Category: Defense

January 1, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lankan troops Thursday captured a key town held by Tamil Tiger rebels in the island’s north after intense fighting that left at least 50 guerrillas dead, the defence ministry said.The ban would be largely symbolic given the scale of the current military offensive against the LTTE. An original ban […]

December 30, 2008 (AFP) – The Sri Lanka military has received the bodies of 17 soldiers killed while fighting Tamil Tiger rebels in the island’s embattled north, the defence ministry said on Tuesday. The bodies were sent by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) through the International Committee of the Red Cross in the […]

December 30, 2008 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s government met Tuesday to consider re-imposing a formal ban on the Tamil Tigers as fighting escalated in the island’s north, official sources said.An original ban on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was lifted in September 2002 ahead of a Norwegian-backed peace process, which collapsed when President […]

Dec 28, 2008 (LBO) – At least two people were killed and many more wounded in a powerful bomb attack at a market just outside the Sri Lankan capital on Sunday, AFP reported quoting police.Navy patrols intercepted an LTTE logistic boat off Point Pedro at midnight and opened fire, it said.The bomb went off in […]

December 28, 2008 (AFP) – A Tamil Tiger suicide bomber killed seven security personnel and a civilian at a base just outside Sri Lanka’s capital on Sunday as troops mounted pressure on the rebels in the north, officials said.The male bomber infiltrated the base of the Civil Defence Force near a market in Wattala, a […]

December 27, 2008 (AFP) – Sri Lankan war planes carried out attacks against suspected Tamil Tiger strongholds in the island’s north on Saturday as ground forces consolidated newly captured areas, the military said. Fighter jets carried out several sorties over territory held by the Tigers and bombed a suspected rebel meeting place and a boat […]

December 27, 2008 (AFP) – Government forces consolidated their positions in northern Sri Lanka on Saturday, a day after heavy fighting with Tamil Tiger rebels, the military said. In January the Sri Lankan government pulled out of a 2002 Norwegian-brokered truce with the rebels, who have been fighting since 1972 for a state for ethnic […]

December 25, 2008 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s military beat back a Tamil Tiger counter-offensive in the island’s north, killing at least 18 guerrillas, the defence ministry said on Thursday. The Tigers on Monday said that they killed more than 100 soldiers and had taken back territory lost to advancing government forces. Both sides are known […]

December 26, 2008 (AFP) – Government forces on Friday wrested control of a strategic town after heavy fighting with Tamil Tiger rebels that left at least 40 people dead, the defence ministry said. There was no immediate comment from the Tigers. The Tigers said Monday they had killed more than 100 soldiers and had taken […]

December 24, 2008 (AFP) – Sri Lankan security forces killed at least 20 Tamil Tiger rebels who were defending their political capital of Kilinochchi in the island’s north, the defence ministry said Wednesday.Troops captured the village of Sinna Paranthan, northwest of Kilinochchi, from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the ministry said. “Over 20 […]

December 22, 2008 (AFP) – At least 56 Tamil Tiger rebels and 10 government soldiers were killed in fresh fighting in northern Sri Lanka on Monday, the army said.About 40 soldiers and 90 rebels were wounded in the battles outside Kilinochchi, the besieged political capital of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the military […]

December 20, 2008 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s navy on Saturday destroyed a Tamil Tiger vessel carrying arms and other supplies off the island’s northeastern coast, the defence ministry said.Navy patrol craft “completely destroyed” the vessel of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) off the coast of Mullaittivu in a pre-dawn assault, the ministry said […]