Violence escalated in Sri Lanka’s Northeast this week with several attacks on security forces and clashes between the military and the Liberation Tigers amid protests by Jaffna residents and students against continuing military occupation.
The civil administration in Jaffna district came to a halt Monday following call by the NorthEast Government Services Workers Consortium for government workers to shun work to protest against Sri Lanka Army (SLA) attacks against civilians and workers. Only the Government Agent (the most senior civil servant in the district), K Ganesh, reported to work.
In the two most deadly incidents in the past week, eleven soldiers were killed in a claymore attack Tuesday near Point Pedro in the Jaffna peninsula and last Friday thirteen sailors were killed in another mine attack against their bus in Mannar. Claymore mines also narrowly missed other military vehicles in Batticaloa and Jaffna.
In the past four weeks, 28 SLA soldiers and 14 Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) personnel have been killed in various attacks while scores more have been wounded in almost daily attacks on checkpoints, bunkers and foot patrols.
A leading Tamil parliamentarian, Joseph Pararajasingham, was shot dead by suspected Army-backed paramilitaries whilst attending Mass on Christmas Day. His wife was seriously wounded and seven other people were injured in the hail of bullets.
Eleven soldiers were killed and six wounded in a claymore mine ambush on a SLA convoy near the Regional Bus Depot, 1 km south of Point Pedro town on Jaffna-Point Pedro road. Three civilians were wounded when troops fired indiscriminately.
Five people shot dead in Jaffna by troops and alleged to be members of the LTTE were later said to be civilians. A woman amongst the victims had a pair of jeans dragged over the skirt she was wearing to lend the appearance of a combatant, reports said.
Also Tuesday unidentified armed men entered a garage of the demining agency, the Halo Trust, located at the junction of Nallur Cross Street and Navalar Road, and drove away two vehicles after tying up the guards.
On Monday a senior paramilitary cadre, Mr. Veerappan Thripupathy, 52, alias Thiruppathy Master of the PLOTE, group who was shot and seriously wounded by an unidentified gunman, succumbed to his injuries at Vavuniya hospital.
Last week, SLN personnel incensed by the claymore attack on a bus which killed thirteen colleagues assaulted refugee settlements Friday. Those who fled the violence returned later to find some houses burnt, one with its occupants inside.
Three houses and a shop were burnt and almost all the houses were found looted in the Victoria Hundred Houses resettlement in Pesalai. The remains of burnt bodies including a four-year-old boy’s were found inside a house by people who fled the attack Friday evening in which 30 people were injured.
Thirteen sailors were killed and more than fifteen were wounded when a claymore mine destroyed their bus in Pesalai 15 km northwest of Mannar Friday afternoon.
The day before a clash between the Navy and the Sea Tigers had left three sailors dead. Both sides blamed the other for launching an attack.
Amid this escalating violence, public and student protests against security forces in Jaffna triggered a violent reaction from troops who last week assaulted staff and students of Jaffna University before entering the venerated academic institution’s grounds firing indiscriminately.
The discovery of the body of a Tamil woman who had been raped and murdered by suspected SLN personnel triggered protests weekend before last which spread to other parts of the peninsula.
Save-the-Children has closed its offices in Jaffna after two employees were attacked by SLA troops. Several people have been treated in Jaffna hospital after being assaulted by military personnel or wounded by indiscriminate retaliatory fire.
Over the weekend, representatives of the Co-Chairs of Sri Lanka’s donor community (the US, EU, Japan and Norway) met with the LTTE’s Political Head, Mr. S. P. Tamilselvan to urge a cessation to the violence and call for talks on stabilising the rapidly unravelling February 2002 ceasefire.
The civil administration in Jaffna district came to a halt Monday following call by the NorthEast Government Services Workers Consortium for government workers to shun work to protest against Sri Lanka Army (SLA) attacks against civilians and workers. Only the Government Agent (the most senior civil servant in the district), K Ganesh, reported to work.
In the two most deadly incidents in the past week, eleven soldiers were killed in a claymore attack Tuesday near Point Pedro in the Jaffna peninsula and last Friday thirteen sailors were killed in another mine attack against their bus in Mannar. Claymore mines also narrowly missed other military vehicles in Batticaloa and Jaffna.
In the past four weeks, 28 SLA soldiers and 14 Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) personnel have been killed in various attacks while scores more have been wounded in almost daily attacks on checkpoints, bunkers and foot patrols.
A leading Tamil parliamentarian, Joseph Pararajasingham, was shot dead by suspected Army-backed paramilitaries whilst attending Mass on Christmas Day. His wife was seriously wounded and seven other people were injured in the hail of bullets.
Eleven soldiers were killed and six wounded in a claymore mine ambush on a SLA convoy near the Regional Bus Depot, 1 km south of Point Pedro town on Jaffna-Point Pedro road. Three civilians were wounded when troops fired indiscriminately.
Five people shot dead in Jaffna by troops and alleged to be members of the LTTE were later said to be civilians. A woman amongst the victims had a pair of jeans dragged over the skirt she was wearing to lend the appearance of a combatant, reports said.
Also Tuesday unidentified armed men entered a garage of the demining agency, the Halo Trust, located at the junction of Nallur Cross Street and Navalar Road, and drove away two vehicles after tying up the guards.
On Monday a senior paramilitary cadre, Mr. Veerappan Thripupathy, 52, alias Thiruppathy Master of the PLOTE, group who was shot and seriously wounded by an unidentified gunman, succumbed to his injuries at Vavuniya hospital.
Last week, SLN personnel incensed by the claymore attack on a bus which killed thirteen colleagues assaulted refugee settlements Friday. Those who fled the violence returned later to find some houses burnt, one with its occupants inside.
Three houses and a shop were burnt and almost all the houses were found looted in the Victoria Hundred Houses resettlement in Pesalai. The remains of burnt bodies including a four-year-old boy’s were found inside a house by people who fled the attack Friday evening in which 30 people were injured.
Thirteen sailors were killed and more than fifteen were wounded when a claymore mine destroyed their bus in Pesalai 15 km northwest of Mannar Friday afternoon.
The day before a clash between the Navy and the Sea Tigers had left three sailors dead. Both sides blamed the other for launching an attack.
Amid this escalating violence, public and student protests against security forces in Jaffna triggered a violent reaction from troops who last week assaulted staff and students of Jaffna University before entering the venerated academic institution’s grounds firing indiscriminately.
The discovery of the body of a Tamil woman who had been raped and murdered by suspected SLN personnel triggered protests weekend before last which spread to other parts of the peninsula.
Save-the-Children has closed its offices in Jaffna after two employees were attacked by SLA troops. Several people have been treated in Jaffna hospital after being assaulted by military personnel or wounded by indiscriminate retaliatory fire.
Over the weekend, representatives of the Co-Chairs of Sri Lanka’s donor community (the US, EU, Japan and Norway) met with the LTTE’s Political Head, Mr. S. P. Tamilselvan to urge a cessation to the violence and call for talks on stabilising the rapidly unravelling February 2002 ceasefire.
