Category: Politics

COLOMBO, March 2, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lankan war planes bombed a suspected Tiger rebel camp in the northeast on Friday as part of an increased offensive against the guerrillas, a defence official said.“Using MIG 27 jet planes, the air force took Tiger targets in the Thoppigala jungles,” military spokesman Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe told AFP, […]

JAKARTA, March 2, 2007 (AFP) – Indonesia said Friday that dozens of asylum seekers from Sri Lanka would be sent home and not allowed to stay if Australia decides to send the group back its way.Australia picked up 85 boat people last month after they passed through Indonesia and are holding them on Christmas Island […]

COLOMBO, March 1, 2007 (AFP) – A Sri Lankan air force trainee pilot and his instructor were killed Thursday when their plane crashed, an official said Thursday. The Chinese-built training aircraft crashed at Anuradhapura, 200 kilometers (125 miles) north of the capital during a routine exercise, an airforce official said, adding that investigations were underway. […]

COLOMBO, March 1, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lankan jets bombed suspected Tamil Tiger positions in northeast Sri Lanka on Thursday, a day after Colombo stepped up an offensive against the rebels, killing at least 18 people, a statement said.Air force MIG Jet aircraft attacked a Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) training camp in Vavuniya, […]

February 28 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s use of anti-terror law against the media has been condemned by the Reporters without Borders (RSF) which called for the release of a media official arrested two days ago. RSF called for the release of Dushantha Basnayake, financial director of Standard Newspapers, which publishes the Sinhalese-language weekly Mawbima, who […]

UNITED NATIONS, Feb 27, 2007 (AFP) – UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday condemned a Tamil rebel artillery attack in Sri Lanka that injured several foreign diplomats, including a UN official, taking part in a humanitarian assessment mission.“The secretary general condemns the shelling” by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Batticaloa district, “which […]

February, 28 (LBO) – Sri Lanka Navy has fired on an identified ship off the island’s south coast after the ship ignored an order to halt and fired on a government vessel a Navy spokesman said. The spokesman said the vessel which had been contacted by Navy officials had given false identification and turned to […]

Feb 27, 2007 (AFP) – The ambassadors of the United States and Italy were wounded Tuesday in an artillery attack by suspected Tamil rebels in eastern Sri Lanka, Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe told AFP.Samarasinghe, who was accompanying a group of Colombo-based diplomats to the district of Batticaloa, said the attack came shortly after one […]

TOKYO, Feb 27, 2007 (AFP) – Japan’s ambassador to Sri Lanka is safe after Tamil rebels attacked a group of diplomats Tuesday, wounding the US and Italian envoys, the foreign ministry said.Ambassador Kiyoshi Araki was one of the diplomats who had flown in two helicopters to the island’s restive eastern Batticaloa district. “Our ambassador was […]

COLOMBO, Feb 27, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lankan jets bombed suspected Tamil Tiger positions in eastern Sri Lanka on Tuesday after the rebels shelled two military helicopters and wounded three Western diplomats, officials said.Air force aircraft attacked the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) who admitted they shelled the landing points of military aircraft which […]

BEIJING, Feb 27, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s foreign minister condemned an artillery attack Tuesday by Tamil Tiger rebels that wounded the German, Italian and US ambassadors, saying it was a deliberate strike against the diplomats.“The government of Sri Lanka condemns this attack by the LTTE in the strongest terms,” Rohitha Bogollagama, who is accompanying […]

BEIJING, Feb 26, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse began a week-long state visit to China on Monday — and showed up with an elephant as a gift as well as a large delegation, state media said.Rajapakse, in China to mark 50 years of diplomatic ties between the countries, will meet Chinese President […]