Category: Defense

Aug 6, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka Sunday rejected peace broker Norway’s deal with Tamil Tiger rebels to lift a water blockade at the root of the latest bloodshed that has claimed over 425 lives by official count.Troops began shelling suspected Tiger positions around Maavilaru in the northeastern district of Trincomalee where the guerrillas blocked […]

KANTALAI, Sri Lanka, Aug 6, 2006 (AFP) – B.M. Aliar stared helplessly at a mob of hungry refugees jostling for handouts as the first supplies trickled into a relief shelter on the edge of Sri Lanka’s strife-torn northeast. Aliar, a 50-year-old labourer, is among an estimated 20,000 Muslims who fled the town of Muttur near […]

TRINCOMALEE, Sri Lanka, Aug 6, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka Sunday rejected peace broker Norway’s deal with Tamil Tiger rebels to lift a water blockade at the root of the latest bloodshed that has claimed at least 425 lives by official count. Troops began shelling suspected Tiger positions around Maavilaru in this north-eastern port district […]

Aug 7, 2006 (AFP) – Fifteen local employees of a French aid agency have been found dead in a town in northeastern Sri Lanka at the centre of heavy fighting betweeen Tamil rebels and government forces, an aid group said Sunday. Tamil Tiger rebels on Saturday accused government forces of killing the 15 people.The bodies […]

DAMASCUS, Aug 5, 2006 (AFP) – More than 700 Filipinos and Sri Lankans were evacuated from Lebanon Saturday after being trapped when Israeli air raids destroyed the road they were hoping to take into Syria, officials said.“We have evacuated 761 people from Sri Lanka and the Philippines aboard 22 buses, which made it to (the […]

Aug 5, 2006 (AFP) – Tiger rebels massacred at least 100 refugees in Sri Lanka, raising to 426 the number of people killed in 11 days of violence, the defence ministry said Saturday, amid fresh moves to end the bloodshed.The ministry said rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) blocked civilians, mainly Muslims, fleeing the […]

Aug 5, 2006 (AFP) – At least 152 Tamil Tiger rebels were killed in northeastern Sri Lanka as security forces established full control over a Muslim coastal town, the defence ministry said Saturday. Troops using artillery and air attacks inflicted the losses on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on Friday afternoon in and […]

KANTALAI, Sri Lanka, Aug 5, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lankan troops tightened security Saturday in the island’s northeast for 20,000 Muslim refugee families fleeing fighting after the government said at least 100 Muslim men were killed by Tiger rebels.Half of the men, women and children refugees were housed in schools and other buildings while the […]

Aug 5, 2006 (AFP) – Peacebroker Norway headed for crucial talks with Tamil Tiger rebels Saturday in a bid to stop bloody fighting that has claimed 326 lives by official count and displaced thousands. Oslo’s special envoy, Jon Hanssen-Bauer, travelled to the rebel-held town of Kilinochchi for what diplomats said were desperate talks to save […]

Aug 4, 2006 (AFP) – Norway launched high-level talks Friday in a bid to pull Sri Lanka back from all-out war as thousands of Muslims fled the bloodiest fighting in four years that has claimed nearly 170 lives.Peace broker Oslo sent special envoy Jon Hanssen-Bauer who immediately went in for talks with Prime Minister Ratnasiri […]

Aug 4, 2006 (AFP) – Five Muslim civilians were killed in shell attacks in the Sri Lankan town of Muttur Friday, raising the death toll from clashes between the army and Tamil rebels to 26, a Muslim legislator said.The attack on a school came despite appeals to both the government and Tamil Tiger rebels to […]

Aug 4, 2006 (AFP) – The International Committee of the Red Cross said Friday it had failed to get relief to thousands of civilians trapped by fierce fighting between Sri Lankan forces and Tamil Tiger rebels.“We have not been able to achieve the humanitarian corridor we wanted to establish for us to move freely and […]