Category: Defense
Sri Lanka Tamil Tiger threat puts Indian airports on alert
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, March 21, 2009 (AFP) – India tightened security at three major airports in the southern state of Kerala after a call threatening attacks by Tamil Tiger sympathizers, police said Saturday.Extra security measures were in place at the international airports of Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode following the threat, the director general of police told AFP. […]
More civilians flee Sri Lanka fighting: military
March 19, 2009 (AFP) – Civilians are continuing to flee Sri Lanka’s war zone as security forces step up an offensive against Tamil Tigers, with another 31 rebels killed, the defence ministry said Thursday.About 1,000 men, women and children left the area still under the control of the rebels on Wednesday to seek shelter with […]
Sri Lanka to protest against pro-Tiger rallies abroad
March 19, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lanka will lodge strong protests with countries where there have been demonstrations in favour of the island’s separatist Tamil Tiger rebels, a minister said Thursday.Sri Lanka’s Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe said pro-rebel sympathisers have been staging demonstrations in Australia, Belgium, Britain, Canada, New Zealand, Switzerland and the United […]
Sri Lanka says EU diplomats may visit war-torn north
March 18, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lanka said Wednesday it would open up its war-torn north to international scrutiny, days after the UN said it suspected war crimes were being committed in the fight against Tamil rebels.A foreign ministry official said talks were under way to give a European Union fact-finding mission access to the […]
Disease risk in Sri Lanka war zone: Red Cross
March 17, 2009 (AFP) – Tens of thousands of people trapped by fighting in Sri Lanka’s north are facing serious risks of disease due to shortages of clean water and sanitation, the Red Cross said Tuesday.The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said the humanitarian situation was deteriorating fast as civilians still living in […]
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March 16, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lankan troops pushed deeper into remaining Tamil Tiger-held territory and captured a rebel court house in weekend battles, the defence ministry said on Monday.The UN human rights chief Navi Pillay said last week 2,800 civilians had been killed in the fighting since January 20, and that both sides may […]
Sri Lanka UN says staff forcibly recruited by Tigers
March 16, 2009 (AFP) – The United Nations said Monday one of its employees and his teenage daughter had been forcibly recruited by Tamil Tiger rebels to battle advancing government forces in Sri Lanka. The UN office in Colombo said it feared for the safety of the local employee and three of his family members […]
Sri Lanka troops kill another 32 rebels: military
March 15, 2009 (AFP) – Government forces shot dead at least 32 Tamil Tiger rebels in north-eastern Sri Lanka, the defence ministry said on Sunday, as troops moved closer to finally defeating the separatist guerrillas.About 30 rebels were killed on Friday in the Puthukkudiriruppu area, the last stronghold of the Tigers, while another two were […]
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WASHINGTON, March 13, 2009 (AFP) – US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Friday to express her “deep concern” over mounting deaths in a government safe zone, a US official said.With the exception of the International Committee of the Red Cross, aid agencies face many restrictions in their efforts […]
UN charges of civilian killings unsubstantiated: Sri Lanka minister
March 14, 2009 (AFP) – Charges by the United Nations that 2,800 civilians had been killed in Sri Lanka in recent weeks were “unsubstantiated,” Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe said on Saturday.The minister denied that government forces were firing into a demarcated “safe zone” for civilians and accused UN human rights chief Navi Pillay of […]
Sri Lanka troops claim 32 Tigers killed
March 13, 2009 (AFP) – At least 32 Tamil Tiger rebels have died in the latest push by Sri Lankan government troops into the rebels’ shrinking fiefdom, the island’s defence ministry said Friday.It has rejected calls for another truce, saying troops now have the upper hand in the decades-old conflict and are close to crushing […]
Sri Lanka conflict: UN chief fears war crimes on both sides
GENEVA, March 13, 2009 (AFP) – United Nations’ human rights chief Navi Pillay said Friday she feared both sides could be guilty of war crimes in the Sri Lanka conflict and that more than 2,800 civilians could have been killed since late January. “Certain actions being undertaken by the Sri Lankan military and by the […]