Ferial could have been target

Minister Ferial Ashraff had just passed through the area where an explosion had occurred in Ampara. The Minister was safe.

UPDATES:
At least 7 people were believed dead and 30 injured following the blast near the City Café Inn in Ampara this evening.

Explosion reported in Ampara Town

A Large explosion took place in Ampara town short while ago, sources said.

According to the available information a bomb has been exploded around 5.45 p.m near the "New City Cafe" hotel in Ampara town.

More information will follow.

Sri Lanka Army captures Adampan Town

Sri Lanka Government troops fighting against Tamil Tigers on the Mannar front, captured Adampan town area this morning from the Tamil Tigers, defence sources said.

Government troops captured Adampan tank and two square km of ground area South of Adampan today. Army conducted operations from yesterday morning and captured the area.
At least 15 Tiger cadres were killed in hours long fighting erupted between security forces and the Tamil Tigers in the area, Media Center for National Security (MCNS) said.

It was reported that two army soldiers died while 7 others suffered injuries, MCNS further said.
Defence sources further revealed, Army liberated about 2 square kilometers area, lies between the Neelachcheana road and the dam of the Adampan tank, in the South of Adampan town.

UNP Trying to Hand-over East to Tigers Again, Says Minister Susil Premajayanatha

Minister Susil Premajayantha in charge of the election campaign for the UPFA told News-Lanka that all things point to a great victory for the people of the East who are determined not to hand over the East to the Tigers again. They reacted well to the President's call to go ahead with the liberation of the East and enter the democratic process. The people will hand a crushing defeat to those trying to bring back the Tigers to the Eastern Province again, he said.

Minister Premajayantha along with Minister Ameer Ali Sihabdeen and SLM Hisbullah participated in an election meeting in Oddamavadi. Subsequently, they had a press conference at the Batticaloa Town Hall. Chanthirakanthan alias Pilliyan, Minister Ameer Ali Sihabdeen, SLM Hisbullah, Pradeep Master and Pirabakaran Sivakeertha, Mayor of Batticaloa participated in the press conference.

Lands Confiscated by Tigers will be Given Back to Muslims, Pilliyan

Sivanesathurai Chanthirakanthan alias Pilliayan, leader of the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal told the News-anka all communities-Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims were determined to work together. He assured everyone that if elected as Chief Minister he would work closely with everyone. "I will solve the issues relating to land which the Muslims are perturbed. I have already listened to the grievances of the Sinhalese from the Mangalagama village when a group led by Ven Sobitha thera met me. We will work with the leaders of the Muslim community in the east and solve the land problem confronting the Muslims and Tamils in the Eastern Province, mainly in the Batticaloa

Pilliayan speaking to Media said that hundreds of acres of land mainly belonging to the Muslims in the east were taken over by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam who right from the very beginning considered Muslims as their No. 1 enemy. I will settle this problem once and for all, he said

This is the text of his interview with News-Lanka:
In the nineties Vanni Tigers gave two hours notice to quit to the Muslims in the Jaffna districts in particular and the Muslims in the Northern Province in general and chased them out of the Northern Province. Still these Muslims, more than 100,000 of them are languishing as refugees majority of them in the Puttalam district.

Similarly after the Indian Peace Keeping Forces left Sri Lanka LTTE occupied the Eastern Province and was involved in the massacre of Muslims in the East and also forcefully acquiring the lands belonging to them.

Pillaiyan said after he took over the leadership he took measures to register Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal as a political party so that members could enter the democratic mainstream and lead the Eastern province to a new dawn.

Pilliayan further said that if he is elected as the Chef Minister of the Eastern Provincial Council, he has two urgent agendas to fulfill. One is to provide opportunities for the youths in the East so that they may be able to organize their livelihood.

The other equally important agenda is to establish peace and harmony by establishing cordial relationship amongst Tamils, Muslims and the Sinhalese communities living in the East.
With the view to establish brotherly relationship with the Muslims of the East, he said he will work very closely with the Muslim leaders of the East such as Ameer Ali Sihabdeen, M.L.M. Hisbullah , (Mrs.) Ferial Ashraff, A. L. M. Athaullah, M. N. Abdul Majeed, Ameer Ali Sihabdeen, Basheer Cegu Dawood, S. Nijamudeen, M. M. Musthapha and also with Minister Abdul Risath Bathiyutheen.

Pilliyan said with the guidance and advise of the Muslim leaders of the east he will come forward to immediately settle the land issue of the Muslims in the East in general and of the Batticaloa district in particular.

Tigers sought C$ 3 million from Canada

RCMP counterterrorism investigators in Toronto have seized a letter signed by the leader of the LTTE directing Canadian Tamils to send him $3-million, according to police files released yesterday by the Federal Court.

The leader's letter, found during a search of the Toronto office of the World Tamil Movement, discusses the need to "intensify the struggle" and ensure that Tamils are "strong enough" to fight "with our full breath," according to the newly unsealed files.

Velupillai Prabhakaran adds that he looks "forward to receiving substantial contribution from the displaced people of Tamil Eelam" and advises the "Canadian office" to provide 15 of the 100 "crores" he needs. A crore is the equivalent of just over $200,000.

The RCMP cited the 2002 letter as evidence the WTM is the "Canadian branch" of the Tigers, a rebel group fighting a war against Sri Lankan government forces.

Also known as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, or LTTE, the Tigers are an outlawed terrorist group in Canada because of tactics that include suicide bombings and political killings.
The solicitation from Prabhakaran is contained in hundreds of pages of materials the RCMP took to a Federal Court judge last month as part of an application to seize the WTM's bank accounts. The judge approved the seizures.

The documents remained sealed until yesterday, although some parts remain blacked out. Last Friday, the courts released documents concerning a related investigation into the WTM office in Montreal.

The documents detailing the Montreal and Toronto terrorist financing investigations (some of which were revealed in the National Post on Saturday and Monday) provide the first indication the Canadian Tamil groups serve as "foreign branches" of the Tigers, police claim. The documents also spell out the money trail, showing how the WTM has collected hundreds of thousands of dollars in Quebec and Ontario and shipped it overseas, allegedly to pay for arms and other materials for the Tamil independence struggle - although WTM officials deny the claims and no charges have been laid.