September 3
Baskaran Suresh, 31, the owner of a garage at 5th Cross Street in Jaffna and a native of Sandilipai, was shot dead in Jaffna by unidentified men on motorbikes.
C. Mathan, 28, of 4th Cross Street Pt. Pedro and a tailor by profession, was shot dead in Jaffna in a separate incident by gunmen on a motorbike.
SLA soldiers cordoned off several hamlets in Karaveddy, Vadamaradchi and conducted a search. Around 600 villagers were herded to a temple and were interrogated in front of masked spotters, with 3 detained for further interrogation.
Anathamoorthy Sathiyaseelan, 28, was abducted while he was ridding in a motorbike from Chavakachcheri to Kaithady.
Selvarajah Iynkaran, 24, a trader, was abducted from his house in Kopay South by men in a white van.
The SLN handed over 56 members of 16 Tamil families and seven boatmen to Talaimannar Police on a report that they were taken into custody in Mannar Sea as they were attempting to flee to Tamil Nadu to seek refuge. Forty-two of them were taken into custody while fleeing in three boats and the rest were arrested while staying in a church in Thalvupadu.
Paramilitary gunmen attached to the SLA Batticaloa Palpody camp rounded up Pethalai and Pattiyadichenai in Valaichchenai-Kalkudah in Batticaloa and shot and killed three Tamil civilians in the area. A group of paramilitary cadres who claimed that they were conducting a search operation in the area Sunday evening took three victims to the roadside and shot them. Thiayagarajah Senthooran, 22, owner of a hair dressing saloon and a resident of Pattiyadichenai, was taken out of his house on School Road and shot and his pregnant wife was attacked by the paramilitary cadres. Shanmuganathan Nagendran , 26, father of one, was taken out of his house on Nagathambiran Kovil Road in Karunkalichcholai and shot dead. Kandiah Karunakaran, 23, father of one and a native of Vakaneri and a resident of Peithalai, was shot close to his house on Vishnu Kovil Road. He succumbed to injuries later in the Batticaloa Teaching Hospital. Local civilians allege the killers were EPDP gunmen. Paramilitary cadres of the EPDP and Karuna group operate from a camp attached to the Batticaloa Palpody SLA camp.
September 2
Reginald Jesudasan, 31, an Actuarial Manager at Union Assurance in Colombo and the son of a retired Tamil Inspector of Police, was found dead at Thotalanga, Grand Pass in Colombo after being abducted on Friday night as he left work. The victim’s body, bearing marks of severe torture, was wrapped up from head to knees with polyethylene. Since 20th August more than 25 Tamil civilians including females have been abducted in Colombo and its suburbs.
SLA troops conducted a cordon and search operation in Manipay, Jaffna, and detained 15 persons, of whom 10 were later released.
Gunmen shot and killed Ganesharajah Thiyagarajah, 28, father of two and a former paramilitary cadre of the EPDP, in Eravur, Batticaloa. He was shot while returning along School Road after closing his shop for the day.
September 1
A SLA Lance Corporal was killed and five troopers wounded in a claymore blast when a group of SLA soldiers on a road clearing patrol were ambushed near Karaveddy Predeshiya Sabha office in Vadamaradchi, Jaffna. The SLA re-imposed the curfew in Vadamaradchi sector from Friday noon and launched a cordon and search operation in Karaveddy. Several civilians were assaulted by the soldiers following the attack. Lance Corporal Ratnayake was killed and Lt. Tharsan, 22, Lt. Thisanayake, 28, Corporal Nimal, 22, soldier Sandirasena, 28, and Thilakaratne, 43, were wounded in the attack and rushed to hospital.
A planning officer attached to a Sewalanka Tsunami reconstruction project was shot dead at his home in Karaveddy, Jaffna. His 55 year-old mother, who attempted to block the killers, was also killed by the armed men. The officer’s wife and brother were admitted to hospital with injuries. The family had gathered to hear a news broadcast when unidentified armed men stormed their house and opened fire. The bodies of Sathiyamoorthey Selvaroopan, 25, and his mother, Sathiyamoorthy Thangaratnam, 55, were taken to hospital. Selvaroopan’s wife Shopana, 21, is a undergraduate at the University of Jaffna, and his brother Gajaroopan, 20, is in shock, according to staff at Manthikai hospital.
A Tamil woman, employed in the computer section of Maharaja Televion (MTV), was abducted in Wellawatte, Colombo and released later in the day (see separate story).
Three employees, including a female Finance Director of the Aero Lanka Air Line, were abducted in Colombo by unidentified persons in a white coloured van on 22 August, according to a complaint lodged with the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL). Longendrarajah Gomathi, 36, was abducted from her residence located along Porupana Road in Valgambaya Mawatte in Ratmalana. Abductors who conversed in Sinhala had taken the computer and other documents from her house. Earlier on the same day, Lal Premaretna, 28, and Lal Premaretna, 25, were abducted, from their residence in Borella.
