70,000 farmers affected in Paduvaankarai

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 May 2007, 20:34 GMT]

Around 17,000 acres of paddy cultivation in Batticaloa district were affected due to the recent military offensive in the district, a report released by the Agrarian Services Department, Batticaloa said. Eleven Agrarian divisions- Kiraa:n, Vaazhaichchea:nai, Ea'raavur, Thaanthaamalai, Vanthaa'rumoolai, Karadiya:naa'ru, Vellaave'li, Kokkaddichchoalai, Pazhukaamam, Aayiththiyamalai and Ma'ndapaththadi- were included in the study, officials said. 63,215 acres of land in Batticaloa district is cultivated during the main season and 31,480 acres for the secondary season. According to the 2006 statistics, 70,000 metric tons of paddy were produced during the main season and around 50,000 metric tons were produced in the secondary season.
Due to the present situation, more than 20,000 farmers were affected directly and around 50,000 agrarian workers who work under this sector lost their income. Besides, small-scale farmers who grow other crops, hunters and fresh water fishermen too were affected and lost their income, the report said.
Moreover, cattle breeders who milk 21,000 liter per day in Paduvaa:nkarai region and sell it to two milk collecting centers situated at Chiththaa'ndi and Kaavaththaimu:nai, too were affected.
The cattle either died or fled to jungles due to incessant shelling. The remaining cattle, were slaughtered by the Sri Lankan armed forces for meat. Furthermore, the armed forces took away the entire paddy stored by the farmers for future uses including sowing for the next seasons. They took away the big brass pots, pans, and electric fans too for their usage, sources said.
In the Vellaave'li Divisional Secretariat alone, 22 electric fans were removed. Besides, electric and electronic equipments including computers were taken away in the schools too, civil society sources said.

U.S. Trying to Identify Body Found in Iraq
By DAMIEN CAVE and JON ELSENMAHMUDIYA, Iraq, May 23

The American military is examining a body found in the Euphrates River today that the Iraqis believe is one of three American soldiers who were seized in an ambush on May 12. Four Americans and an Iraqi soldier were killed in the May 12 attack, and both armies have been searching since then for the missing soldiers.
Separately, nine American soldiers and marines were killed by roadside bombs and gun battles across Iraq on Tuesday, the military said today, bringing the American death toll in Iraq to 80 so far in May, compared with 104 in all of April, The Associated Press reported.
Iraqi police said the body found in the river today was clothed in an American military uniform, had a tattoo and had two bullet wounds to the head. It was spotted about 40 miles south of Baghdad in the small city of Mussayib, which is known as a haven for Sunni insurgents. The location was just south of the area where the missing soldiers’ unit operates.
Maj. Webster Wright, an American public affairs officer, confirmed that a body was found and was being examined, but he declined to say where the body was found or under what circumstances.
“We are in possession of the body,” Maj. Webster Wright, an American public affairs officer, said today. “We have not identified the body. We will give the truth to the families first.”
To limit the chance of rumors and information being sent back the United States, military bases in the area have been put on an Internet blackout, preventing e-mail messages from being sent from the area.
Al Abbas al-Fatlawi, 30, a resident of Mussayib, said he and others spotted the body floating in the river at around 10:30 a.m. and dragged it to shore. In addition to bullet wounds to the head, the body also appeared to have bullet wounds to the abdomen and marks on the back, he said. The residents notified the police, who turned over the body to the United States Army. The police said it did not appear to have been in the river for a long time, indicating that the kidnappers might still be in the area.
The three soldiers were seized after their patrol was ambushed in Mahmudiya, about 20 miles south of Baghdad.
The search for the missing soldiers continued today, with missions operating out of major bases in Mahmudiya and Yusifiya and smaller bases in the area. Since the May 12 attack, 4,000 American troops and 2,000 Iraqis have been searching for the missing soldiers around the clock.
Members of the 10th Mountain Division based in Mahmudiya have conducted at least five air assault operations in the last 24 hours, a battalion commander, Lt. Col. Robert Morschauser, said this afternoon. Though his troops were getting tired, he said, they would continue to search until all the missing are found.
In the dining hall at a forward operating base in Mahmudiya, American soldiers gathered around televisions, anxiously watching the latest cable news reports about the discovery of the body.
Pfc. Ryan McClymonds, 21, of Miami, Fla., said that if the body found in the river does prove to be one of the missing Americans, it would at least represent some progress in what has so far been a frustrating search.
“Something is better than nothing for the families,” Private McClymonds said. After several days chasing leads and coming up empty, he said, “If we find out it’s nothing, it hurts. We just want to give some comfort to the families.
“It’s just three guys — we should be able to find them. But we are having a really hard time.”
Violence continued across Iraq today. A suicide bomber wearing an explosive belt walked into a coffee shop in Mandali, 60 miles east of Baghdad, and blew himself up, killing 11 people and wounding 25 others, police said.
The American military said that the nine American deaths in separate incidents on Tuesday included seven soldiers and two Marines. Six of the soldiers were killed by roadside bombs, and the seventh was killed by small arms fire, the A.P. reported; of the Marines, the military said only that they were killed in combat operations in Anbar province.
Damien Cave reported from Mahmudiya and Jon Elsen from New York. An employee of The New York Times contributed from Babel.

Iraqi police: Body found in U.S. uniform
By RAVI NESSMAN, Associated Press Writer 2 hours, 6 minutes ago

BAGHDAD - Iraqi police found the body of a man who was wearing what appeared to be a U.S. military uniform and had a tattoo on his left hand floating in the Euphrates River south of Baghdad on Wednesday morning. One Iraqi official said the body was that of an American soldier. The man had been shot in the head and chest, Babil police Capt. Muthana Khalid said. He said Iraqi police turned the body over the U.S. forces.
The discovery of the body in Musayyib, about 40 miles south of Baghdad in Babil Province, came as U.S. troops and Iraqi forces continued their massive search for the three soldiers abducted May 12 in an ambush on their patrol near Mahmoudiya, about 20 miles south of Baghdad.
The U.S. military said in an e-mail that it was looking into the report, but could not confirm it.
The report of the body found was confirmed by a senior Iraqi army officer in the Babil area. He told The Associated Press that the body found in the river was that of an American soldier. The officer spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media.
In an interview with the Army Times newspaper last week, Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, said he believed at least two of the missing soldiers were alive.
"As of this morning, we thought there were at least two that were probably still alive," he said in the interview, which was posted on the newspaper's Web site on Saturday. "At one point in time there was a sense that one of them might have died, but again we just don't know."