Donation of essential items for war heroes

Ceylinco Grameen Consolidate Ltd, a leading financial company in Sri Lanka, donated money and essential items for war heroes. The donation was handed over to the Defence Secretary Mr.Gotabaya Rajapaksa by the office bearers of Ceylinco (Pvt) Ltd on Tuesday (Dec 16) at Defence ministry premises.

Armed forces and Police welfare division Director Mrs.Malkanthi Jayawardhana informed to the Defence secretary, the members and customers of the Ceylinco Grameen consolidate branch have decided to donate their Day's pay and the goods for the hospitalized soldiers.

The Director of Armed forces and Police welfare division Mrs.Malkanthi Jayawardhana and Deputy Director Mr.Sirisena Jayawardhana and some office bearers were present at the occasion.

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Barriers for the equal education in the North

The advancing troops of Kilinochchi have reached to the Technical college for Higher education which was affiliated to the University of Jaffna built by the ministry of Education and Higher education with the aim of educational upliftment of the Tamil students in Kilinochchi, Mulathivu, and Poonarin. The technical college consisted of a well equipped auditorium, hostel, and laboratories with the extent of 100 acres which can accommodate more than 5000 students. With the great intention of giving equal education for all irrespective of ethnicity, the government has established this institute in the North. Unfortunately no any academic year could be started as the Terrorists had been using this valuable place for their military and administrative purposes till the government troops captured it.

LTTE, as a ruthless terrorist outfit has shown its vision clearly by using this precious property of the Northern students as a military camp. LTTE is known to be one of the notorious terrorist groups in the world which uses child soldiers in combat. If such educational institutes operate in this area, terrorists will definitely encounter a scarcity of soldiers and it will be a huge problem for their existence.

Education is a fundamental right for every human being but LTTE terrorists are human right violators .They have been fighting with the aim of Mono-ethnic separate home land. But purposely V.Prabhakaran destroyed the right of education of students in north and east by activating such terrible things. V. Prabhakaran expects only the war and never knows the value of the education as he never got it. Though the Sri Lankan government is trying to give equal education for all, the terrorist leader always tries avoiding his people from getting free education as his only intension is the war.

LTTE use child soldiers for the battle field and child soldiers have become the symbol as a way of continuing LTTE militarization. Security forces and government always stand surety for security of the innocent school children. According to the sources, Tamil school children in North are being trained for the battle during the school hours, and they are recruited to the dying terrorist outfit by force. They all pray for a free world without war.

Today, we can see plenty of child right organizations and we have a problem whether they are aware of this dangerous problem of child soldering which occurred in the North of Sri Lanka.

This is the time for all nations to pay attention to the reality of this common enemy that threatens the survival of society based on respect of the freedom and dignity of humans.

Fighting erupts in fringes of Kilinochchi, Northern FDLs: 120 terrorists killed, 250 injured [Updated]

At least 120 LTTE terrorists were killed and over 250 reported injured during intense battles ensued between troops and LTTE, West of Paranthan, Admapan and Iranamadu at the Kilinochchi battlefront, Tuesday (Dec 16).

According to latest military reports, the Task Force 1 and 57 Division troops have also gained control over a 5 km stretch of the LTTE built earth bund cum ditch, west of Paranthan and Kilinochchi. Troops are now consolidating defences in the area, military Spokesperson Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said speaking to defence.lk.

Heavy fighting broke out at the outskirts of Kilinochchi and Northern FDLs since early this morning (Dec 16) as military offensive divisions commenced mounting artillery and heavy mortar attacks at identified terror locations, shifting the Wanni battle phase into a decisive stage, military sources said.

Meanwhile, LTTE heavy gun locations and terrorist concentration positions were targeted in the attacks, as military said that terrorists manning defences south of A-9 at Kilaly FDL were left in total disarray. According to military reports, 25 soldiers have laid their lives, 10 reported missing and 160 others injured during the days fighting.

Separately, 57 Division troops have entered the Chorikenkulam village located 7km West of the A-9 main road, military sources further said. Troops have also uncovered 2 LTTE bodies along with 2 radio communication sets, a multi-purpose machine gun (MPMG) and a T-56 assault riffle while consolidating positions South of Iranamadu this evening.

