Category: Defense

Aug 7, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s chief truce monitor has criticised government troops for shelling Tamil rebels as they tried to reopen a bitterly contested waterway at the centre of the heaviest clashes in years.An estimated 60,000 people have been killed since the Tamil insurgency began around three decades ago. Ulf Henriksson, head of […]

Aug 7, 2006 (AFP) – A French aid agency was Monday trying to find out who shot dead 15 of its employees as a Nordic truce monitor hit out at the Sri Lankan government for shelling Tamil rebels as they tried to reopen a bitterly contested waterway.An estimated 60,000 people have been killed since the […]

Aug 7, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka mounted fresh artillery attacks against Tamil Tiger rebels Monday, a day after the guerrillas warned that shelling could lead to all-out war, military officials said. Troops kept up attacks in the northeastern district of Trincomalee even as Norway tried to broker a peaceful end to a water dispute […]

Aug 6, 2006 (AFP) – Tamil Tiger rebels who agreed to end a bitter water dispute Sunday warned peace broker Norway that they would resort to full-scale war if Sri Lanka resumes air strikes, a spokesman told AFP.The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) told Oslo’s top envoy Jon Hanssen-Bauer that they were lifting a […]

Aug 6, 2006 (AFP) – Tamil Tiger rebels said Sunday they had agreed to lift a water blockade behind weeks of fighting that has killed hundreds, but warned new strikes by the Sri Lankan military would lead to full-scale war. A Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) spokesman said the group had told peace-broker Norway […]

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 […]

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 […]