Sri Lankan soldiers involved themselves in yet another Hindu temple festival in Jaffna this week, as the military continued to bear a heavy presence in civilian life in the Tamil North-East.

At the chariot festival of the Sri Gnana Durga Amman temple in Thenmaradchi, in the Jaffna district on Wednesday, troops from the 52nd battalion of the Sri Lankan military were seen pulling the chariot.

The Government of Sri Lanka and the World Bank signed agreed a $55 million loan to Sri Lanka to improve urban services, preserve cultural and environment assets and improve liability in Jaffna said the World Bank in a press release yesterday.

 The credit will add development of rapidly urbanising Jaffna to the existing Strategic Cities Development Project (SCDP) added the statement.

The World Bank Senior Urban Development Specialist and Task Team Leader of the project Zhiyu Jerry Chen, said,

Norway, together with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on Thursday signed an agreement to extend the country's support to resettled families in North-East, including "improving access to justice".

Trincomalee and Jaffna districts were highlighted as areas of need, with particular reference to Tellipalai and Sampoor.

UNDP Sri Lanka, with support of the Government of Norway, will strengthen its work on improving access to justice and livelihood opportunities of the recently resettled communities in the district.

Sinhala Buddhist monks, accompanied by Sri Lankan police and Sinhalese fishermen, threatened a group of Tamil fishermen in Mullaitivu on Tuesday, as tensions continued to flare in the region between the two groups.

The Tamil fishermen, who were setting up to dry their daily catch in Kokkilai, were approached by a group of Sinhalese fishermen on Tuesday. Accompanied by a local Buddhist monk and Sri Lankan police officers, the Sinhalese group proceeded to threaten the Tamils and destroying their equipment they said.

Inmates at Jaffna prison have launched a hunger strike this morning, according to latest reports.

At least 18 inmates are reported to have joined the hunger strike, with reports that an even larger number had commenced the protest this morning.

Daily Mirror and Adaderana report police officials as stating that the prisoners involved in the protest are being held on drug smuggling charges.