Category: Politics

May 17, 2009 (AFP) – Scouring a tiny beach and lagoon peninsula in Sri Lanka’s northeast are thousands of government troops, examining the faces of the dead, hunting for hidden bunkers under the jungle floor.They are looking for any sign of the leader of the defeated Tamil Tiger rebels, Velupillai Prabhakaran, who built up what […]

May 17, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s army chief vowed Sunday the Tamil Tigers would not be allowed to regroup and pledged that the rebels, once seen as one of the world’s deadliest guerrilla outfits, would soon be forgotten.The government said a massive offensive against the separatist Tigers was all but complete, with the entire […]

May 17, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lankan troops have rescued all civilians held by Tamil Tiger rebels, military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said on Sunday.“More than 50,000 people have come out of that area in the past three days and with that we have rescued all the civilians held as a human shield by the […]

May 16, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lankan troops on Saturday captured the last patch of coastline held by the Tamil Tigers and the rebels would shortly be left without any territory, a top military source said.Two divisions of soldiers that had been fighting along the coastline from the southern and northern ends of the remaining […]

May 16, 2009 (AFP) – Tamil Tiger rebels who are battling Sri Lankan government troops are close to losing their territory and preparing to commit “mass suicide,” the defence ministry said Saturday. The Tigers are “are preparing for a mass suicide after being effectively cut-off of escape routes, both land and sea, and now encircled […]

LONDON, May 16, 2009 (AFP) – British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Saturday warned Sri Lanka there would be “consequences for its actions” if Colombo did not allow humanitarian agencies access to civilians and end the conflict with Tamil Tiger rebels. Brown also called for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to lay down […]

May 16, 2009 (AFP) – The president of Sri Lanka declared Saturday that the island’s separatist Tamil Tiger rebels have been “crushed,” state radio reported.President Mahinda Rajapakse, speaking to a G11 group of developing nations summit in Jordan, said he would return home on Sunday as “a leader of a nation that crushed terrorism,” the […]

May 16, 2009 (AFP) – The president of Sri Lanka declared Saturday that the island’s separatist Tamil Tiger rebels have been “defeated militarily” after decades of bitter ethnic bloodshed.Defence officials said the massive offensive against the rebel army was all but complete, with the entire island under government control for the first time in years […]

May 15, 2009 (AFP) – The Sri Lankan government vowed Friday to finish off the Tamil Tigers within 48 hours, defying international calls for a truce and warnings of a “humanitarian catastrophe” inside the rebel-held zone. The signal that a final offensive against the beleaguered separatist guerrillas was imminent came as United Nations Secretary General […]

May 15, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s navy on Friday captured the wife and two children of a top Tamil Tiger military commander while they tried to escape the island by boat, a navy spokesman said. Their capture came as the Sri Lanka government said it was poised to seize the last patch of land […]

May 15, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tigers are “slowly giving up” their fight against advancing government troops, the island’s military said Friday as it appeared poised to capture the last tiny strip of rebel territory.A military spokesman told AFP around 10,000 civilians had managed to flee to government areas, and that there was […]

UNITED NATIONS, May 13, 2009 (AFP) – The UN Security Council on Wednesday urged the warring sides in Sri Lanka to ensure the safety of civilians, voicing “grave concern’ at the “worsening humanitarian crisis” there.It unanimously adopted a non-binding statement that expressed “grave concern over the worsening humanitarian crisis in northeast Sri Lanka, in particular […]