LTTE Headquarters,
                                                Tamil Eelam.
                                                19. July 1997

PRESS RELEASE 
NEWS FROM TAMIL EELAM
                                           
4 TAMIL CIVILIANS KILLED, 6 INJURED IN ARMY SHELLING
	Sri Lankan troops have killed four Tamil civilians in intense
	shelling from army positions in occupied Nedunkerni. Artillery
	shells - launched at 11.30 Thursday night - were directed at the
	Tamil towns of Thatchadampan, Karipattamurippu and Olumadu. The
	civilians killed were all young people on their way back from a
	special pooja (religious) function at Thatchadampan Ganesha
	temple. They are: Periathamby Selvamalar (22) originally from
	Chulipuram (Jaffna) but later displaced; Selvarasa Janarthanan
	(13) from Kudaththanai (Jaffna), also recently displaced;
	Sinkaravelu Rakunathan (15) from Periapuliyankulam; and
	Sithamparampillai Vanniasinkam (18) also from Periapuliyankulam.
	All of them died instantly. Six others, between the ages 10 & 20
	(two of them sisters) are critically injured in hospital.
	Shelling is continuing at the time of this report.
	
...PANIC SPREADS AND PEOPLE FLEE FROM THE THREE TOWNS
	Civilians in the above-mentioned areas are running scared from
	the artillery assault, picking up whatever valuables they can and
	leaving the three targeted towns. Domestic cattle, dogs and other
	pets have had to be abandoned and are roaming the streets. Apart
	from these animals, the towns are now bare. The newly-displaced
	civilians are crowding towards already-overflowing Mallavi,
	Thunnakai and Pandiankulam. Sri Lanka's strategy is to unseat the
	Tamil population to serve its military strategy. This is a
	violation of the humanitarian law of armed conflict since
	civilians are the direct targets of Sri Lanka's military
	operations. Sri Lanka's military strategy is to make conditions
	unbearable in Vanni in order to force people to return to Jaffna,
	so that it can claim that people are backing the Sinhala military
	administration there. The international community should not be
	misled by this sinister and inhuman tactic. The rendering of half
	a million Tamils homeless, the application of a food-siege and
	the banning of the media to prevent these facts being reported,
	all point unambiguously to this strategy.
	
VOLUNTEER TEACHER GANG-RAPED BY SOLDIERS - JAFFNA
	A 20-year old volunteer teacher, Krishnapillai Santhirakala, was
	gang-raped by Sinhala soldiers as she walked from her workplace
	to her home in Karanavai (Vadamaradchy). This is a pattern
	emerging in army-occupied Tamil areas where local girls are
	brutally raped in retaliation for refusing marriage offers from
	members of the armed forces. Sri Lanka's commanding officers have
	not responded to local people's protests about such incidents.
	
'NOT WORTH TAKING NEW STUDENTS' - UNIVERSITY GOVERNORS
	Jaffna university's board of governors - and its vice-chancellor
	- have decided not to admit new medical students to the
	university since conditions in Jaffna are too abnormal for proper
	education to take place. The Jaffna university campus is
	presently under the iron grip of the Sinhala armed forces, and so
	too is the teaching hospital. Students are often afraid to
	venture into these areas. Meanwhile, nearly all the university's
	teachers and lecturers fled the peninsula when the Sinhala army
	of occupation arrived, and the handful of students here find it
	barely worth attending their courses under the present military
	dictatorship.
	
	
'34,000 CHILDREN IN VANNI ARE BEGGING ON THE STREETS'- GOVT. REP.
	Sri Lanka's Additional Government Agent for Kilinochchi, Mr.
	Rasanayagam, has admitted to a gathering of educationalists and
	the general public that 34,000 Tamil children in Vanni are either
	begging on the road or reduced to doing menial work for a
	pittance. School-life has been totally disrupted by the Sri
	Lankan government's ongoing military operations on the Tamil
	homeland.
	
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:0181- 503 4294)