Category: Defense

MADHU, November 9, 2008 (AFP) – One of Sri Lanka’s holiest Catholic shrines stands idle and neglected — an unlikely victim of a decades-long internal conflict that the government says it is close to winning.Standing two feet (60 centimetres) tall, the 450-year-old pale yellow statue of the Virgin Mary, draped in golden robes, is especially […]

November 9, 2008 (AFP) – Sri Lankan troops were close to capturing a key road to the northern peninsula of Jaffna after months of heavy fighting, the defence ministry said Sunday.Heavily armed units have pushed along the coastal road to Jaffna, which had been cut off from the rest of the island by Tamil Tiger […]

November 8, 2008 (AFP) – Helicopter gunships launched a rare night assault against a suspected Tamil Tiger base located on a small islet off Sri Lanka’s Jaffna peninsula, the defence ministry said on Saturday.The air force Mi-24 gunships attacked a “gathering point” of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) at Palaitivu, just on the […]

November 7, 2008 (AFP) – Intense battles gripped Sri Lanka’s northern Wanni region as government forces stepped up pressure on the Tamil rebel political capital, the defence ministry said Friday. To receive instant alerts from LBO on your Dialog mobile type ‘lbo’ and send to 678 Scores of rebels were killed and many more wounded […]

Nov 06 (2008) – Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa called on Tamil Tigers to immediately lay down arms and enter the democratic mainstream and warned that if not they would be crushed militarily.“Terrorism has got to be destroyed,” he told parliament delivering a speech to present the government budget for 2009. The security forces were […]

November 2, 2008 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s military stepped up air attacks against Tamil Tiger rebels in the island’s north after a sea battle left heavy casualties on both sides, officials said Sunday.War planes hit a suspected training base for Tamil Tiger guerrillas at Iranamadu, just south of the guerrillas’ political capital of Kilinochchi, on […]

November 1, 2008 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s navy and Tamil Tiger rebels fought a fierce sea battle off the island’s northern coast Saturday, and heavy casualties were expected on both sides, the two said.The latest sea battle came as Tigers were defending their main northern political capital of Kilinochchi against a ground offensive by security […]

October 30, 2008 (AFP) – Sri Lankan troops on Thursday took control of a key rebel-held town on the island’s northwest coast through which the Tamil Tigers have smuggled weapons, the defence ministry said. The pro-rebel Tamilnet website said one boy was killed on Thursday by government shelling in Mullaittivu. It also said the military […]

Oct 28, 2008 (LBO) – Power to Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo was cut Tuesday night after Tamil Tiger guerilla aircraft dropped bombs in the north eastern Mannar area of the island, the military said. Military spokesman Udaya Nanayakkara said Tamil Tiger aircraft had dropped two bombs near the Mannar area police headquarters around 10.30 p.m. […]

October 25, 2008 (AFP) – Sri Lanka troops were locked in heavy combat with Tamil Tiger guerrillas in the island’s north where soldiers made several advances into rebel-held territory, the defence ministry said Saturday.Two separate confrontations were reported southwest of the Tamil Tiger political capital of Kilinochchi on Friday and sporadic fighting continued afterward, the […]

October 24, 2008 (AFP) – Security forces pushed deeper into territory held by Tamil Tiger rebels in northern Sri Lanka and captured several strongholds of the guerrillas, the defence ministry said Friday. Government forces are engaged in a major offensive to capture the town of Kilinochchi which has served as the political headquarters of the […]

October 23, 2008 (AFP) – Government forces captured several bunkers from Tamil Tiger rebels as heavy fighting raged despite torrential monsoon rains in northern Sri Lanka, the defence ministry said Thursday. Security forces battling to capture the rebels’ political capital of Kilinochchi overcame resistance from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) near the village […]