OPERATIONAL ASSESSMENT

The general tension in North- and East of Sri Lanka has been high this week. Shelling across both the Northern and the Southern Forward Defence Lines (FDL) was frequent from both parties. Omanthai E/E point area experienced shelling from LTTE controlled area on two different days.

On 27 February the LTTE launched a mortar attack on a stadium in Batticaloa, where three helicopters were landing. The LTTE said this was retaliation after shelling from 233 bdg in Batticaloa towards the FDL west of Batticaloa. The LTTE said they were not aware that several ambassadors and other VIP’s were on board the helicopters. Three ambassadors and several others were injured in this attack.

Because of continuous shelling towards the FDL in Batticaloa thousands of civilians were reported to exit the LTTE controlled area to be resettled in IDP camps in the GOSL controlled area. Six individuals from the LTTE area were admitted to Batticaloa hospital this week with a history of mortar injuries. On 2 March SLAF fired few rounds of shells towards Morawewa in Trincomalee district.

An air strike took place during the week in Toppighala in Batticaloa district and there was also an air strike hitting a target close to Malawi in Vavuniya district. Malawi has had a precedent as a safe haven for all international organizations based in Vanni.

 

In Vanni there were three claymore attacks, allegedly executed by SLA, killing two civilians and injuring four. The number of such attacks was similar to the week before.

 

Assassinations and disappearances were reported from all districts. On 4 March two Tamil men were found executed with gunshots in their heads at Maharambaikulam, 4 km southwest of Vavuniya town. In Vavunyia district three other persons were killed, whereof one was civilian and two were policemen. This was a marginal decrease from the week before when 11 assassinations were reported. In both Batticaloa and Jaffna districts five men were assassinated during the week. The number of assassinations in Trincomalee seems to have decreased somewhat after a peek last week. The killings reported were on 27 February when two Muslim men were shot dead in Uppuveli police area and 4 assassinations were reported, all in the Kuchchaveli and Uppuveli district. All of them involved Muslim men.

The number of abductions was lower this week than the week before. In Batticaloa four abductions were reported, compared to 19 last week. Both TMVP and LTTE are suspected in these cases. In Trincomalee three abductions were reported and four in Jaffna.

 

 

OPERATIONAL ACTIVITIES 

The national staff from the Vavuniya office stayed the whole week in Negombo due to security concerns. A team will be sent to Vavuniya this week to assess the situation. Teams were sent to all districts this week and an RRT (Rapid Response Team) was sent to Batticaloa on 27 Februaryto inquire in to the helicopter attack in Batticaloa town. Monitors will also go on trips to all districts this week. Furthermore, the Liaison officers have returned to Kilinochchi. SLMM Monitors are distributed between HQ, Northern and Eastern offices. Support functions are fully operational at HQ in Colombo.