Category: Defense

June 30, 2008 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s army chief said Monday his forces have wiped out the conventional military capability of the Tamil Tigers, but that they needed another year to totally defeat the rebels. Lieutenant General Sarath Fonseka said the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) guerrillas were no longer able to resist security […]

June 29, 2008 (AFP) – At least 41 more Tamil Tiger rebels and two government soldiers have been killed in the latest fighting in Sri Lanka’s north, the defence ministry said Sunday.Troops shot dead 20 guerrillas in the district of Vavuniya on Saturday while 14 were killed in the neighbouring Weli Oya region, the ministry […]

June 29, 2008 (AFP) – India is to send thousands of troops, war ships and helicopters to Sri Lanka as part of security for next month’s South Asian summit in Colombo, diplomatic sources said Sunday.New Delhi is planning to send three war ships with a combined force of up to 3,000 security personnel because of […]

June 28, 2008 (AFP) – Sri Lankan security forces killed at least 44 Tamil Tiger rebels for the loss of two of their own soldiers in fresh ground battles in the island’s embattled north, the defence ministry said Saturday. The rebels from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) were killed in separate clashes on […]

June 26, 2008 (AFP) – At least 59 Tamil Tiger rebels and government soldiers have been killed in the latest fighting in Sri Lanka’s north, the defence ministry said Thursday. Heavy fighting since Tuesday left 57 Tiger guerrillas and two soldiers killed in separate clashes across the districts of Vavuniya, Mannar, Mullaitivu and Jaffna, the […]

June 25, 2008 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s defence ministry said Wednesday that its forces have made some territorial progress in fighting with the Tamil Tigers that it said killed at least 10 guerrillas.Security forces took a three square kilometre (1.15 square miles) area in the district of Mannar on Tuesday, the ministry said, adding that […]

June 25, 2008 (LBO) – The United States embassy in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo was closed Wednesday after a “suspicious powder” was found, the embassy said in a statement. All visa appointments and routine American citizen services will be postponed until the incident is resolved, it said. It said the suspicious substance will be […]

June 24, 2008 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s government moved Tuesday to deflect a barrage of criticism over its press rights record by promising to help journalists receiving death threats. “There is no censorship and you don’t have to go by what is said in the (defence ministry) website,” said another minister and panel member, Rajitha […]

June 23, 2008 (AFP) – Heavy fighting between government troops and Tamil Tiger rebels across Sri Lanka’s northern regions left at least 29 combatants dead, the defence ministry said on Monday.At least 23 rebels and six government soldiers were killed as troops exchanged artillery fire and smashed through guerrilla bunkers in the district of Mannar […]

KUALA LUMPUR, June 23, 2008 (AFP) – Malaysia said Monday it had released a Sri Lankan man held for four years over alleged links with a nuclear black market run by Pakistan’s Abdul Qadeer Khan, saying he did not pose any threat. Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar said Buhary Syed Abu Tahir remained in the […]

June 22, 2008 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s military has launched a campaign to track down and arrest up to 12,000 army deserters who failed to take advantage of a government amnesty, a spokesman said Sunday. “About 5,000 responded to the general amnesty we had from May 2 to the 30th,” Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said. “We […]

June 22, 2008 (AFP) – Tamil Tiger rebels on Sunday set off a roadside mine killing two police commandos in eastern Sri Lanka, the defence ministry said. The fragmentation mine was placed on a parked bicycle in the district of Batticaloa and targeted the Special Task Force police commandos, the ministry said. Fighting meanwhile continued […]