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Amid pouring rain and thundering blasts of artillery and mortar shells, more than 170,000 Internally Displaced Persons in Vanni are facing a great human tragedy, which is calculatedly concealed from the world outside, said Rev. Fr. James Pathinathan, the president of the Vanni branch of the Justice and Peace Commission (JPC) of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Jaffna, in an urgent appeal to the U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, on Tuesday. “If the International Community doesn’t act at once, it will be too late,” he told TamilNet after handing over the memorandum to the Residential Representative of the UNHCR in Vanni.

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Amid pouring rain and thundering blasts of artillery and mortar shells, more than 170,000 Internally Displaced Persons in Vanni are facing a great human tragedy, which is calculatedly concealed from the world outside, said Rev. Fr. James Pathinathan, the president of the Vanni branch of the Justice and Peace Commission (JPC) of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Jaffna, in an urgent appeal to the U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, on Tuesday. “If the International Community doesn’t act at once, it will be too late,” he told TamilNet after handing over the memorandum to the Residential Representative of the UNHCR in Vanni.

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Heavy explosions rocked the Trincomalee Harbour around 9:00 p.m. Tuesday and the Sri Lanka Navy sources confirmed that at least one LTTE aircraft had dropped bombs, but refused to comment on the casualty details. Tension prevailed in Trincomalee town Tuesday night from about 9.05 onwards as Sri Lankan forces surrounding the Sri Lanka Navy headquarters located along the Trincomalee harbor continuously fired towards sky for about half an hour following the alleged attack. The city was deserted. In the meantime, Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) Kfir bombers were seen over Ki’linochchi during the reported attack in Trincomalee.

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Heavy explosions rocked the Trincomalee Harbour around 9:00 p.m. Tuesday and the Sri Lanka Navy sources confirmed that at least one LTTE aircraft had dropped bombs, but refused to comment on the casualty details. However, latest reports before the communication was cut off with the East port city indicated heavy explosions inside the harbour and the naval base and that vehicles were seen rushing casualties to the hospital. In the meantime, Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) Kfir bombers were seen over Ki’linochchi during the reported air attack in Trincomalee.

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Twenty five Tamil civilians were taken into custody Tuesday morning in a cordon and search conducted in Gampaha police division in the Western Province by the Sri Lanka Army and police with the assistance of homeguards.

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The Colombo High Court Monday refused bail for Sunday Times columnist J.S.Tissainayagam when he was produced in court for the first time after he had been indicted by the Attorney General on three counts under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and Emergency Regulations (ER), for printing, publishing and distributing the magazine “North Eastern Monthly” during the period from June 1, 2006 to June 1, 2007 and for making payments or collecting funds from a non-governmental organization to run the said magazine, legal sources said.

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In response to the recent appeal by the Commission for Justice and Peace (CJP) to all Catholics in Jaffna peninsula to generously contribute to a relief fund towards helping the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Vanni, 1.2 million rupees were collected during the special mass and Holy Communion held Sunday in the Catholic churches throughout the peninsula sources close to the Bishop of Jaffna, said.

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Cattle owners and farmers in Koara’laipattu South, Ea’raavoorpattu and Chengkaladi divisions of Batticaloa district have appealed to their respective Divisional Secretaries and Batticaloa Government Agent to help lift Sri Lanka Army (SLA) imposed restrictions in engaging in their livelihoods of dairy farming and agriculture. A threatening situation prevails in the remote villages of Batticaloa, especially against the cattle ownrs, as SLA soldiers manning the posts in Paduvaankarai region have stepped up deployment along jungle tracks and cattle posts used by cattle herders.

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Sri Lankan Minister of Higher Education Viswa Warnapala has taken steps to temporarily admit Sinhala students of Eastern University of Sri Lanka (EUSL) to Universities in South. Due to the tension prevailing in the EUSL in the aftermath of the killing of Sinhala student, the University Grant Commission (UGC) had consulted Bail Rajapaksa, the brother and advisor of Sri Lankan President and the officials of the Sri Lankan Ministry of Defence.

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The leader of the Western Province People’s Front (WPPF) and a Member of Sri Lankan Parliament Mano Ganesan is being questioned by the Sri Lankan Terrorist Investigation Department (TID) Tuesday morning, informed sources in Colombo told TamilNet.

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