Armed gunmen from the ENDLF, a paramilitary group working with the Sri Lankan military, forcibly occupied the Trincomalee district office of TELO, after chasing away party officials and two families residing in the office, said Ranga, the Trincomalee District Organizer of TELO. The TELO leader and TNA parliamentarian Selvam Adaikalanathan, condemning the forcible occupation of TELO office said the party would initiate legal action against the intruders. The party has lodged a complaint with the Inspector General of Police and the SLMM, according Vino Noharathalingam, another parliamentarian of the party. “As a democratic party, represented in the Sri Lankan Parliament, we have the right to run party offices. Nobody can deny our right to run our political offices. Noone would be allowed to forcibly occupy our right to run our political offices,” said Mr. Adaikalanathan.
August 31
A police constable was injured when unidentified men lobbed a grenade in front of the Chenkalady Vellimalai Pillayar Temple in Eravur, Batticaloa district. The grenade attack targeted three policemen on their way from Chenkalady police station to buy provisions. A Tamil youth was arrested by the Police regarding this incident.
A police constable who was shot by armed man succumbed to injuries. He was identified as Meerasahibu Riyal, 37, father of three. The shooting took place along Punnaikuda road in Eravur police division in Batticaloa district. Armed man in hiding had shot the policeman when was on his way home after duty from Eravur police station.
About one hundred Tamil civilians were arrested in Vavuniya town in a combined cordon and search operation by SLA soldiers and the police. They were taken to Vavuniya Police Station and subjected to severe interrogation. About eighty of them were released Friday after being fingerprinted and with one surety each, said Mr. Sivanathan Kishore, Vanni district parliamentarian.
August 30
Nadarajah Guruparan, news manager of Sooriyan FM Radio broadcast from Colombo, was abducted on his way to work Tuesday morning and released the next day (see separate story).
K. Thavarajah, 44, a father of 4, from Kayanmadu was killed about 200 metres from the Vavunatheevu SLA camp, while he was returning home from Batticaloa town. The soldiers allowed the man to cross the check point after questioning him and then shot him dead.
The SLA released the mutilated bodies of 16 Tamil youth in Vavuniya, claiming they were Tamil Tiger cadres. The genitals of some of the youth had been hacked off and the faces of some bodies had been burnt off by acid. The bodies of 10 youths were claimed by their families in Vavuniya, with the families saying the men had gone missing after leaving for work. The LTTE accepted the remaining six bodies to see if they are those of 7 cadres who went missing while on a patrol. The SLA had earlier displayed the bodies of sixteen youth and said they were LTTE cadres who attacked its front defence lines at Puvarasankulam in Vavuniya.
Seven Tamil civilians were arrested during a combined cordon and search operation by SLA troops and Police along Vavuniya-Horowopottana road following the shooting of a home guard by unidentified persons. The arrested people were staying in welfare centres located in Vavuniya town and they were taken into custody while returning from their worksites.
August 29
Two bodies with gun shot injuries were found near Kandaswamy temple, in Vavuniya, where an attack on the SLA left a soldier killed and another injured.
Jesuthas Deminian, 31, was shot dead at Kali Kovil Road, between Clock Tower Road and Kannathiddy Junction in Jaffna town.
Ariyaratnam Sathyaseelan, 26, was shot near Muththirai Junction, along Chemmani Road.
Tamil civilian Periyathamby Veluppillai, 27, a fisherman by profession and a father of two, of Kalmadu in Valaichchenai, was shot and hacked to death by SLA soldiers and paramilitaries at Kannahipuram, Batticaloa. He took refuge in a neighbouring house when unidentified gunmen tried to abduct him from his home. He was shot in the leg as he was trying to escape. Gunmen thereafter conducted a search operation in the area with the help of SLA and took him out of a house where he was hiding. The gunmen fired indiscriminately at him and chopped his head and face with axe and knives despite plea by occupants of the house not to shoot him as there were children inside.
August 28
Sellathurai Gopalasingham, 53, the former President of the Supparmadam Fisheries Society, was abducted from his house situated close to a SLA High Security Zone (HSZ) and shot dead by gunmen. His body was found close to Kali Temple in Supparmadam. The assailants went to his house, took him for questioning to Athisoodi Pillaiyar temple and shot him in his head.
Rasaratnam Ganeshalingam, 40, was shot dead at his home in Thampalai in Achchuveli, while curfew was in force.
August 27
At least seven SLA soldiers, wounded in a claymore attack at Selvanagar, a SLA controlled gateway towards LTTE controlled Muthur East, were rushed to Polonnaruwa hospital.
Armed men set fire to building which functioned as the political office of the LTTE in Jaffna. Armed men on foot set fire to the two-story building, which has been closed since the LTTE’s political wing withdrew from Sri Lanka Government controlled areas in December 2005.
Seventy-six Tamils, including 8 women, were arrested during a combined search operation by Sri Lankan Military troopers and Police in Colombo and its suburbs. Road blocks were put up on main roads leading to Colombo centre and all vehicles were thoroughly checked. According to the police, 68 men and 8 women were arrested during the search operation in Borella, Kotahena Bambalapitiya, Kollupitya and Wellawatte, between noon and midnight.
