LTTE Headquarters,
                                                Tamil Eelam.
                                                08. June 1997

PRESS RELEASE
NEWS FROM TAMIL EELAM                                           
                                                
JAFFNA BUS DRIVERS HOLD ONE-DAY STRIKE
        Bus drivers in military-occupied Jaffna staged a one-day strike
        on Wednesday to protest against routine army harassment by Sri
        Lankan forces. The lightening strike was called after a Tamil
        driver was badly assaulted the previous day by Sinhala soldiers.
        They had stopped the man's bus, pulled him out of the vehicle and
        beat him senseless. A number of Tamil passengers, too, were
        assaulted. The strikers pointed out that unprovoked attacks on
        bus employees and passengers continued with impunity. Countless
        assurances in the past by the military to curb these abuses have
        proved synthetic and have come to nothing.
        
TERRORISING OF TAMIL CIVILIANS CONTINUES
        Mannar: Mortar and artillery shells launched by Sri Lanka from
        Thalladay onto Mannar's mainland have wreaked widespread damage
        in an all-too-familiar pattern. Houses have been knocked down,
        Tamil people displaced and their cattle slaughtered. Meanwhile,
        Sri Lankan navy gunboats continue to spread panic among Tamil
        residents with repeated cannonfire aimed at coastal towns.
        
        Puliyankulam: Residential areas came under sustained attack when
        Sri Lankan Kfirs dropped powerful bombs and Sri Lankan artillery
        shells inflicted heavy damage on the town. Most people avoided
        injury by fleeing in time. However, they now join the ranks of
        the displaced, a category which is expanding by the hour.
        
        Manal Aru (Weli Oya): Tamil civilians fled to safety Friday as
        artillery rained down on them at 2 in the morning, causing heavy
        damage to trees and property. The towns most affected by the
        shelling are Koddiawatha, Murippu and Poothan Vayal.
        
SINHALA SOLDIERS SPY ON WOMEN IN JAFFNA
        Tamil women in Jaffna are having to face the indignity of being
        watched as they bathe or attend the lavatory. Armed Sinhala
        soldiers position themselves in places where they can see girls
        and women performing their daily functions. The women are
        powerless to prevent this. By an earlier army ruling all fences,
        walls and trees around Jaffna's houses had to be removed,
        ostensibly for security reasons. But Sinhala soldiers are using
        this new exposed environment to pursue vulgar sexual kicks.
        
MORE WOMEN JOIN TAMIL FREEDOM FIGHT
        The influx of new female recruits to the LTTE is on the rise.
        Those joining highlight the violent sexual offences committed by
        Sinhala troops against Tamil women and pledge their determination
        to free the Tamil homeland from armed forces of the Sinhala
        nation. In their view, while Sinhala troops remain these abuses
        will never end. The LTTE, they say, is the only means of securing
        for Tamil women the freedom to live without fear.
        
15 TAMILS FAMILIES KICKED OUT OF THEIR HOMES
        Fifteen Tamil families who have lived in Akkaraipattu
        (occupied-Batticaloa) for the last 25 years have been ordered by
        a Sri Lankan court to leave immediately. The decision forms part
        of a well-established pattern of taking over Tamil lands, driving
        the people out and making the area available to Sinhala settlers.
        Sri Lanka is determined to obscure the territorial integrity of
        the Tamil homeland.
        
JAFFNA CAUSEWAY OUT OF BOUNDS TO TAMILS
        Jaffna's key Ponnalai causeway - which connects Karainagar to
        Vaddukoddai - is a no-go area for local Tamils. People now must
        travel through an awkward and lengthy route via Kayts. The
        assurance from the Sinhala army that Tamil civilians may travel
        across the causeway once a week has proved untrue. The causeway
        is not available to Tamils at all.
	
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)