December 10
• An attempt by a group of 25 members of paramilitary cadres and SLA to penetrate into LTTE controlled Pendukalchenai to lau-nch attacks was foiled when the LTTE counter attacked, killing two and injuring ten paramilitari-es. Two LTTE cadres were also killed in the counter attack. SLA troopers and paramilitaries mov-ed out of Kinnaiyadi SLA camp, crossed Kinnaiyadi Lagoon, and had penetrated through villages of Murukkantivu, Pirambaditivu and Saravelli towards Pendugalchenai to attack LTTE positions when th-ey were confronted. The penetration group was nearly 5 km inside LTTE-controlled areas when they were attacked and forced to retr-eat taking the wounded and the dead. LTTE fighters Kalaiarasan and Sauntha were killed in the counter attack.
• Two SLA soldiers were injured when gunmen triggered a claymore mine in Yaakeru, Vadamar-adchy, Jaffna. The soldiers were on a road patrol from Aayam San-thi SLA camp towards Mandaan when the claymore was triggered and gunmen allegedly also fired at the soldiers following the blast.
• An employee at the computer section of the Jaffna Tamil daily, Namathu Eelanadu, has not been seen since Tuesday, officials from the Jaffna SLHRC. Indrakumar Mathan, 25, from Kokuvil West, set off from his home to do erran-ds and has not seen since, relativ-es said. Mathan previously wor-ked at the Tamil daily Uthayan, before he moved to work at the Jaffna Navalar Road offices of Namathu Eelanadu.
• Five gunmen abducted a youth from his house at Pansala road in Akkaraipattu and his body was recovered the next morning, with gunshot wounds, close to Akka-raipattu SLA camp. The dead youth was identified as Vellupillai Selvakumar, 26, a daily labourer.
December 9
• Gunmen shot and injured two cadres of the paramilitary Karuna Group on Kallaru main road near Sinnapillayar temple in Kallaru, Batticaloa. Ranjan, 28, and Kum-ar, 26, were admitted to hospital.
• Selliah Thiagarasa, 57, a father of six, from Kikirai Kulam in Araly, Jaffna, was walking towards Sangarathai Market to buy fish when gunmen who followed him shot him dead at close range and escaped.
December 8
• Unidentified persons triggered a claymore mine at Asikulam, Vavuniya, seriously injuring three SLA troopers who were on their way to fetch water from a well close to the Asikulam SLA camp. The police said that there were two claymores fixed together but only one had exploded.
December 7
• SLN cadres shot dead a Tamil youth and seriously injured anot-her on Crow Island beach in Mod-ara, Colombo. The SLN allege that when its cadres approached the youths to inquire about their suspicious movement, the youths attempted to pull guns, resulting in the shooting in self defence by the SLN marines.
Both men, seriously injured, were rushed to the SLN Hospital where one of them succumbed to his wounds. The dead youth was identified as Vinoth, 27 from Pasarai in the upcountry and the injured as Sutharsan, 28, both flower garland sellers at Modara Vishnu temple.
The two men had gone to Crow Island beach for morning ablutions and were shot from afar by the SLN cadres, locals said. They allege that the SLN was attempting to cover up the killing by claiming the men had been attempting to pull guns.
• Eleven students and two teachers were wounded when artillery shells hit Somadevi Sinhala Sch-ool in Kallar. Soon after the incident, a group of hand picked journalists were flown to the area by the Sri Lanka military. The Sri Lankan military said the Tigers were targeting the Mahindapura SLA camp with artillery fire, but the shells had missed the target. Three soldiers were wounded an hour later when the shells hit the SLA camp, the SLA said. LTTE military spokesman Mr. Irasiah Ilanthirayan, denied artillery fire from LTTE positions towards the Sinhala school.
• Armed men opened fire on the police sentry post in Maharam-baikulam area in Vavuniya seriously injuring a policeman.
• Armed men shot killed a youth at Samalamkulam, Vavuniya. The dead youth, aged around 20 to 25 years, was yet to be identified. Residents of Samalmkulam said they heard gun shots from Samal-amkulam tank, the area where the body was found. Four persons riding a three wheeler were killed two months previously and before that two were shot killed, both near Samalamkulam tank.
• Gunmen went to the home of GCE (Advanced Level) student, Monoharan Paranthaman, 17, in Madduvil East Chavakachcheri, Jaffna, called him out of his house and shot him at close range. The gunmen beat family members who tried to stop the shooting.
