LTTE Headquarters,
                                                Tamil Eelam.
                                                19. June 1997

PRESS RELEASE
NEWS FROM TAMIL EELAM
                                           
GOVT. ASSURANCES OF FOOD RELIEF PROVED FALSE
	Public government statements of food being graciously sent to the
	starving people of Vanni are elaborate deceptions. As many as
	2000 Tamil families displaced by the government's Jaya Sikuru
	operation are still left stranded without food. The situation is
	so severe that Kilinochchi's confederation of multi-purpose co-op
	societies - i.e., those responsible for local food distribution -
	has made a fervent appeal to the area's government representative
	to provide at least one week's rations for the displaced and
	desperate population. Up to 7099 families from Omanthai,
	Puliyankulam, Nedunkerni and Oddusuddan were made homeless by
	Jaya Sikuru. 5099 of these families were so far provided with the
	bare minimum to survive. The remaining 2000 families - which
	includes thousands of children - have seen nothing.
	
	The government is playing a dangerous game. Its promises
	regarding food have repeatedly failed to materialise. Verbal
	statements alone cannot feed a desperate population. A pattern is
	emerging whereby the government merely gives assurances and then
	sits on them until the matter is again brought up, while the
	condition of the civilian population progressively worsens.
	
	If our version of events is in doubt, we challenge the government
	to allow the western media to the war theatre to witness for
	themselves the inhumanity being wrought upon the Tamil people.
	The Chandrika-administration's ban on journalists has been in
	place for two years.
	
SINHALA FORCES SHELL MANAL ARU TAMIL VILLAGES EVERY NIGHT
	Nightly shelling from Sri Lanka's army camp at Mankindimalai
	(Manal Aru) has maimed a Tamil man, Thirunavukarasau Ravindran
	(31) in Kannukerni. He has been rushed to Puthukudiyiruppu
	hospital where he is said to be critical.

SRI LANKAN TROOP CASUALTIES REACH ALL-TIME HIGH
	The advanced military capability of the LTTE was evidenced yet
	again when its forces intercepted and yesterday killed 27 Sri
	Lankan troopers attached to the Pulmoddai camp. The soldiers were
	patrolling towards 14th Mile Post. 6 LTTE fighters died. The
	attack - which lasted 25 minutes - came just days after 15 Sri
	Lankan troops and 4 armed homeguards were killed. A week before
	that, 325 Sri Lankan soldiers were killed at Thandikulam. The
	LTTE is trying to evict Sinhala armed forces who are militarily
	occupying Tamil-inhabited lands.
	
	Under the Chandrika-government, the rate of Sri Lankan troop
	casualties has reached unprecedented levels.

	
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)