Category: Politics

JAFFNA, Sri Lanka, Dec 2, 2007 (AFP) – The air force pilot takes no chances landing on the Jaffna peninsula, the northern tip of Sri Lanka held by the government but cut off from the south by Tamil Tiger rebel territory. . Descending fast from over the Indian Ocean, the Russian-made transport plane banks hard, […]

Dec 1, 2007 (AFP) – At least 27 people were killed in fresh fighting in Sri Lanka’s embattled northeast, the military said on Saturday, marking the latest violence in the long-running ethnic conflict.At least 11 Tamil Tiger rebels were killed and 49 injured in heavy clashes across northern defence lines in Mannar early on Saturday, […]

TOKYO, Nov 29, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse has vowed to “wipe out terrorists” amid fears of a return to all-out war with the Tamil Tiger rebels, a newspaper said Thursday.“We put pressure on the group to give up its arms and enter the political mainstream. Terrorists must be wiped out from […]

UNITED NATIONS, Nov 28, 2007 (AFP) – UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday condemned the latest suicide bombing in Sri Lanka and called for an end to the violence, his press office said in a statement.Officials blamed both attacks on Tamil Tiger rebels, who have been fighting for an independent Tamil homeland for 35 years, […]

Nov 29, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lankan forces threw a security blanket over the capital Colombo on Thursday and appealed for extra public vigilance a day after twin bomb attacks left 19 people dead and 45 injured, police said.“There is a general security alert across Colombo,” police spokesman Jayantha Wickremaratna said. Officials have blamed the […]

Nov 29, 2007 (LBO) – The European Union Thursday said it condemns the terrorist attacks in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo in which at least 18 people were killed. . But an EU statement released by the British High Commission did not name the perpetrators of the attacks whom the island government has identified as […]

Nov 28, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka appears set to slide back into full-scale war with both the Tamil Tigers and the government washing their hands of a tattered truce, analysts and diplomats say.In an annual policy speech broadcast Tuesday from the rebel-held north of the island, Tamil Tiger supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran said trying to […]

Nov 28, 2007 (LBO) – A female Tamil Tiger suicide bomber blew herself up Wednesday morning in front of the office of a minority Tamil political party in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo, the Defence Ministry said. It gave no other details. The blast came a day after a speech by Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran […]

Nov 28, 2007 (LBO) – A female suicide bomber blew herself up in the Sri Lankan capital on Wednesday, wounding at least three security men outside a minister’s office, the AFP news agency quoted police as saying. The bomber tried to enter the heavily guarded building housing the offices of welfare and social development minister […]

Nov 28, 2007 (AFP) – A disabled Tamil Tiger suicide bomber with explosives hidden in her bra blew herself up outside the office of a Tamil minister Wednesday, killing his secretary, the Sri Lankan military said. Two men from the minister’s security staff were also wounded in the blast, one seriously, Colombo national hospital spokeswoman […]

Nov 28, 2007 (LBO) – An explosion ripped through a suburb south of the Sri Lanka capital Colombo shortly before 6.00 pm local time, residents said. The explosion occurred at a busy shopping district in the Nugegoda area. Earlier in the day a suspected Tamil Tiger suicide bomber blew herself up near the office of […]

Nov 28, 2007 (LBO) – At least 16 people were killed and 37 wounded in a bomb blast in a crowded shopping district in a suburb south of the Sri Lankan capital Colombo Wednesday evening, police and hospital officials said. The attack, which the Defence Ministry said was carried out by the Tamil Tigers, occurred […]