LTTE Headquarters,
                                                Tamil Eelam.
                                                21. January 1997


PRESS RELEASE
NEWS FROM TAMIL EELAM

SRI LANKAN MILITARY CASUALTIES ESCALATE
        Batticaloa 7 Sri Lankan soldiers were killed yesterday evening
        when the LTTE intercepted an army patrol travelling from the
        Paithalai army camp. The LTTE captured rifles and ammunition and
        suffered no casualties.
        
        Jaffna peninsula 2 Sri Lankan soldiers were killed when the LTTE
        fired at a fleet of military motorcycles at Kokuvil junction. The
        attack took place in broad daylight at 11.10 causing the rest of
        the fleet to drive off at high speed. The LTTE destroyed the two
        military bikes before abandoning the site. When military
        personnel returned in larger numbers, they ordered Tamil
        by-standers to remain at the road junction until the evening. The
        LTTE suffered no casualties in this incident.
        
        Jaffna peninsula One Sri Lankan soldier was killed and several
        badly wounded in an early morning LTTE attack on an army
        checkpoint in Varani. There were no LTTE casualties and arms and
        ammunition were captured.

ARMY TAKES YOUNG WOMAN
        A young Tamil woman taken away by Sri Lankan soldiers during a
        "cordon and search" operation in Manalkadu (Vadamaradchy) has not
        been released. Many such innocent Tamil people have been removed
        in this manner in army-occupied Tamil territory and subsequently
        never seen again. Muththar Ranee is now being held in custody
        with no information relating to her condition or whereabouts
        being offered to her parents. She is a 24-year old from Vilankadu
        Kudaththanai.

ARRESTS OF TAMILS IN SINHALA AREAS CONTINUE
        A Tamil girl working as a domestic helper in the deep southern
        Sinhala area of Tangalle has been arrested by local Sinhala
        police. The 20-year old girl was taken arbitrarily without
        charge, raising fears for her safety.

ANOTHER HOSPITAL IN TROUBLE
        Naddankandal hospital has been without medical stocks for the
        past month, say doctors. The hospital which caters to an area of
        15 sq. miles has no basic medicines left, not even paracetamol,
        and doctors say they have even run out of prescription-paper. The
        run-down condition of this hospital, like all others in
        unoccupied Tamil Vanni, is the result of Sri Lanka's block on
        medicines to Tamil areas which the military does not occupy. Not
        surprisingly, curable diseases among the Tamil population have
        multiplied making the situation almost unmanageable for the
        handful of doctors. 80% of the hospital's patients are reported
        to be suffering from malaria and most of the remainder from
        preventable water-borne diseases, but they have little hopes of
        receiving  treatment in the forseeable future.

SCHOOL RESTORED BY LTTE
        The LTTE administration in Mankulam (Vanni) with the help of
        local welfare groups has made available a school building which
        was being used to house families displaced by Sri Lanka's
        military offensives in the Tamil homeland. The education of many
        Tamil children had been disrupted after the influx of refugees
        fleeing from Sri Lanka's military offensive in Kilinochchi.
        Alternative accommodation has now been built for these families
        and Mankulam central school is again available to young students
        who can now return to their classes. The LTTE administration has,
        under difficult war conditions, made concerted efforts to restore
        a degree of normalcy to Tamil people whose lives have been badly
        affected by Sri Lanka's military assaults against them.


Political Committee,
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam

(English translation of the LTTE statement released by
LTTE International Secretariat, 211 Katherine Road, London E6 1BU,
United Kingdom.  Tel/ Fax: 0181-470 8593)