August 26
Six SLA troopers on a road clearing mission were killed in a bomb explosion between Eluthumadduval and Muhamalai. Four troopers were wounded in the explosion. The military claimed the bomb was an ‘improvised explosive device’.
Sithamparapillai Sivashankar was shot dead by men who followed him, while he was ridding in a motorbike along KKS in Mallakam. The assailants escaped with his motorbike.
C. Vijeyakantharasa, 38, was shot dead near police station in Punnalaikadduvan while the curfew was in force.
Armed men shot and killed two members of the same family on Udhayan Street, Sithandy, Batticaloa. The civilian victims, the brother and sister who had come to visit their sick mother, were identified as Sinnarasa Wimalakumari, 44, and Sinnarasa Ratnavel, 36. Armed men who approached their hours called them out by name. When the sister and brother answered the door, both were gunned down at close range. The killings took place in the wake of two attacks on SLA troopers in the area. An SLA soldier, K. M. Sisirakumara, was wounded 3 hours before the killings, in a shootout near Vanthaumoolai school. On Friday, an SLA trooper, W. Vasanthakumara, 34, sustained injuries when a group of gunmen attacked a SLA road clearing patrol in Mavadivembu, Nagarkovil area.
August 25
Armed men on a motorbike shot dead a worker employed by the UN agency UNOPS in Amparai district at Munaiyoorkalam in Thambiluvil, Amparai district. The man, identified as P. Jestly Julian, 29, a native of Komari and father of two, was taken from his office to Munaiyoorkalam and shot.
A SLA soldier in mufti and another person were shot dead in Vavuniya. The soldier was identified by an SLA officer who visited the site, as D. M. Dissanayake, 33, while the other man was identified as Andare Uppul, 30. Both are natives of Anuradhapura. Nine mm bullets were recovered from the site.
STF personnel from Navatkerny, a suburb of Batticaloa town, where an STF patrol was targeted in a grenade attack, shot and killed five Tamil men in the nearby New Muhathuvaram Road Cemetery Junction. The killings were carried out by STF men as “revenge killings” for the grenade attack, civilians said. The STF claimed the five were Tigers carrying weapons. Meanwhile, the STF trooper, Hevajalage Jayantha, 25, wounded in the grenade attack at Navatkerny, later succumbed to his wounds. The STF men went inside a rice-mill, asked for a vehicle, and left the rice-mill as there was no vehicle available. Few minutes later, the STF counter-insurgency men came back to the site in a Jeep and a truck, and picked five Tamil youths, including a rice mill worker and gunned them down near the railway track in the area. Two of the victims were identified as Tharmarajah Anandarajah, 28, and Soosaipillai Sutharsan, 26.
Motorbike riding gunmen shot and killed a fish salesman, C. Lingeswaran, 40, near Kaddudai Junction, in Manipay, Jaffna, after following the trader as he rode to work in a motorcycle.
A LTTE cadre was killed and two policemen riding in a three-wheeler were wounded in a shootout on Thambiluvil Road, Amparai. The LTTE cadre was gunned down when the policemen retaliated after an attack, police claimed. Meanwhile, LTTE Political Head in Amparai, Jeya, said the person shot dead was a political cadre of the Tigers. Mr. Jeya said STF personnel gunned down Mr. Sudar, 21, and said Sudar was a political cadre who had gone to the town, controlled by the Sri Lankan armed forces. STF claimed that a micro handgun, its magazine, hand grenade and a cyanide capsule were found on the deceased. The policemen wounded in the shootout were identified as M. Dharmaratne, 35 and W. Abeyaratne, 33.
August 24
Paramilitary cadres operating with the SLA in Batticaloa district, sent Sathyaseelan Tharsan of Market Road in Thimilathivu, 19, on a motorbike with explosives towards an LTTE Forward Defence Line (FDL) and detonated the bike. Denying a SLA claim that five Tigers were killed in the Karuna Group suicide attack, the LTTE said the bike exploded 80 meters away from the Tiger FDL in Vavunatheevu. The boy was an innocent captive of paramilitary cadres, LTTE Batticaloa district political head Mr. Daya Mohan said. “Sathyaseelan Tharsan was abducted by an armed group few days ago and he was sent to our FDL in a motor bike fitted with a bomb. The bomb in the motor bike was detonated by remote control when Sathyaseelan Tharsan was about to reach the FDL. The bomb exploded about 80 meters away from the FDL”, he said.
A SLA soldier from Kommathurai camp in Eravur, Batticaloa, was injured when armed men ambushed a group of soldiers on patrol duty in Vantharumoolai.
Armed men riding a motorbike shot dead Vasuthevan Raguthevan, 26, the driver of a three-wheeler, at Sathurukondan, Batticaloa, when he was about to leave to Batticaloa town.
A claymore mine exploded on Talaimannar Road in Pesalai, Mannar district targeting a group of SLN soldiers on patrol. Four soldiers were on duty at the site, but no casualties were reported. Two Tamil youths were taken into custody by SLN soldiers in a cordon and search launched immediately after the explosion.
