Category: Politics

COLOMBO, March 24, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lankan troops and Tamil Tiger rebels were locked in intense battles in the island’s northeast on Saturday, for a second straight day, as both sides reported heavy casualties. The defence ministry placed its losses at nine soldiers killed and 45 hospitalised while military sources listed another 45 troopers […]

COLOMBO, March 23, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lankan troops advanced into an area held by the Tamil Tiger rebels, shifting the battle lines to the island’s north, the military said Friday, as they announced they had killed 13 rebels. Heavily armed soldiers “neutralised” a threat from the Tiger guerrillas on the de facto border with […]

COLOMBO, March 23, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lankan troops shot dead at least 13 Tamil Tiger rebels who tried to attack military positions in the island’s north, the defence ministry said Friday. More than 4,000 people have been killed in a new wave of fighting in Sri Lanka since December 2005. The violence comes despite […]

COLOMBO, March 22, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lankan troops were engaged in clearing operations on Thursday, the day after simultaneous Tamil Tiger guerrilla attacks left at least 20 people dead and dozens more wounded, officials said. Fighting on Wednesday in the eastern district of Batticaloa and Muhamalai in the north of the war-torn island claimed […]

Mar 22, 2007 (LBO) – The arrest of a journalist who was held without charge for four months and released today, underscored the threat to media freedom from Sri Lanka’s counter terrorism laws, a media rights body said. “We note with deep regret that because of these baseless public allegations the family and friends of […]

NEW DELHI, India, March 22, 2007 (AFP) – World powers including the United States, the European Union and China will send representatives for the first time to a South Asian summit, the Indian foreign ministry said on Thursday. The summit next week will focus on enhancing economic cooperation among members, she said. Bangladesh played host […]

LONDON, March 20, 2007 (AFP) – Somalia has overtaken Iraq as the world’s most dangerous country for minority groups, a report from a leading human rights group said Tuesday.The research, from Minority Rights Group International (MRG), placed Somalia first, Iraq second and Sudan third in its “Peoples Under Threat” list. Although Afghanistan came fourth and […]

COLOMBO, March 21, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lankan troops and Tiger rebels fought a pitched battle in the island’s restive east Wednesday, killing at least 12 from both sides and wounding more than 30, military officials said. The rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) launched a pre-dawn mortar attack on an army camp at […]

COLOMBO, March 21, 2007 (AFP) – Tiger rebels on Wednesday fought pitched battles with troops in Sri Lanka while war planes bombed guerrilla positions, the military said, placing the death toll from both sides at 18. Troops and the Tamil Tigers were locked in fierce mortar and artillery duels for five hours in the east […]

March 21, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka Wednesday rejected any foreign scrutiny of its human rights record amid growing international criticism of extra-judicial killings, abductions and the recruitment of child soldiers.More than 4,000 people have been killed in the latest wave of fighting despite a truce agreed in February 2002.Government spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella said Colombo […]

March 21, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s air force is considering buying MiG-29 jet fighters to replace its ageing fleet of supersonic aircraft, the top air force officer said Wednesday. Commander Roshan Goonetileke said Sri Lanka was looking at the 1977 Soviet vintage MiG-29 combat aircraft, refurbished in the Ukraine, to replace Sri Lanka’s fleet […]

COLOMBO, March 20, 2007 (AFP) – Government troops destroyed four boats believed to be carrying Tamil Tiger guerrillas in northern Sri Lanka, the defence ministry said Tuesday, as one civilian was shot dead in other violence.Troops attacked four suspected Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) boats off the Jaffna peninsula around midnight Monday, the ministry […]