Category: Politics

COLOMBO, March 12, 2007 (AFP) – Six people died in fresh clashes between government troops and Tamil Tiger rebels in Sri Lanka’s embattled north and east, the military said Monday as aid groups warned of a refugee crisis. Suspected Tiger rebels set off a roadside bomb that killed a government security guard in the north […]

March 11, 2007 (AFP) – The founder of the French charity Medecins Sans Frontiers, who has worked in over a dozen war zones, says there is no quick fix to Sri Lanka’s current killing spree — his latest human rights challenge. Bernard Kouchner, 67, a former French minister who co-founded MSF (Doctors without Borders) in […]

March 11, 2007 (AFP) – More than 40,000 civilians have fled their homes in eastern Sri Lanka in recent days amid renewed clashes between troops and Tamil Tiger rebels that have left 33 dead, both sides said Sunday.More than 4,000 people have been killed amid an upsurge in fighting since December 2005, despite the two […]

March 11, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s president Sunday chided his top police officers over a new wave of “execution-style” killings and demanded immediate action to end a climate of terror.President Mahinda Rajapakse expected “responsible intervention” by the police to stem a wave of killings, abductions and extortion rackets, some of which have been linked […]

March 10, 2007 (AFP) – Suspected Tamil Tiger rebels shot dead four security personnel and four park officials inside a wildlife sanctuary as fighting escalated elsewhere on the island, the military said Saturday.More than 4,000 people have been killed in escalating fighting since December 2005 even though the two sides agreed to a truce five […]

COLOMBO, March 10, 2007 (AFP) – The United States expressed concern Friday over Sri Lanka’s human rights record as activists stepped up pressure over a spate of abductions and disappearances. Visiting ambassador Steven Mann, principal deputy assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asian Affairs, urged President Mahinda Rajapakse to address the issue during […]

March 8, 2007 (AFP) – Thousands of Sri Lankan government troops have begun advancing towards a strategic Tamil Tiger rebel jungle base in the island’s restive east, military sources said Thursday. More than 4,000 people have been killed in escalating fighting since December 2005. Troops backed by artillery and multi-barrel rocket fire were advancing towards […]

COLOMBO, March 7, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s military will probe charities for alleged links with Tamil Tiger rebels, defence spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella said Wednesday.The government has accused foreign and local non-government organisations (NGOs) working in the embattled north and east provinces of helping the Tigers with logistics, a claim the charities deny. “The defence […]

March, 06 (LBO) – Five burnt bodies have been discovered in the north central Sri Lankan district of Anuradhapura, police said Tuesday. Tirappane police said the bodies were found near the village of Thuruvila in the Anuradhapura district. Anuradhapura is more than 200 kilometres away from Colombo in the north central province of Sri Lanka. […]

COLOMBO, March 6, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s police admitted Tuesday that its own security personnel have been involved in kidnappings for ransom and vowed to crack down on mounting abductions and killings of civilians. Colombo also faced censure over the killing of 17 local employees of a French charity in August. Scandinavian monitors blamed […]

March 3, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka is stepping up security for diplomats following a Tamil rebel attack against a helicopter in which envoys were travelling, the foreign ministry said Saturday. The ambassadors of Italy and the United States and a UN coordinator were among more than a dozen people wounded in a shell attack […]

March 3, 2007 (AFP) – The bodies of five men shot in the head with their hands tied together and blindfolded were found Saturday by Sri Lankan police, who called the deaths an apparent “execution-style killing”. The grisly find in a marsh at Kandana, 15 kilometres (10 miles) north of the capital, was made after […]