A Christian Church of the Apostle priest has been missing in Jaffna since August 11, according to a complaint made by a fellow priest at the Jaffna office of the HRCSL. Rev. Fr. Vincent Vinodharaja, 35, father of one, was last seen leaving his home in Meesalai in Thenmaradchi.
August 23
A group of armed persons, believed to be paramilitary men working with the SLA, entered the Jaffna District Secretariat of the Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) and smashed computers and accessories and set-fire to the building, destroying tools and data inside the office. The TRO Jaffna office, opposite the UN officials’ residence and close to many UN offices including UNHCR, UNICEF and UNDP, and several international organizations, is located 200 meters away from the SLA checkposts at Kailayapillayar temple. At least six armed men entered the office, forced the watchman to leave the premises and stayed at the office for two-hours destroying the tools, documents and data, finally setting fire to the office. The events took place during curfew hours. TRO officials said all the documents including the North East Community Organisation Restoration and Development (NECORD) project documents, were destroyed. The NGO officials estimated at least one-million worth of equipment, tools and accessories were lost in the attack. The Fire Brigade, notified by another NGO in the area, only managed to save the building complex from total destruction.
Armed men shot dead Ms Balasingham Puvaneswary, 40, along Aboobucker Road close to Vaitheeswara Junction in the heart of Jaffna town. She was shot when she came out of her house on the orders of assailants.
Armed men entered the premises of Nelliaydi Central College in Jaffna and destroyed the memorial and the statue of the first Black Tiger, Captain Miller. The statue, interpreted as the symbol of the destruction of Nelliyadi SLA camp during Eelam War I in 1987, was later hidden and saved by the residents during the occupation of Jaffna in 1996, before being raised again in 2002. Armed men entered the college premises and bound the hands of the watchman and destroyed the statue and the memorial.
Unidentified men riding in 3 cars abducted three Tamil youths in a lodge on Grandpass Street in Colombo 14. The lodge owners have informed their relatives and police about the abduction. The abductors had claimed they were taking Kunasegaram Mahindan, Kandasamy Sreetharan, both from Varani in Kodikamam and Ramakrishnan Rajkumar from Trincomalee, for interrogation.
Armed men shot dead Mr. Shanmugarajah Suthakar of Bharathipuram, an auto driver, on Beach Road in Trincomalee town. The assailant had hired Suthakar’s three-wheeler and later shot the driver.
Mr. Malaka Gunawardene, 19, a police constable, was killed in claymore mine explosion near the office of the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) located along Batticaloa Ottamavadi road. He succumbed to injuries on admission to hospital.
Mayuran, 20, father of two, was killed in a landmine explosion when he was on his way to collect firewood in no-man zone located in Vaddamadu jungle area. He succumbed to his injuries when he was taken to the Special Task Force (STF) camp located in Sagamam.
August 22
Sri Lanka Police recovered a claymore fitted to a bicycle used for selling vegetables at Borella in Colombo city. An officer of the Traffic Police on patrol first noticed the abandoned bicycle and on inspection found the claymore mine. A SLA bomb disposal squad rushed to the site, in front of a shop, and deactivated the claymore mine. The claymore mine weighed about 10 kg could have been placed in the bicycle targeting an important personality, police claimed.
Rev. Fr. Thiruchelvam Nihal Jim Brown, 34, Parish Priest of Allaippiddy, Jaffna, was reported missing since 20 August, according to a news release issued by the NorthEast Secretariat of Human Rights (see separate story).
Armed men shot dead Mrs. Manoharan Rajini, 40, mother of four, in front of the welfare centre at Sakkotai in Vadamaradchchi, Jaffna district, where she had been residing on being displaced from Palaly, which is located in the SLA HSZ. SLA soldiers arrested 22 year-old Annalingam Ajanthan within 15 minutes of the attack, alleging he had been in the shooting incident. But Ajanthan’s parents appealed to the HRCSL in Jaffna that Ajanthan was an innocent who had been arrested by the SLA to falsely implicate him in the killing.
An alleged SLA informant, Perumal Chandrakumar, 44, was shot dead at Kilavi Thoddam in Karaveddy, Jaffna. Separately, a vegetable vendor, Kandiah Ganeshalingam, 34, was shot dead by assailants travelling by car while he was on his way to Chunnakam public market soon after the curfew was lifted.
Three people were shot dead by unidentified men in separate incidents in Trincomalee. Mr. Balachchandran, a three-wheeler driver, was shot dead at Murugapuri. Another Tamil youth, abducted a day earlier, was found dead in Sampaltivu with gun shot injuries. The unidentified body of a third person was found in Iqbalnagar.
August 21
The bodies of two women washed ashore in Pungudutivu, Jaffna district. Civil authorities said that these two bodies belonged to Tamil civilians drowned in mid sea while fleeing from Talaimannar in Mannar district to seek refuge in Tamil Nadu. Several residents of Mannar and Trincomalee have reportedly fled from the Mannar coast to Tamil Nadu by boat due to volatile situation in the North East. Some of these civilians are reportedly drowned when their boats capsized while fleeing.
