Sri Lanka News Updates with Discussions

12 Tamil civilians seek protections with security forces - Puthukkudiyiruppu

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Mr. Pirapaharan receiving the first copy of 'Surprise Attack in Anuradhapuram', a music album, from Poddu Ammaan, head of LTTE intelligence wing Photo: LTTE

Tamil National Alliance will support the trade union action planned by the JVP for July 10th. This is the first time ever TNA has come forward to support a trade union action

Three Sri Lankan Tamil gangsters of London were sentenced to 17 years in jail for murder and another of the same gang was sentenced to 14 years in jail for the same offense by a criminal court of the Old Bailey for murdering another Tamil man by stabbing him 31 times.

In this case six members of the Tamil gang were sentenced for offences like murder of Pirabakaran Kannan in Upper Tooting Road and lesser crimes of grievous bodily harm(GBH) and actual bodily harm(ABH) , which is lesser than GBH, to members of a Tamil Gang to which the murder victim did not even belong.

Witnesses said in the courts that Mr Kannan was heard shouting 'It wasn't me, it wasn't me' shortly before he was brutally set upon and killed by the four Tamil gang members. The seemingly uninvolved victim happened to be there when two rival Sri Lankan Tamil gangs clashed.

The sentencing came July 7, five days before the banned terrorist group Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) is going to hold their Pongu Thamil festival (Suicide Bombers' Day) in London focused on fund raising. The police said gangs of violent Sri Lankan Tamil men in South London area, where illegal fund raising activities of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) are quite rampant are 'constantly tooled up' and 'ready to go', for such crimes . But there is no direct evidence that the gangs are linked up with the LTTE. But there is some connection with LTTE controlled businesses and Tamil violent gangs, many have alleged.

Detective Inspector Anthony McKeowan calling the violence the convicts displayed was ferocious said, 'The attack on Pirabaskaran Kannan was violent and merciless. He sustained thirty-one stab and slash injuries at the back of a fast food restaurant in Tooting, and died shortly after in hospital. The two friends who were with him at the time suffered lesser injuries, but have obviously been affected by events of that night. 'Those who carried out the attack were from a 'gang' of Tamil and other Asian youths from Croydon, who came to Tooting with the express purpose of attacking people whom they saw as members of a rival Tamil 'gang'. Although Mr Kannan himself was not known to be a gang member, he suffered the misfortune of getting trapped at the rear of the restaurant and becoming the focus of the attack.

'We were living in our native lands facing huge difficulties and hardships under the LTTE. They (LTTE) have transformed the whole area into a war zone. People are forced to labour for long hours and families of those who refuse face grave repercussion by the outfit' an escapee was citied saying to our correspondent.

The recent military operations have pressurized the LTTE and they are hunting on our children to replace their numbers lost in the battles, he further added.

'We are the victims of Tsunami in 2004 but we didn't receive any assistance or aid as the LTTE looted those aid working as an intermediary', one of the escapees said.