LTTE Headquarters,
                                                Tamil Eelam.
                                                05. March 1997


PRESS RELEASE
NEWS FROM TAMIL EELAM

PADAVIYA ARMY POST ATTACKED
	Five Sri Lankan soldiers were killed yesterday when the LTTE
	simultaneously attacked an army post and a roadblock at Padaviya,
	east of Vavuniya. Sri Lankan troops fled from the scene without
	resistance leaving the dead behind. The LTTE suffered no
	casualities and captured rifles, pistols and other accessories.
	The Padaviya positions attacked were part of a string of army
	camps strategically placed by Sri Lanka to create a physical
	barrier between northern Tamil territories and eastern ones.
	Tamils of the area had been forcibly evicted and Sinhala colonies
	installed in their place so that the Tamil nation's historical
	homeland would be obscured. Sri Lanka has implemented a policy of
	Sinhala colonisation for decades.

STF MOLEST AND KILL ROUTINELY
	Sri Lanka's 'elite' STF forces are committing human rights
	violations against Tamil civilians on a regular basis. Batticaloa
	is the worst-affected area where the Special Task Force is widely
	perceived as marauding criminals. Molestation of women and young
	girls in commonplace and random shooting incidents occur
	frequently. Relations with Tamil civilians are deteriorating
	quickly. Last week armed soldiers manning Padirruppu bridge
	started frenziedly beating up passers-by. When startled onlookers
	tried to run away they were fired upon. Five people were
	hospitalised following bullet injuries.

WOMEN ARRESTED FOR CARRYING MEDICINE
	Two Tamil women have been arrested by Sri Lankan troops for
	trying to take medicines into the Tamil Vanni region. The two
	women were stopped at the dreaded Thandikulam military checkpoint
	- gateway to the Vanni - after soldiers searched their vegetable
	baskets and found medicines. Sri Lanka has in place a medical
	embargo to Tamil areas not under army rule. Even though Tamils
	living in Vanni depend on medical supplies from outside, the
	government has cut off all routes for receiving them. The health
	situation in Vanni has become so desperate that people - like
	these two women - are driven to take extreme risks to get
	medicines to their people across military checkpoints.  The
	medical ban remains a military tactic hoped to diminish the Tamil
	population through illness and break their resistance to military
	occupation. The fate of the two women in military custody,
	meanwhile, looks bleak.

TROOPS FIRE BLINDLY IN MIDDAY MADNESS
	Sri Lankan soldiers manning a number of sentry points in
	Batticaloa opened fire randomly for no apparent reason last week.
	The moment of madness lasted 45 minutes during which time the
	local Tamil poplation shut their shops, stopped their journeys
	and returned to their homes.

TAMIL EELAM BUS SERVICE EXTENDS TO MULLAITIVU
	The LTTE administration has set up a bus service linking
	Mullaitivu to the rest of Tamil Vanni. The buses will run twice a
	day and will pass through Puthukudiyiruppu, Kumulamunnai,
	Pokkanai and Maththalan. Mullaitivu, which was just recently
	restored to LTTE control, is finally getting back on its feet
	again after years of army neglect.

SPORTS FESTIVAL FOR ORPHANS TAKES PLACE IN VANNI
	The annual sports meet for children whose parents have been
	killed by Sri Lankan forces has taken place in Kantharupan sports
	ground (in Tamil Vanni). Mr Ramesappa, head of the Kantharupan
	education centre, presided over the LTTE-sponsored event. While
	the people of Vanni are facing tremendous difficulties due to Sri
	Lanka's harsh embargoes their spirit of freedom remains
	indestructible.

NEW LIBRARY FOR MULLAITIVU
	A new library has been opened in Visvamadhu (Mullaitivu) stocking
	thousands of books in English and Tamil. The library was shifted
	from its former location at Kondavil (Jaffna) when Sri Lankan
	military forces occupied Jaffna one and a half years ago. The
	books were quickly dismantled and transported to Vanni which
	remains LTTE-administered.    

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)