Category: Politics

GENEVA, March 20, 2007 (AFP) – Some 95,000 people have fled fierce fighting in Sri Lanka’s eastern Batticaloa district in the past week, the UN food relief agency said Tuesday.World Food Programme spokesman Simon Pluess said the fighting between government forces and Tamil Tiger rebels in the area had triggered a “dramatically increased number of […]

Air attacks, land battles in Sri Lanka after ship sinkings ATTENTION – ADDS sabotage of electricity, new mine attack, air strikes /// March 19, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lankan troops and Tamil Tiger rebels have fought fierce land battles after government forces said they sank two ships smuggling weapons for the guerrillas, the defence ministry […]

March 18, 2007 (AFP) – A Sri Lankan defence official said the navy sank a ship of the eastern coast Sunday that was believed to be smuggling weapons for Tamil Tiger rebels.There have been increasing clashes between suspected Tamil Tiger ships and the Sri Lankan navy in recent months amid heavy fighting in the island’s […]

March 18, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s navy on Sunday sank two cargo vessels believed to be smuggling weapons and explosives for Tamil Tiger rebels, the defence ministry said. Sri Lankan naval craft shelled the first ship after it failed to stop for an inspection and opened fire on the navy, ministry spokesman Prasad Samarasinghe […]

WASHINGTON, March 16, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama on Friday sought international help to prod Tamil Tiger rebels waging a battle for a separate homeland to return to the negotiating table. “The international community should once again seek to prevail upon the LTTE to return to the negotiations and to negotiate […]

March 17, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lankan police arrested on Saturday a government legislator who had accused his own ruling party of striking a secret deal with Tamil Tiger rebels, an official said. . Lawmaker Sripathi Sooriarachchi was arrested and taken before a magistrate who remanded him to judicial custody for two weeks, a police […]

COLOMBO, March 17, 2007 (AFP) – Government troops and Tiger rebels traded artillery attacks in northern Sri Lanka Saturday as the overnight toll rose to at least six soldiers and a rebel killed, officials said.More than 4,000 people have been killed in a new wave of fighting since December 2005 despite a truce that has […]

COLOMBO, March 16, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lankan troops Friday shot dead a suspected Tamil Tiger rebel suicide bomber in the northern district of Jaffna, the defence ministry said.Army personnel had come across the suspected guerrilla wearing a jacket packed with explosives while manning a road block at Savalkattu junction around Friday afternoon. The suspect […]

Mar 16, 2007 (LBO) – The ruling has party has sacked rebel parliamentarian Mangala Samaraweera from the leadership of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) in his home district of Matara in southern Sri Lanka an official said. General Secretary Maithripala Sirisena told LBO that the decision taken yesterday was unanimous and Dulles Alahapperuma has […]

WASHINGTON, March 14, 2007 (AFP) – Constitutional reforms aimed at ending three decades of ethnic bloodshed in Sri Lanka could be finalized as early as next next month, Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama said here Wednesday. “We are expecting it to be by April, the political process to come up with definite proposals for a political […]

March 13, 2007 (AFP) – Eight suspected Tamil Tiger rebels were killed in strikes by Sri Lanka warplanes as part of a military offensive in the eastern Batticaloa district, the defence ministry said Tuesday. More than 4,000 people have been killed amid an upsurge in fighting since December 2005, despite the two sides agreeing to […]

March 13, 2007 (AFP) – A top Sri Lankan defence source warned Tuesday the current military campaign against the Tiger rebels could take up to three years as warplanes bombed rebel positions for a second day.There have been no comments from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which have been fighting for an independent […]