Successive blows at retreating terrorists at Ampakamam, 5 bodies recovered- Mullaittivu

Troops of the Task Force - 3 operating in the outer perimeters of Ampakamam general area, trailed down a group of terrorists on the retreat reportedly killing over a dozen, while recovering 5 bodies and several military hardware, yesterday (Dec 16) at around 5.30 p.m.

The infantrymen of the 16 Gajaba Regiment (GR) under the 632 Brigade sped after the fleeing terrorists engaging them in bitter fighting, also recovering a multi-purpose machine gun (MPMG) and 3 T-56 assault riffles.

Ampakamam village was brought under total military dominance on Monday (Dec 15) following hours long intense gunfire exchanges between troops and LTTE terrorists, security sources said.

Air assaults at LTTE reinforcements: Boat confirmed destroyed- Kilaly

An LTTE attack craft was confirmed destroyed and many other boats damaged after air force MI-24 helicopter gunships made close-in-air combat assaults at an LTTE boat movement in the Kilaly lagoon, Tuesday (Dec 16) at around 6.10 p.m.

Identifying an LTTE boat movement with reinforcements towards Paranthan from the non-liberated Elephant Pass area, the MI-24 helicopters continued engaging the boats forcing terrorists to abandon the mission, Air Force Spokesperson Wing Commander Janaka Nanayakkara said speaking to defence.lk.

The air assaults were launched in support of the advancing TF- 1 troops, he further said.

Trawlers off Kochi selling diesel to LTTE agents

As the war between the LTTE and the Sri Lankan Army is escalating, reports have surfaced about Indian fishing trawlers off Kochi coast making the best out of the war by selling diesel to the LTTE agents at the mid sea for exorbitant rates.

With the war assuming huge proportion, the LTTE has been left with no other choice but to aggressively scout for fuel to power their defence and supply vehicles.

An official of the coastal base station in Kochi, which undertakes patrolling up to 12 nautical miles off coast, said they had come across fishing boats fitted with additional overhead tanks filled with diesel.

"The overhead tanks, mainly used to store fresh water, had concealed compartments to carry additional quantity of diesel. Above all, the boats fill their tanks beyond the required capacity for the journey. As of now, there is no legal framework to restrict the boats from carrying additional quantity of diesel," the official said.

He said though the patrolling team had impounded various boats, they get away saying that they required more fuel to be in sea for more number of days.

"A mechanism should be in place to check the quantity of diesel consumed by the boats, other wise they will keep on illegally selling the government-subsidised diesel to third parties," he said adding that the majority of the crew in the fishing boats were from Tamil Nadu.

Confirming that there were certain reports of diesel pilferage at the mid sea by the fishermen to the LTTE, an official of the Fisheries Enforcement Department said their duty was very much confined to checking the registration of the trawlers.

"Our job is to assist the Fisheries Department and make sure that the trawlers confined to rules and regulations laid down by the Fisheries Department," he added. Fisheries Department deputy director K L Raveendran said the government provided a subsidy of Rs 1.50 per litre for diesel for the fishing boats and it was limited to a maximum of Rs 1,500 per month for a trawler.

"We have limited the subsidy to ensure that no fishing boats misuse it," he said.

However, Coast Guard (DIG) Vijay Chafekar said they had so far not received any information in this regard.

"Neither the Kerala Marines nor the Fisheries Enforcement have apprised us of the developments. We will conduct an investigation into the incident once we get the details in writing from the departments concerned."

Development Lotteries Board donates house for disable soldier

A fully furnished house constructed by the Development Lotteries Board (DLB) was handed over to a disable soldier Tuesday (Dec 16), by the Ministry of Defence Seva Vanitha Unit (SVU) Chairperson, Mrs. Ioma Rajapaksa.

Soldier KDH Weerapriya was the beneficiary, who was left permanently disabled due to a land mine explosion while serving at the Vavuniya defences on 23rd August 2008. The house was provided under the 'Jayoda Housing Project' of the DLB.

Since, no one had come to claim the houses for the past 07 years the Development Lotteries Board decided to donate these houses to the MOD SVU. These houses are located in Kaduwela and equipped with all facilities, SVU sources said.

