Frederica Jansz in Colombo, 7 p.m. SLT Thursday April 27. Armed with knives, cudgels and sticks an angry mob of villagers in the Kuliyapitiya area in Sri Lanka's northwestern province shouted for revenge for the death of soldiers at Elephant Pass and threatened a group of fifty youth who were in the area on a government sponsored cultural affairs program to promote ethnic harmony.

The incident took place yesterday April 26, soon after the arrival of the governor for the northwestern province at the cultural event.

The youth comprising mostly of Tamil girls and boys and a few Muslims selected from the Batticaloa and Ampara districts had to be provided with police security and sent back to the East when the mob turned nasty shouting they were angered by the fall of Sri Lanka Army bases at Elephant Pass.

The program called 'North-South Bridge' was initiated and sponsored by the National Youth Services Council (NYSC) of the Ministry for Youth Affairs to take part in a program called 'North-South bridge'. The program is being promoted with a view to creating an understanding between all ethnic communities.

Unconfirmed reports say that the bodies of several soldiers from the area killed when the Tigers overran the Elephant Pass base had arrived that day from the north.

Frederica Jansz in Colombo, 11.30 a.m. SLT Thursday April 27 . The Voice of Tigers (VoT) in its night news broadcast yesterday said the LTTE is adavancing on Pallai. The radio broadcast also asked civilians living in villages between Pallai and Kodikamam to move out to safer areas. The LTTE radio transmission also asked civilians living within this area to stay away from Sri Lanka Army camps.

The clandestine radio broadcast said the LTTE is advancing from its consolidated positions in Soranpattu, Iyakkachchi and Elephant Pass.

Frederica Jansz in Colombo, 11.40 A. M. SLT Thursday April 27. Opposition Chief Whip W J M Lokubandara has been quoted as saying the United National Party (UNP) will bring in a no-confidence motion against the Government if the PA does not summon an emergency session of Parliament to discuss the emergency situation in the country.

Lokubandara says "If the government does not want to accede to our request for an emergency session we will resort to other measures. We will bring a no-confidence motion against the government."

Meanwhile Leader of the House Ratnasiri Wickramanayake is to meet with Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremasinghe today in an attempt to persuade the UNP to reconsider its request for an emergency session of Parliament.

President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunge returned to the country today after being away since mid April to receive medical treatment abroad.

Frederica Jansz in Colombo, 1.20 p.m. SLT Thursday April 27. A Washington based group of activists has in a report stated that in Asia, Sri Lanka has been identified next to the Philippines and Malaysia as having the largest number of biodiversity hotspots which are at present facing serious threat due to human encroachment.

The report states that over 20 biodiversity areas in the Island face extinction as human habitats in such areas is growing at the rate of 1.8 percent per annum.

Frederica Jansz in Colombo, 4. p.m. SLT Thursday April 27. The United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHCR) at its 56th session in Geneva has called for all unofficial places of detention maintained by paramilitary organizations such as PLOTE and TELO to be dissolved.

The UNHCR has stated that the Sri Lankan Government has not implemented any of the UNHCR's nine recommendations to prevent enforced disappearances, or to bring the country to internationally accepted standards of human rights.