• Gunmen called a building mason out of his house and shot at him with a T56 gun at Sinnaku-lam, Amparai. Sellathurai Navar-atnam, 23, of Veeramahakali Temple Road in Sinnakulam and a father of two, was seriously inj-ured and rushed to hospital where he succumbed to his wounds. Mr. Navaratnam was at home with his wife and children after dinner when the gunmen called him out and shot him at close range.
• Sectarian violence between orthodox Muslims and an Islamic Sufi sect resurfaced in the Mus-lim town of Kattankudy, Battic-aloa, following the death of a Sufi sect leader.
December 6
• Thirteen civilians from the Jaffna were abducted after the Sri Lanka Government reinstated the draconian Prevention of Terror-ism Act (see separate story).
• Assailants triggered a claymore device attached to a motorcycle parked near Pannai Bridge in Jaffna, targeting a SLA vehicle but killing four civilians and seriously injuring two others. The blast overturned the vehicle, injuring several soldiers. The claymore device blast targeted an SLA vehicle was returning from Sri Lanka Telecom Limited in the Pannai Bridge area. Two men died on the spot and a 45-year-old woman and 4-year-old child died in hospital. V. Vaseekaran, 21, of Velanai and a 4-year-old boy were admitted to the Intensive Care Unit in a critical condition.
• Unidentified persons triggered a claymore device on Chettikulam-Madavadchi road in Vavuniya, killing two SLA troopers on the spot. The claymore attack was on the tractor taking dinner to SLA soldiers manning sentry posts along the road.
• Unidentified armed men shot dead Thankarasa Pirabaharan at Sasthrikoolankulam in Vavuniya.
• A gunman following a youth shot him dead at Sithandy, Batticaloa. Sithamparapillai Pathmanathan, 27, the Regional agent of a private insurance company in Batticaloa and a resident of Old Market Road in Sithandy, was killed as he was walking towards his friend's house.
December 5
• Two gunmen on motor cycle shot dead a trader at Viyaparimoolai in Point Pedro, Jaffna. The riders shot Manickam Jeyarasa, 36, in an area where SLA troopers had been present some minutes earlier and the killers escaped in the direction the SLA troopers had taken, witnesses said.
• Two SLA troopers in Batticaloa were killed and 19 injured during a clash between the SLA and LTTE at LTTE held Katumurivu in Batticaloa district. The SLA also reported that they learnt from LTTE communications that five LTTE cadres were killed in the fight. The LTTE attacked the SLA troopers when they attempted to penetrate into the LTTE held area.
• Two SLA troopers in Batticaloa, including a woman, and a policeman were injured in a LTTE mortar attack on an LTTE sentry post at Black Bridge on the Chenkalady-Badula road leading into LTTE held region. Two mortar shells fell and exploded near the sentry post injuring M. Senaratne, 39, Ms. R. Menike, 24, and W. Chandraratne, 34, a policeman, the SLA said. Following the exchange of mortar fire Chenkalady town was deserted with all shops and other establishments shut immediately while the people fled in panic from the town.
• A youth from Avarangal, Puth-thur in Valikamam, Jaffna, who was injured in a shooting incident and was being treated at the Jaffna Teaching hospital, surrendered to SLHRC, telling officials his life will be in danger if he goes home. The number of youths surrendering to the Jaffna SLHRC, out of fear being abducted and killed by Sri Lankan forces, is increasing, with more than 30 youths from various parts of the peninsula surrendering in the last two months. The surrendered youths appear before the Jaffna Magistrate with the SLHRC's legal support and are sent to the protective custody of Jaffna prison.
• The relatives of Sritharan Para-thithasan, 21, of Mallaham, lodg-ed a complaint at SLHRC that the SLA arrested him and some others on December 1 along Malla-ham- Alaveddi Road. Though the SLA released all the others, no concrete information regarding his whereabouts was given when contacted by the relatives.
• Sinnarasa Sivaselvam, 26, from Puloly South, Point Pedro in Vadamarachchy, Jaffna, has disappeared after being arrested by the SLA. The soldiers in the area confiscated his Identity Card and asked him to come to their camp later. Sivaselvam was not seen after he went to the SLA camp.
