Further north in Vavuniya, the Tigers attacked the Army at Cheddikulam on 12 November, killing a soldier. On 18 November, the Army attempted to advance north of Omanthai through Vilakkuvaithakulam. In the fighting that ensued, four soldiers and four Tigers were killed. The Army say six soldiers are missing after the fighting.
Vavuniya people fear that the dreaded white vans of military death squads have returned. Five civilians are reported abducted in white vans. Vavuniya trader Kandasamy Karunakaran was abducted by unidentified gunmen in a white van on 17 November, taken to Colombo and detained. He managed to escape after five days and has reported his ordeal to the police in Vavuniya.
Meanwhile, complaints have been made to the Human Rights Commission that 18 people, 14 of whom were arrested by security forces in November including 13 year-old S Thileepan, are missing. Five were from Vepankulam and Poonthottam refugee camps.
Shortage of medicines plagues the Vanni region, where thousands of refugees continue to suffer. At a meeting in Colombo on 12 November, TULF MPs told Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake that despite approval of the Defence Ministry, Army officers have refused to allow medicines for two quarters of 2000 into the Vanni and are holding them at Vavuniya.
Medical officers in Mallavi hospital in Mullaitivu District say 95% of the medicine stock is exhausted. Vitamins, antibiotics, drugs for diabetes and heart disease, anti-rabies vaccine and dressing are not available. In mid-November, the Army introduced new restrictions on people travelling into the Vanni from Vavuniya. Henceforth, each person will be allowed to carry only two small parcels of food or any other material.