprise, and this is confirmed by the delayed response, by which time the attackers have been able to return to base," said Iqbal Athas of Jane's Defence Weekly.

 

"It is a significant threat for a number of reasons. What they did, although they may have failed to achieve their target, is to demonstrate that they have such a capability," Athas said.

 

"The larger offshore patrol vessels of the navy can become vulnerable, troop transport ships can become vulnerable and so can armed groups leading an offensive on the ground."

 

The attack has also exposed the vulnerability of Sri Lanka's radar air defences. Experts say Sri Lanka has no access to costly 24-hour real-time satellite footage of its skies.

 

At least one of the Tiger aircraft is believed to be a Czech-made Z-143 two-seater training light aircraft.

 

"They have been caught with their pants down. It's like something out of Biggles," said one foreign security expert on condition of anonymity, referring to novels about a fictional British World War One fighter pilot.

 

The military was still trying to work out how the Tigers had been able to fly one or more small planes to the capital, drop bombs and make it safely home.

 

"That is what the Air Force is still trying to find out, where they have come from," said military spokesman Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe. "You can come along the beach side or over water without being detected."

 

Samarasinghe laughed at the Tigers' claim of a new Tamil Eelam Air Force, named after the independent state they are trying to carve out in the island's north and east.

 

"There won't be any Tamil Eelam. Small aircraft coming and dropping one or two bombs, it's not an air force."

 

Observers see Monday's air raid as tit-for-tat for repeated Air Force strikes on territory the LTTE controls as the military pushes on with a declared plan to wipe out the Tigers militarily within 2-3 years.

 

"It is not only pre-emptive, it is a measure to protect Tamil civilians from the genocidal aerial bombardments by Sri Lankan armed forces," Tiger military spokesman Rasiah Ilanthiraiyan said after the sortie.

 

"More attacks of the same nature will follow."