Category: Defense

Aug 20, 2008 (LBO) – The United States military’s Pacific Command has conducted a military law exchange programme to train Sri Lankan security forces to investigate and report human rights abuses, a US embassy statement said. Legal and law enforcement officers, operational commanders, investigators and academics from the Ministries of Defense and Foreign Affairs, Attorney […]

August 19, 2008 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tiger rebels Tuesday tacitly admitted that they were losing ground in the face of a major military offensive by warning that thousands of civilians in the north were at risk.In their first public acknowledgement that government forces were moving deeper into areas previously held by them, the […]

Aug 19, 2008 (LBO) – An investigation by Canadian police has revealed details of a Tamil Tiger fund raising and money laundering network in which the group raised more than three million dollars to buy weapons.According to a report in Canada’s National Post newspaper, the Toronto-based World Tamil Movement (WTM) has been accused of bankrolling […]

August 18, 2008 (AFP) – Thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes in northern Sri Lanka, joining thousands of others displaced by a government push into Tamil rebel-held territory, the UN said Monday.The United Nation’s Inter-Agency Standing Committee said they expected more people to flee the ongoing fighting, with security forces attempting […]

August 17, 2008 (AFP) – Sri Lankan troops captured a rebel training base in the war-torn north of the island, as fighting elsewhere killed at least 31 Tamil Tigers and nine soldiers, the defence ministry said Sunday. Troops on Saturday took control of the large rebel complex, which had at least 100 underground bunkers, military […]

August 16, 2008 (AFP) – Fighting between Sri Lankan troops and Tamil Tiger rebels in the north is endangering the lives of tens of thousands of displaced people, rights group Amnesty International said. Amnesty said it had received reports that the government is housing those who have been able to leave LTTE areas in temporary […]

August 14, 2008 (AFP) – Tens of thousands of people are on the run in northern Sri Lanka where fighting between government troops and Tamil rebels has intensified in recent weeks, the Red Cross said Thursday.Some of the displaced who have headed to the Tamil Tigers’ political capital, Kilinochchi district, had been on the run […]

SINGAPORE, August 12, 2008 (AFP) – India has warned neighbouring Sri Lanka that it may not be able to win an ongoing war against separatist Tamil Tiger rebels despite recent military gains, a report said Tuesday. Indian National Security Advisor M.K. Narayanan told the Straits Times newspaper that Sri Lanka’s Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam […]

August 10, 2008 (AFP) – Sri Lankan troops launched a fresh advance into territory held by Tamil rebels Sunday, killing 15 guerrillas while another 27 combatants were killed in other clashes, the defence ministry said.The latest push was in the Jaffna peninsula, parts of which are held by the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam […]

GENEVA, August 8, 2008 (AFP) – Twelve thousand families are reported to have been displaced in July by fierce fighting in Sri Lanka between government troops and Tamil rebels, the United Nations refugee agency said Friday.Many have been forced to move on several occasions ahead of shifting frontlines to avoid crossfire and stay out of […]

August 2, 2008 (AFP) – Heavy fighting broke out in northern Sri Lanka on the eve of a South Asian summit in the capital, leaving at least 11 government soldiers and seven rebels killed, a military official said Saturday. The fighting is taking place 250 kilometres (160 miles) north of here, but there has recently […]

August 2, 2008 (AFP) – Heavy fighting broke out in northern Sri Lanka on the eve of a South Asian summit in the capital, leaving at least 14 government soldiers and 38 rebels killed, a military official said Saturday. The rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) offered stiff resistance to a military advance in […]