WFP continues to dispatch food convoys to Wanni: Refutes BBC report

While refuting a BBC Sinhala service news report, intended to draw a 'hunger crisis' in the Wanni region in Sri Lanka, WFP officials issued a press release asserting the BBC report as a "regrettable statement based in the form of a personal opinion".

"Statements given by staff members do not necessarily reflect the official policy of WFP", the communiqué‚ further read.

Following is the full text of the WFP press release.

With reference to a news item carried by BBC regarding the IDP situation in the Wanni, The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) wishes to highlight that WFP's mandate is to provide food assistance to those in need. Statements given by staff members do not necessarily reflect the official policy of WFP. On this occasion, it was regrettable that a statement in the form of a personal opinion was provided to the BBC.

WFP, in cooperation with the Government of Sri Lanka and other stakeholders, since the beginning of the food convoy operation on 2nd October, has dispatched a total of 4,120 tons of mixed food commodities to meet the food needs of an estimated 200,000 internally displaced persons in the Wanni. In addition, a total of 250 MT rice, locally procured by WFP in the Wanni is included in the overall food distribution, making the total food made available to the IDPs in the Wanni 4,370 MT. Although WFP planned to send 750 MT food weekly, delays were experienced due to some technical, administrative and weather related constraints that did not allow the full requirement to be met.

WFP is fully committed to continue the weekly dispatches of convoys to the Wanni to ensure that the IDPs needs are met and is receiving consistent support for it from all stakeholders. So far, seven food convoys have been sent to the Wanni and the 8th one is under preparation with about 750MT food.

Each household is expected to receive a monthly ration of basic food, equivalent to 1,900 kcal per person per day. To complement the basic food needs, pregnant and lactating women as well as children under 5 receive Com-Soya Blend, nutritionally based food to prevent deterioration of their nutritional status.

WFP provides food assistance to 1.1 million people composed of internally displaced, economically affected, schoolchildren and other most vulnerable people in Sri Lanka.

18 civilians flee from LTTE tyranny- Mullaittivu

18 civilians belonging to 6 families, have fled from LTTE after been held captive for months and have sought protection with security forces at Omanthai, Monday (Dec 15) at around 3.30p.m.

The group included 11 men, 3 women, 3 boys and a girl who were reportedly from Oddusudan, Keridamadu and Mannakandal localities at Mullattivu district. According to Army sources, the civilians have made the escape from LTTE for 6 days until they reached the Omanthai Entry/ Exit point in Vavuniya.

These civilians have alleged LTTE terrorists for looting the large food stocks sent as humanitarian aid for the thousands entrapped with the outfit in Wanni. "We only receive a small portion of the food sent into Wanni", the civilians were quoted as further saying.

Meanwhile, the Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Monday (Dec 15) in a 17-page report, "Trapped and Mistreated: LTTE Abuses against Civilians in the Wanni," detailed how the LTTE is brutally abusing the Tamil population in the non-liberated Wanni regions.

"The LTTE claims to be fighting for the Tamil people, but it is responsible for much of the suffering of civilians in the Wanni," said Brad Adams, Asia director for Human Rights Watch in a communiqué‚ released. "As the LTTE loses ground to advancing government forces, their treatment of the very people they say they are fighting for is getting worse", HRW further stated in the press release urging the LTTE terrorists to end its scourge of brutality.

"In the face of an ongoing government military offensive, the LTTE has increased the pressure on the civilian population under its control. Having long used a coercive pass system to prevent civilians from leaving areas it controls, the LTTE has now completely prohibited movement out of the Wanni, except for some medical emergencies. By refusing to allow displaced persons to leave for government-held territory, the group has severely restricted their access to essential humanitarian relief. Only about a thousand people have managed to flee the conflict zone since March 2008.

By refusing to allow people their basic rights to freedom of movement, the LTTE has trapped hundreds of thousands of civilians in a dangerous war zone," HRW further asserted.

'Yaldevi express' on the rails again

The Colombo-Vavuniya, Yaldevi express that was terminated at Medawachchiya from February this year will once again run to Vavuniya from today (Dec 16).

The Defence Ministry last afternoon gave clearance to the Transport Ministry to resume the service to Vavuniya.

Railway authorities however would run the train only once a day during daytime starting at Colombo Fort at 5.45 a.m. and the return trip from Vavuniya to Colombo will commence at 1 pm.