A human skeleton was found by locals in Uruthirapuram, Kilinochchi district on Thursday.

The police are yet to identify the skeleton, however have said the deceased appears to have died around two months earlier. 

Two Sri Lankan army intelligence officers who have been held over the disappearance of Sinhalese cartoonist Prageeth Eknaligoda have been released on bail this week.

The suspects are first accused Lt. Col. Shammi Arjuna Kumararatne and third accused Staff Sgt. Rajapaksa Mudiyanselage Priyantha Kumara Rajapaksa, reports The Island.

A total of seven suspects have now been released on bail by the Sri Lankan courts. A further two suspects continue to be held in remand.

See more from The Island here.

Sri Lanka’s Joint Opposition has challenged the government to provide extra security assurances for police officers in the North-East, following clashes in Kilinochchi between Sri Lankan police and locals protesting over the killing of two Jaffna University students.

"A posse of policemen was surrounded and beaten mercilessly in Kilinochchi by Tamil racists,” claimed Joint Opposition Leader Dinesh Gunawardena. “Who will ensure their safety?" he questioned.

Militarisation is the biggest threat faced by the people of Jaffna, according to the findings of an NGO report published last week.

The Society for Threatened Peoples (STP), together with the National Fisheries Solidarity Movement (NAFSO) in their report 'Under the Military's Shadow', on the effects of militarisation on local communities in the Jaffna Peninsula, found that as well as ongoing human rights violations, military commercial activities also perpetuated deprivation among communities.

The Sri Lankan Inspector General of Police, Pujith Jayasundara, reportedly admitted to the Daily News that the killing of two Jaffna University students last week was a "clear breach of discipline". 

Mr Jayasundara who was quoted by the state run website as saying "it is not clear whether the situation warranted a shooting as there was no robbery, an organised attack or life threatening incident which seemed to have occurred at the time," acknowledged there had been what he described as "certain shortcomings". 

The coalition of Tamil civil society groups, the Tamil Civil Society Forum this week condemned the Sri Lankan police's shooting dead of two Tamil students of the Jaffna University last Thursday. 

"The killings that took place now, have the power to deepen further the oppressive situation," TCSF said in a statement calling for a accountability and justice. 

"A credible investigation has to be conducted into these assassinations and the culprits must be brought to book. Otherwise, such assassinations are capable of instilling a very strong social fear."

The case of the assassination of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP Nadaraja Raviraj is to take place before a special jury, the Colombo high court was reported by the Daily Mirror to have said today. 

Mr Raviraj was murdered along side his driver in 2006. Six people have been indicted. 
 

Sri Lanka’s president Maithripala Sirisena stated that it was his responsibility “to protect the forces and the honour of the war heroes” in an interview to Lankadeepa this week.

Mr Sirisena was responding to comments he made earlier this month where he slammed an ongoing corruption commission for investigating members of the military. The Sri Lankan president said he was merely speaking according to his conscience and continued to criticise the financial corruption investigation.

Sri Lanka’s Law and Order Minister Sagala Ratnayake walked out of a press conference in Colombo on Wednesday, after refusing to answer questions on the Sri Lankan military’s alleged connection to gangs in Jaffna.

Mr Ratnayake was hosting a media briefing when he was asked by a journalist on the military link to gangs in the region.

“You also talked about the motorcycle gangs operating in the area,” said the journalist. “A lot of Tamil people have told us “Yes there are motorcycle gangs and they are called military intelligence”.”

The minister began to laugh and stood up to leave the press conference.

The spent bullet casing from an AK-47 rifle has been found by forensic investigators at the site of the murder of two Tamil university students in Jaffna last week.

Forensic investigators explore the murder scene on Wednesday, identifying the exact location where the students were killed.