Baskaran Suresh, 31, the owner of a garage at 5th Cross Street in Jaffna and a native of Sandilipai, was shot dead in Jaffna by unidentified men on motorbikes.
C. Mathan, 28, of 4th Cross Street Pt. Pedro and a tailor by profession, was shot dead in Jaffna in a separate incident by gunmen on a motorbike.
SLA soldiers cordoned off several hamlets in Karaveddy, Vadamaradchi and conducted a search. Around 600 villagers were herded to a temple and were interrogated in front of masked spotters, with 3 detained for further interrogation.
Anathamoorthy Sathiyaseelan, 28, was abducted while he was ridding in a motorbike from Chavakachcheri to Kaithady.
Selvarajah Iynkaran, 24, a trader, was abducted from his house in Kopay South by men in a white van.
The SLN handed over 56 members of 16 Tamil families and seven boatmen to Talaimannar Police on a report that they were taken into custody in Mannar Sea as they were attempting to flee to Tamil Nadu to seek refuge. Forty-two of them were taken into custody while fleeing in three boats and the rest were arrested while staying in a church in Thalvupadu.
Paramilitary gunmen attached to the SLA Batticaloa Palpody camp rounded up Pethalai and Pattiyadichenai in Valaichchenai-Kalkudah in Batticaloa and shot and killed three Tamil civilians in the area. A group of paramilitary cadres who claimed that they were conducting a search operation in the area Sunday evening took three victims to the roadside and shot them. Thiayagarajah Senthooran, 22, owner of a hair dressing saloon and a resident of Pattiyadichenai, was taken out of his house on School Road and shot and his pregnant wife was attacked by the paramilitary cadres. Shanmuganathan Nagendran , 26, father of one, was taken out of his house on Nagathambiran Kovil Road in Karunkalichcholai and shot dead. Kandiah Karunakaran, 23, father of one and a native of Vakaneri and a resident of Peithalai, was shot close to his house on Vishnu Kovil Road. He succumbed to injuries later in the Batticaloa Teaching Hospital. Local civilians allege the killers were EPDP gunmen. Paramilitary cadres of the EPDP and Karuna group operate from a camp attached to the Batticaloa Palpody SLA camp.
September 2
Reginald Jesudasan, 31, an Actuarial Manager at Union Assurance in Colombo and the son of a retired Tamil Inspector of Police, was found dead at Thotalanga, Grand Pass in Colombo after being abducted on Friday night as he left work. The victim’s body, bearing marks of severe torture, was wrapped up from head to knees with polyethylene. Since 20th August more than 25 Tamil civilians including females have been abducted in Colombo and its suburbs.
SLA troops conducted a cordon and search operation in Manipay, Jaffna, and detained 15 persons, of whom 10 were later released.
Gunmen shot and killed Ganesharajah Thiyagarajah, 28, father of two and a former paramilitary cadre of the EPDP, in Eravur, Batticaloa. He was shot while returning along School Road after closing his shop for the day.
September 1
A SLA Lance Corporal was killed and five troopers wounded in a claymore blast when a group of SLA soldiers on a road clearing patrol were ambushed near Karaveddy Predeshiya Sabha office in Vadamaradchi, Jaffna. The SLA re-imposed the curfew in Vadamaradchi sector from Friday noon and launched a cordon and search operation in Karaveddy. Several civilians were assaulted by the soldiers following the attack. Lance Corporal Ratnayake was killed and Lt. Tharsan, 22, Lt. Thisanayake, 28, Corporal Nimal, 22, soldier Sandirasena, 28, and Thilakaratne, 43, were wounded in the attack and rushed to hospital.
A planning officer attached to a Sewalanka Tsunami reconstruction project was shot dead at his home in Karaveddy, Jaffna. His 55 year-old mother, who attempted to block the killers, was also killed by the armed men. The officer’s wife and brother were admitted to hospital with injuries. The family had gathered to hear a news broadcast when unidentified armed men stormed their house and opened fire. The bodies of Sathiyamoorthey Selvaroopan, 25, and his mother, Sathiyamoorthy Thangaratnam, 55, were taken to hospital. Selvaroopan’s wife Shopana, 21, is a undergraduate at the University of Jaffna, and his brother Gajaroopan, 20, is in shock, according to staff at Manthikai hospital.
A Tamil woman, employed in the computer section of Maharaja Televion (MTV), was abducted in Wellawatte, Colombo and released later in the day (see separate story).
Three employees, including a female Finance Director of the Aero Lanka Air Line, were abducted in Colombo by unidentified persons in a white coloured van on 22 August, according to a complaint lodged with the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL). Longendrarajah Gomathi, 36, was abducted from her residence located along Porupana Road in Valgambaya Mawatte in Ratmalana. Abductors who conversed in Sinhala had taken the computer and other documents from her house. Earlier on the same day, Lal Premaretna, 28, and Lal Premaretna, 25, were abducted, from their residence in Borella.
