Category: Defense

May 25, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lanka on Tuesday closed a camp holding former Tamil Tiger child soldiers, but 52 of the youths will stay in government care to complete their education, an official said. More than 500 child soldiers were picked up after security forces defeated Tamil Tiger rebels in a bloody final battle […]

May 20, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lanka must strengthen its intelligence-gathering to stop Tamil Tiger rebels regrouping abroad a year after they were defeated, a top defence official said Thursday. Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse, who is President Mahinda Rajapakse’s younger brother, said Tiger sympathisers outside the country were trying to revive the Tamil separatist movement. […]

May 16, 2010 (AFP) – One year after Sri Lanka’s army wiped out the Tamil Tigers, there are no signs of the rebel group’s revival at home, but concerns remain about extremist fund-raisers abroad. The government has highlighted meetings abroad planned to coincide with the first anniversary of the LTTE’s military defeat as a fresh […]

May 4, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s foreign minister pledged Tuesday that the country’s tough emergency laws introduced in 1983 to fight a raging Tamil insurgency would be gradually withdrawn. France had led international calls to scrap the emergency laws soon after the defeat of the rebels. Since then, Sri Lanka’s parliament has kept extending […]

KUALA LUMPUR, April 23, 2010 (AFP) – Malaysia said it has arrested and deported several leaders of the Sri Lankan separatist Tamil Tiger rebels over the past few months to prevent them setting up a hub in the country. Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said in a statement late Thursday he had informed Sri Lanka of […]

RAGAMA, April 18, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s leaders have hailed the end of the island’s long civil war as the start of a new era, but for soldiers injured in battle, the future is far from rosy. In a hospital outside the capital Colombo, Manju Lakshman, 32, lies on a bed staring at the […]

April 17, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s military and the US Navy and conducted joint exercises on disaster readiness and medical response in the Eastern port city area of Trincomalee, the US embassy in Colombo said. “The joint exercise helped members from our two militaries to exchange best practices on how to address complex humanitarian […]

April 5, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s military on Monday announced a fivefold increase in troops deployed on UN peacekeeping duties around the world, boosting its commitment to 5,000 soldiers. Lieutenant General Jagath Jayasuriya said the defeat of Tamil Tiger separatists last May meant more troops could be sent on UN missions. Sri Lanka has […]

Feb 07, 2010 (LBO) – A 300 million US dollar credit line to be wrapped up during an official visit by Sri Lanka’s President Mahindra Rajapaksa to Russia, would modernise Sri Lanka’s military capability, a media report said. The Sunday Times newspaper said Moscow had offered to repair or replace all Russian origin military equipment […]

February 1, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s president on Monday sacked 12 senior military officers over what one army source said were fears of a coup after last week’s presidential elections. They included three senior major generals and two brigadiers accused of interfering in politics during campaigning for January 26 election, in which President Mahinda […]

January 7, 2010 (AFP) – The elderly father of Sri Lanka’s slain Tamil rebel chief Velupillai Prabhakaran has died in military custody, officials said Thursday. Thiruvenkadam Velupillai, believed to be in his early 80s, died on Wednesday at an army base outside Colombo, a military official said, adding that he had been in “protective custody” […]

December 23, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lanka threatened on Wednesday to take legal action against its former military chief over his claims that troops had committed war crimes against Tamil Tiger rebels.Former army chief Sarath Fonseka claimed this month that Sri Lankan troops shot dead surrendering Tamil leaders on the orders of the defence secretary […]