Category: Defense

Feb 20, 2015 (LBO) – Five countries, including the United States have agreed that Sri Lanka could conduct a local investigation over the alleged war crimes during the war, Cabinet Spokesman Minister Rajitha Senarathne said at the Cabinet media briefing yesterday. However, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein stressed that […]

Feb 10, 2015 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s new administration to appoint a committee in order to commence the programme of releasing lands in the North back to civilians, a media report said quoting the State Minister for Defence Ruwan Wijewardene in Vavuniya. This decision was taken on a directive of the President Siresena. The report […]

Jan 17, 2015 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s government lifted a ban on foreign nationals and foreign organizations visiting to the island’s former war zones with immediate effect, a media report said. The Council has also decided to lift restrictions on transporting unspecified goods, the report said. However no decision has been taken to reduce the […]

Nov 19, 2014 (LBO) – The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy is to build 18 naval bases in various regions in the next 10 years including in Sri Lanka, a media report said. The Namibian newspaper quoting Chinese media reports said Hambantota Port is among the three navel bases that will be established in the […]

Oct 22, 2014 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s private security companies are important stakeholders and an integral element in the ongoing nation building exercise, an official said in a media release. Aluwihare said that all stakeholders should forge together to uplift the image of the industry as a whole. By consciously synergizing our efforts, we create […]

Oct 21, 2014 (LBO) – Sri Lanka Ministry of Defence and Urban Development has taken steps to conduct a survey on people who have lost their properties and land in the Northern Province from 1980 due to terrorism, a media release said. The ministry says all Sri Lankan citizens who have lost their property and […]

Oct 16, 2014 (LBO) – Sri Lanka yesterday announced that foreigners and foreign organizations who wish to visit the North need to obtain prior clearance from the Ministry of Defense and Urban Development, a media report said. The measure is aimed at preventing foreigners from visiting the North under the pretext of engaging in development […]

COLOMBO, May 10, 2014 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s military said Saturday it had unearthed the biggest cache of pistol ammunition buried in the former war zone amid government claims that Tiger rebels are trying regroup.Naval troops found the buried ammunition Friday in the coastal area of Mullaittivu where the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam […]

COLOMBO, April 11, 2014 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s military on Friday shot dead three men they believed were trying to revive the separatist Tamil Tiger movement five years after its defeat, a spokesman said.Military spokesman Brigadier Ruwan Wanigasooriya said troops killed the three, including a man they identified as a local leader of the Tigers, […]

COLOMBO, November 27, 2013 (AFP) – Sri Lanka was to begin compiling a death toll from its ethnic conflict Thursday as it seeks to fend off growing pressure over allegations of mass killings at the end of the war.While Jaffna held its first provincial elections since the war in September, with the main Tamil party […]

COLOMBO, September 13, 2013 (AFP) – Police in Sri Lanka have discovered 100 kilos (220 pounds) of TNT on a truck impounded at a Colombo police station for the past 17 years, officials said Friday.The vehicle had been seized in February 1996, during the country’s civil war, less than two weeks after a truck bomb […]

COLOMBO, September 3, 2013 (AFP) – Sri Lanka risks a “re-emergence of terrorism” as Tamil Tiger rebels and their sympathisers living abroad revive a campaign for a separate state, the country’s top defence official said Tuesday.“Sri Lanka had enough divisions in the past that ultimately led to conflict,” Rajapakse added.“We must learn the lessons from […]