Armed gunmen from the ENDLF, a paramilitary group working with the Sri Lankan military, forcibly occupied the Trincomalee district office of TELO, after chasing away party officials and two families residing in the office, said Ranga, the Trincomalee District Organizer of TELO. The TELO leader and TNA parliamentarian Selvam Adaikalanathan, condemning the forcible occupation of TELO office said the party would initiate legal action against the intruders. The party has lodged a complaint with the Inspector General of Police and the SLMM, according Vino Noharathalingam, another parliamentarian of the party. “As a democratic party, represented in the Sri Lankan Parliament, we have the right to run party offices. Nobody can deny our right to run our political offices. Noone would be allowed to forcibly occupy our right to run our political offices,” said Mr. Adaikalanathan.
August 31
A police constable was injured when unidentified men lobbed a grenade in front of the Chenkalady Vellimalai Pillayar Temple in Eravur, Batticaloa district. The grenade attack targeted three policemen on their way from Chenkalady police station to buy provisions. A Tamil youth was arrested by the Police regarding this incident.
A police constable who was shot by armed man succumbed to injuries. He was identified as Meerasahibu Riyal, 37, father of three. The shooting took place along Punnaikuda road in Eravur police division in Batticaloa district. Armed man in hiding had shot the policeman when was on his way home after duty from Eravur police station.
About one hundred Tamil civilians were arrested in Vavuniya town in a combined cordon and search operation by SLA soldiers and the police. They were taken to Vavuniya Police Station and subjected to severe interrogation. About eighty of them were released Friday after being fingerprinted and with one surety each, said Mr. Sivanathan Kishore, Vanni district parliamentarian.
August 30
Nadarajah Guruparan, news manager of Sooriyan FM Radio broadcast from Colombo, was abducted on his way to work Tuesday morning and released the next day (see separate story).
K. Thavarajah, 44, a father of 4, from Kayanmadu was killed about 200 metres from the Vavunatheevu SLA camp, while he was returning home from Batticaloa town. The soldiers allowed the man to cross the check point after questioning him and then shot him dead.
The SLA released the mutilated bodies of 16 Tamil youth in Vavuniya, claiming they were Tamil Tiger cadres. The genitals of some of the youth had been hacked off and the faces of some bodies had been burnt off by acid. The bodies of 10 youths were claimed by their families in Vavuniya, with the families saying the men had gone missing after leaving for work. The LTTE accepted the remaining six bodies to see if they are those of 7 cadres who went missing while on a patrol. The SLA had earlier displayed the bodies of sixteen youth and said they were LTTE cadres who attacked its front defence lines at Puvarasankulam in Vavuniya.
Seven Tamil civilians were arrested during a combined cordon and search operation by SLA troops and Police along Vavuniya-Horowopottana road following the shooting of a home guard by unidentified persons. The arrested people were staying in welfare centres located in Vavuniya town and they were taken into custody while returning from their worksites.
August 29
Two bodies with gun shot injuries were found near Kandaswamy temple, in Vavuniya, where an attack on the SLA left a soldier killed and another injured.
Jesuthas Deminian, 31, was shot dead at Kali Kovil Road, between Clock Tower Road and Kannathiddy Junction in Jaffna town.
Ariyaratnam Sathyaseelan, 26, was shot near Muththirai Junction, along Chemmani Road.
Tamil civilian Periyathamby Veluppillai, 27, a fisherman by profession and a father of two, of Kalmadu in Valaichchenai, was shot and hacked to death by SLA soldiers and paramilitaries at Kannahipuram, Batticaloa. He took refuge in a neighbouring house when unidentified gunmen tried to abduct him from his home. He was shot in the leg as he was trying to escape. Gunmen thereafter conducted a search operation in the area with the help of SLA and took him out of a house where he was hiding. The gunmen fired indiscriminately at him and chopped his head and face with axe and knives despite plea by occupants of the house not to shoot him as there were children inside.
August 28
Sellathurai Gopalasingham, 53, the former President of the Supparmadam Fisheries Society, was abducted from his house situated close to a SLA High Security Zone (HSZ) and shot dead by gunmen. His body was found close to Kali Temple in Supparmadam. The assailants went to his house, took him for questioning to Athisoodi Pillaiyar temple and shot him in his head.
Rasaratnam Ganeshalingam, 40, was shot dead at his home in Thampalai in Achchuveli, while curfew was in force.
August 27
At least seven SLA soldiers, wounded in a claymore attack at Selvanagar, a SLA controlled gateway towards LTTE controlled Muthur East, were rushed to Polonnaruwa hospital.
Armed men set fire to building which functioned as the political office of the LTTE in Jaffna. Armed men on foot set fire to the two-story building, which has been closed since the LTTE’s political wing withdrew from Sri Lanka Government controlled areas in December 2005.
Seventy-six Tamils, including 8 women, were arrested during a combined search operation by Sri Lankan Military troopers and Police in Colombo and its suburbs. Road blocks were put up on main roads leading to Colombo centre and all vehicles were thoroughly checked. According to the police, 68 men and 8 women were arrested during the search operation in Borella, Kotahena Bambalapitiya, Kollupitya and Wellawatte, between noon and midnight.
