LTTE Headquarters,
                                                Tamil Eelam.
                                                07. June 1997

PRESS RELEASE
NEWS FROM TAMIL EELAM                                           
                                                
ONLY 12 PERCENT OF FOOD IS PERMITTED INTO MULLAITIVU
	The Sri Lankan military operating a food-siege on the Vanni has
	so far allowed only 54 lorry loads of food to pass through to
	Mullaitivu, admitted the district's government officials.  The
	food allowed into the district is only a tiny proportion of the
	food requirement. Taking into account the massive inflow of
	displaced persons into the district the actual food requirements
	are in the region of 384 lorry loads per month for Mullaitivu. 
	The district's government officials have said that with the
	existing acute shortage of food they cannot supply cooked food to
	the displaced Tamil refugees for more than another two or three
	days.
	
ARMY ATROCITIES ON TAMIL WOMEN ON THE INCREASE
- WOMEN'S ORGANISATIONS PROTEST
	40 womens organisations from Batticaloa and Trincomalee districts
	have jointly written to the woman president of Sri Lanka
	protesting the rise in army atrocities on women in the East.  The
	district's Muslim women's congress has taken the lead in the
	angry outrage directed at the president. The letter states that
	abductions and rapes of Tamil women have increased many fold in
	recent times and Sri Lanka's armed forces including the police
	are guilty of the offences.  Few days ago policemen attached to
	the Amparai Central Camp police station raped a Tamil mother of
	four children. They then killed her by exploding a grenade placed
	on her genitals to destroy all evidence of rape. The police
	department now says that she was killed in a crossfire.
	
STF POISONS TAMIL WOMEN IN CUSTODY
	One woman has died and 3 women are fighting for their life in a
	hospital in Sammanthurai after Sri Lanka's Special Task Forces
	(STF) force-fed poison to them while in custody. The dead woman's
	name is Pavani.  The STF had earlier arrested the 4 women from
	their homes in their village (15th Colony).  The force-feeding of
	dangerous substances to Tamils held in custody has now become a
	common practice among Sinhala armed forces operating in the East.
	The armed forces operating the so called 'welfare centres' in
	Vavuniya are also known to be forcing Tamil women inmates to take
	inappropriately large dozes of contraceptive pills to induce
	permanent sterility.
	
HOMES RANSACKED IN ARMY ROUNDUP
	Sri Lankan armed forces in occupied Jaffna ransacked Tamil homes
	on Sunday and took away many Tamils in a massive round of
	Valigamam west. Further details are awaited. The towns affected
	were Chankanai, Nitchamam, Piranpattu, Pandaterruppu, and
	Thottilady.

ANOTHER NEW BUS STAND OPENED
	Tamil Eelam's Transport service has opened a new bus stand in
	Puthukudiyiruppu. At the opening ceremony of the bus stand at
	Oddusuddan road, Mr Semmalai chief of Mullaitivu administrative
	district hoisted the Tamil Eelam national flag and school
	children from Puthukudiyiruppu Maha Vidyalayam sang the Tamil
	Eelam national anthem.
	
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 / Fax: 0181-470 8593)