Category: Defense

April 14, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tiger rebels said Tuesday they were ready to negotiate a ceasefire with government forces and restart peace talks to halt decades of ethnic bloodshed.The government said it hoped that non-combatants would be able to leave a narrow strip of coastal jungle where they are allegedly held hostage […]

April 13, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lankan security forces began a two-day ceasefire on Monday, as the government called for the cornered Tamil Tiger rebels to allow thousands of civilians to flee the conflict zone. The Tigers, who are accused of holding the civilians hostage, have suffered months of battlefield setbacks that could finally end […]

April 12, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s president on Sunday ordered government troops to halt their offensive against cornered Tamil rebels over the two-day Sinhala and Tamil New Year that starts on Monday. The brief ceasefire is also aimed at allowing more civilians to escape from the remaining rebel-held territory and seek shelter in a […]

April 12, 2009 (AFP) – Tamil Tiger rebels killed five farmers in southern Sri Lanka on Sunday in an apparent revenge attack for military operations against them elsewhere, the army said. Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) fighters killed the farmers in the Buttala area in the far south, more than 300 kilometers (187 miles) […]

WASHINGTON, April 9, 2009 (AFP) – International mediators of the conflict that has pitted separatist Tamil Tigers against government forces in Sri Lanka on Thursday called for both camps to cease their “futile” fighting. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) should “permit freedom of movement for the civilians” trapped in the strife-hit northern part […]

April 10, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s army announced Friday it had launched an operation to bring to safety thousands of civilians trapped by fighting with Tamil Tiger rebels. The defence ministry statement came as a New York-based human rights group said civilian casualties were “skyrocketing” in the island’s northeast where the rebels have been […]

NEW DELHI, April 9, 2009 (AFP) – Indian security officials have warned that the ruling party’s leader and her family could be targeted by Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tigers ahead of this month’s national polls, a report said.Her son, federal MP and Congress general secretary Rahul, was slated to address rallies in southern India over the […]

April 4, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lankan troops advancing on the last remaining pockets of rebel resistance killed at least 111 Tamil Tigers in separate ground and sea clashes on Saturday, the military said. His visit to Sri Lanka came as UN chief Ban Ki-moon again urged Tamil rebel leaders to allow trapped civilians to […]

April 5, 2009 (AFP) – At least 420 Tamil Tiger rebels were killed in three days of clashes in northeast Sri Lanka, the military said on Sunday, as troops moved to wipe out the guerrillas after decades of conflict. Tens of thousands of civilians would soon be rescued from the no-fire zone, army chief Lieutenant […]

UNITED NATIONS, April 3, 2009 (AFP) – UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Friday urged Tamil rebel leaders to allow trapped civilians to move freely out of the conflict area of northern Sri Lanka.Earlier Friday, Sri Lankan troops captured a key village from the Tamil Tigers after heavy fighting that left at least 44 guerrillas dead […]

April 3, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lankan security forces captured a key village from Tamil Tiger rebels on Friday after heavy fighting that left at least 44 guerrillas dead, a military spokesman said. At the height of their power in the mid-1990s, the Tigers controlled more than a third of the total land mass of […]