Category: Defense

February 5, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lanka is offering an amnesty to Tamil Tiger rebels who lay down arms and surrender to government forces, Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake told parliament Thursday.“There are reports that groups of people who took part in terrorist activities in the north (of the island) are ready to give themselves up,” […]

Feb 05, 2009 (LBO) – Canada has called for the warring parties in Sri Lanka to declare a truce to evacuate the wounded civilians and for the Tigers to lay down arms. Meanwhile several hundred civilians have crossed over to government controlled areas in recent days. “We continue to believe that the conflict cannot be […]

February 4, 2009 (AFP) – At least 52 civilians were killed in Sri Lanka in shelling in one location on Tuesday, a UN spokesman said Wednesday, as the only hospital in the war zone was evacuated after being hit multiple times.“We have a report that 52 civilians had been killed in a shell attack at […]

February 3, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lankan troops advancing in the north of the island have found an underground bunker complex believed to have been a home of the leader of the Tamil Tiger rebels, the defence ministry said Tuesday.The ministry said the two-storey-deep bunker had electricity generators, air conditioning and medical supplies, and was […]

February 3, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lankan troops advancing in the north of the island have found an underground bunker complex believed to have been a home of the leader of the Tamil Tiger rebels, the defence ministry said Tuesday. The ministry said the two-storey-deep bunker had electricity generators, air conditioning and medical supplies, and […]

February 3, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lankan government troops on Tuesday captured the last of several jungle airstrips used by the Tamil Tigers to launch air strikes across the island, the defence ministry said.The two-kilometre (1.25-mile) long runway and hangar for light aircraft was seized by troops advancing on the village of Thirivilaru in Mullaittivu […]

Feb 03, 2009 (LBO) – The United States and other powerful donors involved in Sri Lanka’s ethnic conflict have urged Tamil Tiger rebels to surrender, to prevent further civilian casualties, saying their days were numbered. The co-chairs also urged the government and the rebels to declare a “temporary no-fire period” to allow for evacuation of […]

February 2, 2009 (AFP) – Shells hit a crowded hospital in northeast Sri Lanka, killing at least nine people and raising fears Monday for thousands of civilians caught in a final military push against cornered Tamil Tiger rebels. The hospital, which is in rebel-held-territory and houses around 500 patients, took direct hits in two separate […]

February 2, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lanka issued a stark warning to civilians trapped in fighting with Tamil Tiger rebels Monday, a day after shells hit a crowded hospital in the northeast combat zone, killing at least nine people.A government statement said the fight against the cornered Tigers was at “the decisive stage” and that […]

LONDON, January 31, 2009 (AFP) – More than 50,000 demonstrators marched through London in a Tamil rally on Saturday demanding an end to the fighting in Sri Lanka.“More than 50,000 were at the demonstration,” a spokesman for London’s Metropolitan Police said. “There has been one arrest for possession of an offensive weapon.” The spokesman said […]

February 1, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tiger rebels failed to let hundreds of thousands of civilians leave the island’s northeastern war zone before a government deadline, the defence ministry said Sunday.President Mahinda Rajapakse had given until Saturday night for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to allow the civilians to move to […]

CHENNAI, February 1, 2009 (AFP) – India’s large Tamil population is demanding that New Delhi ensure the safety of 250,000 of their brethren boxed into the battle zone in Sri Lanka’s north. Protesters have poured into the streets in Tamil Nadu state, home to 62 million Indian Tamils, in the past week to call for […]