August 26
Six SLA troopers on a road clearing mission were killed in a bomb explosion between Eluthumadduval and Muhamalai. Four troopers were wounded in the explosion. The military claimed the bomb was an ‘improvised explosive device’.
Sithamparapillai Sivashankar was shot dead by men who followed him, while he was ridding in a motorbike along KKS in Mallakam. The assailants escaped with his motorbike.
C. Vijeyakantharasa, 38, was shot dead near police station in Punnalaikadduvan while the curfew was in force.
Armed men shot and killed two members of the same family on Udhayan Street, Sithandy, Batticaloa. The civilian victims, the brother and sister who had come to visit their sick mother, were identified as Sinnarasa Wimalakumari, 44, and Sinnarasa Ratnavel, 36. Armed men who approached their hours called them out by name. When the sister and brother answered the door, both were gunned down at close range. The killings took place in the wake of two attacks on SLA troopers in the area. An SLA soldier, K. M. Sisirakumara, was wounded 3 hours before the killings, in a shootout near Vanthaumoolai school. On Friday, an SLA trooper, W. Vasanthakumara, 34, sustained injuries when a group of gunmen attacked a SLA road clearing patrol in Mavadivembu, Nagarkovil area.
August 25
Armed men on a motorbike shot dead a worker employed by the UN agency UNOPS in Amparai district at Munaiyoorkalam in Thambiluvil, Amparai district. The man, identified as P. Jestly Julian, 29, a native of Komari and father of two, was taken from his office to Munaiyoorkalam and shot.
A SLA soldier in mufti and another person were shot dead in Vavuniya. The soldier was identified by an SLA officer who visited the site, as D. M. Dissanayake, 33, while the other man was identified as Andare Uppul, 30. Both are natives of Anuradhapura. Nine mm bullets were recovered from the site.
STF personnel from Navatkerny, a suburb of Batticaloa town, where an STF patrol was targeted in a grenade attack, shot and killed five Tamil men in the nearby New Muhathuvaram Road Cemetery Junction. The killings were carried out by STF men as “revenge killings” for the grenade attack, civilians said. The STF claimed the five were Tigers carrying weapons. Meanwhile, the STF trooper, Hevajalage Jayantha, 25, wounded in the grenade attack at Navatkerny, later succumbed to his wounds. The STF men went inside a rice-mill, asked for a vehicle, and left the rice-mill as there was no vehicle available. Few minutes later, the STF counter-insurgency men came back to the site in a Jeep and a truck, and picked five Tamil youths, including a rice mill worker and gunned them down near the railway track in the area. Two of the victims were identified as Tharmarajah Anandarajah, 28, and Soosaipillai Sutharsan, 26.
Motorbike riding gunmen shot and killed a fish salesman, C. Lingeswaran, 40, near Kaddudai Junction, in Manipay, Jaffna, after following the trader as he rode to work in a motorcycle.
A LTTE cadre was killed and two policemen riding in a three-wheeler were wounded in a shootout on Thambiluvil Road, Amparai. The LTTE cadre was gunned down when the policemen retaliated after an attack, police claimed. Meanwhile, LTTE Political Head in Amparai, Jeya, said the person shot dead was a political cadre of the Tigers. Mr. Jeya said STF personnel gunned down Mr. Sudar, 21, and said Sudar was a political cadre who had gone to the town, controlled by the Sri Lankan armed forces. STF claimed that a micro handgun, its magazine, hand grenade and a cyanide capsule were found on the deceased. The policemen wounded in the shootout were identified as M. Dharmaratne, 35 and W. Abeyaratne, 33.
August 24
Paramilitary cadres operating with the SLA in Batticaloa district, sent Sathyaseelan Tharsan of Market Road in Thimilathivu, 19, on a motorbike with explosives towards an LTTE Forward Defence Line (FDL) and detonated the bike. Denying a SLA claim that five Tigers were killed in the Karuna Group suicide attack, the LTTE said the bike exploded 80 meters away from the Tiger FDL in Vavunatheevu. The boy was an innocent captive of paramilitary cadres, LTTE Batticaloa district political head Mr. Daya Mohan said. “Sathyaseelan Tharsan was abducted by an armed group few days ago and he was sent to our FDL in a motor bike fitted with a bomb. The bomb in the motor bike was detonated by remote control when Sathyaseelan Tharsan was about to reach the FDL. The bomb exploded about 80 meters away from the FDL”, he said.
A SLA soldier from Kommathurai camp in Eravur, Batticaloa, was injured when armed men ambushed a group of soldiers on patrol duty in Vantharumoolai.
Armed men riding a motorbike shot dead Vasuthevan Raguthevan, 26, the driver of a three-wheeler, at Sathurukondan, Batticaloa, when he was about to leave to Batticaloa town.
A claymore mine exploded on Talaimannar Road in Pesalai, Mannar district targeting a group of SLN soldiers on patrol. Four soldiers were on duty at the site, but no casualties were reported. Two Tamil youths were taken into custody by SLN soldiers in a cordon and search launched immediately after the explosion.
