Unidentified armed men shot and killed two Tamil villagers, 50 years and 27 years of age, Saturday night at Kappalthu'rai in Chinabay Police division in Trincomalee district. The armed men entered the village Saturday night dressed in black suit and had shot dead the victims in their houses.

The Police Department states that during last year in Sri Lanka, 1195 persons have been abducted. These complaints had been received to them, and it is mentioned in a report was stated by him.

During the year 2007, it is stated that 2229 complaints are received, and out of this 1190 are true was further stated by the Police Department. Meanwhile yesterday at Sea Street Colombo, Sahadevan Uthayakumar of Nallur Jaffna and day before yesterday Colwin Winson from Wattala were abducted.

Unidentified gunmen alleged to be Tamil paramilitary persons following a building contrator on motor cycle shot and killed him Saturday around 5:30 p.m at Charava'nai Kaa'li Koayiladi in Veala�nai, in the islets of Jaffna, sources in Oorkaavattu�rai (Kayts) said. The victim�s two brothers who had been combatants in militant groups had died in the past, the sources added.

Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse told the State run Daily News Saturday that thousands who stay in Colombo "without any valid reason" should return to their villages as they are creating a huge security concern. "We must be prepared for this. That is why wer doing human control measures. People criticise us for fundamental rights violations when we do these things," paper quoted Gotabhaya as saying.

Unidentified armed men abducted three students in three separate incidents in various areas of Batticaloa district, according to complaints lodged at the police stations in the areas.

An ambush team of the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) attacked a sentry post at Thimilatheevu in Batticaloa district in the early hours of Saturday at 4:30 a.m., killing a Sri Lankan policeman at the post. Meanwhile, a Claymore attack on Ma'ndoor Vellaave'li Road targeted a truck, killing a policeman and causing serious injuries to four Sri Lankan policemen at 9:30 a.m., according to LTTE officials in the East. Sri Lankan police sources also confirmed that two of their policemen were killed in two separate attacks and said seven police personnel, including two female police, were wounded in the Claymore attack, according tot he Police sources.

British Deputy Foreign Minister Mark Malloch-Brown is scheduled to meet the Sri Lankan Tamil community in Britain on Monday to discuss the situation in Sri Lanka, the organizers said in an email to Daily Mirror.

COLOMBO-Sri Lanka - The government and international aid groups worked Friday to reach a deal to get emergency food aid to 160,000 civilians displaced by Sri Lanka's raging civil war in the wake of a ban on relief agencies in rebel-held areas.

Staff at the High Commission of Sri Lanka and the Sri Lankan community in Canada have been baffled for months by Ottawa's delays in approving the Asian country's new high commissioner-designate, Daya Perera, his posting.

Nelliyadi police in Vadamaraadchi recovered a male corpse with its head severed and signs of severe torture Friday, near a bridge 400m from Kappothu Sri Lanka Army (SLA) main camp along Kuyilangka�ndi Veethi in Kappoothu, a place located between Thenmaraadchi and Vadamaraadchi, sources in Point Pedro said. Meanwhile, a beheaded corpse of a male in woman�s clothing from Thenmaraadchi was recovered recently from this area and the body of a youth from Rajkiraamam in Karaveddi in Vadamaraadchi with its head severed was found dumped in the same area following it.

V.K.Kaanamoorthy, an exponent in Eezham Nathaswaram music passed away Wednesday night in Jaffna Teaching Hospital after a brief illness at 60 years of age. Kaanamoorthy with his younger brother Panchamoorthy, excelled in playing Nathaswaram not only in Sri Lanka but also in Tamil Nadu in South India, Singapore and Malaysia for more than three decades.

Internally Displaced Persons, who gathered Friday morning in front of the UNHCR office at Karadippoakku junction in Ki'inochchi, pleaded with the remaining officials of the UN and International NGOs not to leave Ki'linochchi as their presence was critical, not only for humanitarian assistance, but also to sustain a secure zone to escape what they feared in the coming days: Sri Lankan military's scorched earth policy in aerial and artillery bombardment. Meanwhile, a group of IDPs blocked the convoy of NGO vehicles in a peaceful protest at 55th Mile Post where a store of the World Food Progamme (WFP) is located from 6:00 a.m., forcing the NGOs to abandon their trip on Friday.

Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) Leader Velupillai Pirapaharan on Thursday paid his last respects to the ten Black Tiger commandos, who laid down their lives during the Tiger operation on the Vanni headquarters of the Sri Lankan forces (SF HQ). LTTE officials told media that the LTTE leader paid his last respects with garlanding the photographs of the Black Tigers and by lighting the flame of sacrifice at an undisclosed location in Vanni. The Tiger mission destroyed the infrastructure of the joint operations command of the Sri Lankan forces in Vanni in the early hours of Tuesday.

The Sri Lankan government has confirmed that two Indians were injured on Tuesday when Tamil Tiger rebels attacked a military base in the north.

The Secretary General of SAARC, Dr. Sheel Kant Sharma, who is on a special visit to Sri Lanka at the invitation of Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama, called on him at the Ministry yesterday. The Minister discussed with Dr. Sharma the work ahead for Sri Lanka, as the SAARC Chair and the modalities by which the decisions taken at the recently concluded 15th Colombo Summit are to be implemented. The Secretary General thereafter briefed the Foreign Minister on the responsibilities of the SAARC Chair.

Referring to the news that two Indian radar operators were wounded Tuesday when the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) attacked the Vanni Headquarters of the Sri Lankan military, Vaiko, the General Secretary of the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK), in a letter sent Thursday to the Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, said that the Indian Government was "caught red handed in its unpardonable betrayal" of involving Indian military personnel in Sri Lanka's "genocidal war" against the Tamils. He blamed the top level bureaucrats in India, particularly the national security adviser, for "clandestinely conspiring" with the Sri Lankan government.

Unidentified armed men on motor cycle following a young family man Thursday opened fire on him near Chaavakachcheari government hospital, sources in Chaavakachcheari said. The seriously injured victim was rushed to Chaavakachcheari hospital first and later transferred to Jaffna Teaching Hospital where he succumbed to his wounds Thursday. The vicitim was one of the persons in Thenmaraadchi who regularly report at the local Sri Lanka Army (SLA) civil administration office to sign the register on the orders of the SLA.

Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) officials in the East on Thursday said a guerrilla team of the Tigers triggered a Claymore mine killing four Sri Lankan Special Task Force (STF) commandos and causing injuries to three, Wednesday around 5:30 p.m., near Pulipaaynthakal, which is located 30 km north of Batticaloa.

Sri Lanka is hardline government Thursday criticised United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon for expressing deep concern about Tamil civilians in the Vanni region.

Sri Lankan human rights ministry official Rajiva Wijesinghe told reporters that there were no civilian casualties in the Colombo government�s ongoing offensive and that the UN Chief is comments were helping the LTTE.

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) on Thursday condemned the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) for instructing the foreign NGOs and aid workers to leave from Vanni and urged the International Community to prevail upon the GoSL to recall its decision.

The move by the GoSL was another blow to the already many times displaced masses who are threatened with indiscriminate aerial attacks and artillery bombardments, the TNA said in an e-mailed statement to media.