Two Jaffna University students have been abducted and tortured, allegedly by SLA military intelligence, in the last two weeks.

 

Vijayarajah Vijayarooban, a native of Kachchai in Kodikaamam, was abducted on April 13 at a private tuition centre near the A9 road, inside the SLA militarized HSZ in Chavakacheri town, where he was working as a part time teacher.

 

He was allegedly taken by SLA Military Intelligence stationed at Post Office Ro

Sri Lanka’s Defence Secretary Gothabaya Rajapakse threatened the editor of a leading English daily on April 17, saying the paper’s coverage of actions of the Karuna Group had angered the Army-backed paramilitaries, a media watchdog said.

 

And the British envoy to the island became embroiled in the matter after visiting the journalist the day after the story of the threats broke.

Unidentified gunmen shot dead a Tamil journalist in Vavuniya in the latest in a string of attacks against media personnel, a rights group said, bringing to 24 the number of people killed in the past two weeks in the northern town.

 

Meanwhile, the violence in Vavuniya continued unabated, including a 5 hour armed robbery spree that netted the thieves over Rs.

The leader of Sri Lanka’s main opposition party accused the government of responsibility for the country’s worsening human rights record.

 

United National Party (UNP) Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, who attended a gathering of the relatives and friends of missing persons, in Colombo on April 9, charged that the ruling United Peoples' Freedom Alliance (UPFA) regime was responsible for the bad reputation of the Sri Lankan state's Human Rights record.

Some of the weapons recovered by the LTTE following the Sri Lankan soldiers hasty retreat.

The LTTE said

Sri Lanka Army backed paramilitaries are running amok in government controlled Muslim village of Pottuvil, terrorizing residents and extorting money, the Daily Mirror newspaper reported.

 

Gunmen from the Karuna Group are roaming freely with weapons, threatening and extorting money from people in Pottuvil, a predominantly Muslim village in Ampara, the paper said.

 

“They go around with weapons on motorbikes and are said to be threatening

Asked for the United States’ reaction to the LTTE airstrike on the military airbase at Katunayake last Monday, the US Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Robert O’ Blake said: “The LTTE’s successful deployment of an offensive air capability is a matter of great concern.”

 

Asked by Sri Lanka’s state-owned Daily News if the LTTE attack changed the US view about the conflict, he said: “We do not believe there can be a military solution to this conflict.