A Christian Church of the Apostle priest has been missing in Jaffna since August 11, according to a complaint made by a fellow priest at the Jaffna office of the HRCSL. Rev. Fr. Vincent Vinodharaja, 35, father of one, was last seen leaving his home in Meesalai in Thenmaradchi.
August 23
A group of armed persons, believed to be paramilitary men working with the SLA, entered the Jaffna District Secretariat of the Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) and smashed computers and accessories and set-fire to the building, destroying tools and data inside the office. The TRO Jaffna office, opposite the UN officials’ residence and close to many UN offices including UNHCR, UNICEF and UNDP, and several international organizations, is located 200 meters away from the SLA checkposts at Kailayapillayar temple. At least six armed men entered the office, forced the watchman to leave the premises and stayed at the office for two-hours destroying the tools, documents and data, finally setting fire to the office. The events took place during curfew hours. TRO officials said all the documents including the North East Community Organisation Restoration and Development (NECORD) project documents, were destroyed. The NGO officials estimated at least one-million worth of equipment, tools and accessories were lost in the attack. The Fire Brigade, notified by another NGO in the area, only managed to save the building complex from total destruction.
Armed men shot dead Ms Balasingham Puvaneswary, 40, along Aboobucker Road close to Vaitheeswara Junction in the heart of Jaffna town. She was shot when she came out of her house on the orders of assailants.
Armed men entered the premises of Nelliaydi Central College in Jaffna and destroyed the memorial and the statue of the first Black Tiger, Captain Miller. The statue, interpreted as the symbol of the destruction of Nelliyadi SLA camp during Eelam War I in 1987, was later hidden and saved by the residents during the occupation of Jaffna in 1996, before being raised again in 2002. Armed men entered the college premises and bound the hands of the watchman and destroyed the statue and the memorial.
Unidentified men riding in 3 cars abducted three Tamil youths in a lodge on Grandpass Street in Colombo 14. The lodge owners have informed their relatives and police about the abduction. The abductors had claimed they were taking Kunasegaram Mahindan, Kandasamy Sreetharan, both from Varani in Kodikamam and Ramakrishnan Rajkumar from Trincomalee, for interrogation.
Armed men shot dead Mr. Shanmugarajah Suthakar of Bharathipuram, an auto driver, on Beach Road in Trincomalee town. The assailant had hired Suthakar’s three-wheeler and later shot the driver.
Mr. Malaka Gunawardene, 19, a police constable, was killed in claymore mine explosion near the office of the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) located along Batticaloa Ottamavadi road. He succumbed to injuries on admission to hospital.
Mayuran, 20, father of two, was killed in a landmine explosion when he was on his way to collect firewood in no-man zone located in Vaddamadu jungle area. He succumbed to his injuries when he was taken to the Special Task Force (STF) camp located in Sagamam.
August 22
Sri Lanka Police recovered a claymore fitted to a bicycle used for selling vegetables at Borella in Colombo city. An officer of the Traffic Police on patrol first noticed the abandoned bicycle and on inspection found the claymore mine. A SLA bomb disposal squad rushed to the site, in front of a shop, and deactivated the claymore mine. The claymore mine weighed about 10 kg could have been placed in the bicycle targeting an important personality, police claimed.
Rev. Fr. Thiruchelvam Nihal Jim Brown, 34, Parish Priest of Allaippiddy, Jaffna, was reported missing since 20 August, according to a news release issued by the NorthEast Secretariat of Human Rights (see separate story).
Armed men shot dead Mrs. Manoharan Rajini, 40, mother of four, in front of the welfare centre at Sakkotai in Vadamaradchchi, Jaffna district, where she had been residing on being displaced from Palaly, which is located in the SLA HSZ. SLA soldiers arrested 22 year-old Annalingam Ajanthan within 15 minutes of the attack, alleging he had been in the shooting incident. But Ajanthan’s parents appealed to the HRCSL in Jaffna that Ajanthan was an innocent who had been arrested by the SLA to falsely implicate him in the killing.
An alleged SLA informant, Perumal Chandrakumar, 44, was shot dead at Kilavi Thoddam in Karaveddy, Jaffna. Separately, a vegetable vendor, Kandiah Ganeshalingam, 34, was shot dead by assailants travelling by car while he was on his way to Chunnakam public market soon after the curfew was lifted.
Three people were shot dead by unidentified men in separate incidents in Trincomalee. Mr. Balachchandran, a three-wheeler driver, was shot dead at Murugapuri. Another Tamil youth, abducted a day earlier, was found dead in Sampaltivu with gun shot injuries. The unidentified body of a third person was found in Iqbalnagar.
August 21
The bodies of two women washed ashore in Pungudutivu, Jaffna district. Civil authorities said that these two bodies belonged to Tamil civilians drowned in mid sea while fleeing from Talaimannar in Mannar district to seek refuge in Tamil Nadu. Several residents of Mannar and Trincomalee have reportedly fled from the Mannar coast to Tamil Nadu by boat due to volatile situation in the North East. Some of these civilians are reportedly drowned when their boats capsized while fleeing.