• Senthilnathan Kajendran, 25, of Siruppiddy North, Puththur and Thuraiyan Thavakkumar, 23, of Karamban, Puththur North were arrested on 29 and 17 November respectively, but their whereabouts are currently unknown, relatives said in a complaint to the SLHRC.
• Kekirawa police recovered four dead bodies, partially burnt, in a paddy filed at Ganewella, Habarana. The bodies, with disfigured faces, appear to be of youths aged 20 to 25 years. The four dead may have been killed elsewhere and brought to the field where they had been set fire with tyres to make them unidentifiable, the police said. They may have been abducted in the villages of Thimbulagala, Wellikanda, Man-nampity, Soruvil, Sungavil on the borders of Batticaloa and Polanaruwa districts. Several cases of youths being abducted by Karuna paramilitary groups collaborating with the SLA have been reported earlier in the Battocaloa district.
• Tension prevailed in Trincom-alee as a Ceylon Electricity Board employee was shot dead (see separate story).
• Hundreds of Sri Lankan troopers and police cordoned off and searched Mannar areas covering Moor Street, Uppukulam, and Sinnakadai. All houses and vehicles in the area came under intensive search. Residents said the security forces also deployed female cadres in the search. No one was arrested in the operation.
December 4
• The LTTE repulsed a major STF offensive against LTTE held Kanchikudichanaru in Amparai from the Kanchirankuda STF camp, backed with heavy artillery fire. Four STF troopers were killed and eight seriously injured in the attack, while three LTTE cadres sustained minor injuries, the LTTE said. The STF reported that one of their troopers was killed and three seriously injured.
Heavy artillery fire and shell-ing from the STF camps in Kanchirankuda and Sangamaan-kandy directed on the LTTE held area followed the failed offensive.
• Heavy fighting continued between the LTTE and SLA at Kattumurivu, inside LTTE controlled Vaharai region in Batti-caloa as the two month old SLS offensive flared up again (see Vaharai story).
• Three SLA troopers were seriously injured in a clash between the SLA and LTTE in Kadjuwathe area, Batticaloa.
• The LTTE clashed with SLA troopers who attempted to move beyond the no-go zone towards Puliyankulam at the Omanthai FDL in Vavuniya. The SLA troopers withdrew after facing .resista-nce from the Tigers. Artillery and mortar fire was also reported fr-om the FDL in Muhamalai.
• An ambulance with 7 patients needing advanced treatment at Vavuniya Hospital could not proceed as the Omanthai exit point remained closed following the clash. Five children, including a 6 month-old baby and a 18-month-old baby girl, were among the seven patients in the ambulance.
• Gunmen abducted S. Thevar-asa, 50, from Satkoddai, a coastal village in Vadamarachchy, Jaffna, and shot him dead near a temple in Samarapahu, Karaveddi. Tho-ugh abducted and killed on Monday, Thevarasa's corpse was found only on Tuesday, as local residents, who had heard gunshots Monday afternoon, kept indoors out of fear.
• Armed persons in a white van abducted four youths, including a small restaurant owner, in Alav-eddi in Valikamam, Jaffna. The armed men took the restaurant owner into the van first and then took three other customers.
• Armed men abducted four you-ths at gun point from Santhiveli, Batticaloa, while they were sleeping. Velupillai Yogeswaran, 16, Kanagaratnam Thusanthan, 16, Kanthasamy Sivaraj, 15, and Mu-thusamy Pathmarasa, 18, are all residents of Santhiveli Palayadi Thona. Yogeswaran and Kanagar-atnam worked as building masons while Sivaraj helped his father in fishing. Pathmarasa was working in a private establishment in Batt-icaloa. Residents of the area alle-ge that the youths were abducted by Karuna paramilitary group cadres.
• An armed SLA intelligence wing solider entered the house of Mr. K. Suntharalingam, 52, from Pannalai in Tellipallai, and forcefully took him in a white van. When the relatives inquired at the nearby Pannalai SLA camp, officials said that they were not aware of any arrests.
• Armed men shot dead two Muslim youths at Annar Nagar in Vavuniya. Muthalib Rivai, 22 and Mohamed Salim Basil, 33, were staying at a relative's house in Vavuniya when they were shot.
• Two armed men on motorcycle shot dead a youth and seriously injured his cousin in Point Pedro, Jaffna. Sebamalai David, 27, a fi-sherman, was killed and John Jes-udas, 37, from Kochchikadai, was injured. David was standing in front of his house with his cousin when the armed men shot at them.
