LTTE Headquarters,
                                                Tamil Eelam.
                                                24. January 1997


PRESS RELEASE
NEWS FROM TAMIL EELAM

UPDATE

TAMILS MISSING AFTER SRI LANKAN ARMY ARREST

JAFFNA PENINSULA 

        NAME                            AGE    TOWN ARRESTED
        
        Sanmugam Vasanthan              18     Jaffna
        Pasupathy Denis                 20     Jaffna
        Selvaratnam Santhirakumar       27     Kopay
        Velupillai Santhirakumar        27     Eluthumadduval
        Reginold Ruparaj                18     Navatkuli
        Innasithamby Kajendran          18     Jaffna
        Kopalapillai Jeyaseelan         21     Navatkuli
        Kandiah Arultharan              27     Jaffna
        Rathinam Rasa                   19     Mirusuvil
        Kunaratnam Arumairasu           33     Jaffna
        Nallian Thavarasa               27     Neervely
        Pandaram Rathinem Selvakumar    21     Thatchanthoppu
        Kasipillai Ketharanathan        31     Jaffna
        Subramaniah Mahendiran          -      Kasturiar Road, Jaffna
        Poologasundaram Selvanesan      26     Koddady, Jaffna
        A. Sriyeskan                    -      Chavakachcheri
        S. Vivekanandan                 -      Chavakachcheri
        Yokanathan Atputharaja          25     Kodikamam
        Siriniah Somaskandan            -      Near Jaffna university
        Rathinam Rajendran              28     Chavakachcheri market
        Sellathurai                     19     Vembady
        Appukuddy Nagarajah             34     Meesalai
        Sanmugadas Murugadas            29     Temple Road, Jaffna
        Kandasamy Nadanachendiran       -      Alaveddy
        Patrick Mary Ravi               -      Kurunagar, Jaffna
        Sithamparapillai Perinpanathan  21     Navatkuli
        Ratnam Selvakumar               21     Navatkuli
        Nadarajah Vinayagamoorthy       -      Pallai
        Navaratnam Yoganathan           26     Nallur
        Selvaratnam Thavanathan         -      Sankiliyan Road, Jaffna
        Sellathurai Santhakumar         -      Nallur

ARMY SHELLS POUND NORTHERN VILLAGES
        Artillery shells rained down on northern Tamil villages yesterday
        afternoon, seriously injuring ten civilians. Sri Lankan soldiers
        fired heavy rounds from the army base at Elephant Pass at around
        2.30pm. The assault lasted for over an hour, taking in a wide
        semi-circle of  Tamil villages including Kokavil, Murukandy,
        Vattakachchi, Ramanathpuram and the coastal belt of Chundikulam.
        The injured ten have all been hospitalised and remain in a
        critical condition. Many houses and trees were also smashed
        during this military operation. Sri Lanka bans journalists to the
        north-east theatre of war preventing the scale of random bombing
        on Tamil villages becoming known.

DECAPITATED BODY  OF A FISHERMAN FLOATS ASHORE
        A Tamil fisherman whose head was cut off by Sri Lankan naval
        forces has been washed ashore at Mullaitivu. The man also had
        bullet wounds. Friends say he had gone out to sea with two other
        Tamil fishermen, who have subsequently not been seen. The Sri
        Lankan navy is known to fire at random on Tamil fishing boats.
        
        In another incident (in the east) 19 Tamil fishermen have been
        arrested by the Sri Lankan navy and police for fishing in the
        coastal waters off Trincomallee. They were rounded up in sight of
        the Konesar temple .

POLICE ATTACK FAILS
        A Sri Lankan policeman was killed during an attack on LTTE
        members inside Batticaloa town, which the army controls. Security
        forces received information of a small LTTE unit in Mamankam and
        went to investigate. Upon reaching the suspected site, a battle
        ensued during which the LTTE killed one policeman (Piyantha
        Perera) and the rest of the security forces fled. No LTTE
        fighters were harmed.

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)