Category: Politics

January 22, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lankan troops have seized a Tamil Tiger command centre in the island’s north as ground troops advance further into the rebels’ remaining territory, a military official said on Thursday.Security forces found briefing rooms containing detailed maps at the facility in the district of Mullaittivu, where the Liberation Tigers of […]

January 22, 2009 (AFP) – The United Nations Thursday accused Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tigers of preventing its staff from leaving rebel-controlled areas in the north of the island.The UN said several of its local staff and their families were prevented from leaving Thursday with a convoy that had earlier taken food and emergency supplies to […]

January 21, 2009 (AFP) – At least two people were killed and 11 others were wounded in a roadside bomb attack in eastern Sri Lanka on Wednesday, police said.The bomb, planted on a bicycle, went off in Batticaloa, 300 kilometres (190 miles) east of Colombo, a local police official said. “A policeman and another civilian […]

January 21, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s military said Wednesday its troops had opened fire on an intruding aircraft off the island’s north, where government forces are battling Tamil Tiger rebels.The unidentified aircraft was detected heading towards the island’s northeastern coast near Mullaittivu, the last town under the control of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil […]

January 21, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s military Wednesday asked civilians living in the last remaining rebel-held areas in the island’s northeast to move into a declared safe zone ahead of a major showdown.The army said in a statement that it had declared a “safe zone” for tens of thousands of civilians trapped in the […]

January 20, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s inaction after a series of assaults and killings of journalists has left a “dark stain” on the government’s credibility, the International Press Institute warned Tuesday.The media rights group condemned the “culture of impunity and indifference” shown by the government after a senior editor was murdered and a privately […]

January 20, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s navy Tuesday destroyed four Tamil Tiger boats and killed 16 guerrillas trying to escape as government soldiers close in on the rebels’ last base in the northeast, the military said.Officials said the pre-dawn naval battle erupted in waters off Mullaittivu, a jungle and lagoon area and the last […]

January 19, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s top Tamil Tiger, who inspired hundreds of followers to stage suicide bombings in the fight for a separate state, is facing his biggest challenge yet and is fast running out of options. To his followers, Velupillai Prabhakaran is seen as a “Sun God” who formed a formidable and […]

January 19, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lankan troops have found the wreckage of an aircraft near an air strip captured from Tamil Tiger rebels in the north of the island, military officials said on Monday.The wreckage was found on Sunday in the jungles around Mullaittivu, the last stronghold of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam […]

January 18, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tigers are threatened with “extinction” following a massive military drive against them, but a political solution will be crucial to end long-standing Tamil grievances, observers say. The Tigers’ de facto state in the north of the island has been crumbling rapidly.They lost their political capital Kilinochchi earlier […]

January 18, 2009 (AFP) – Sri Lankan government troops have almost completely cornered the Tamil Tigers in their northeastern jungle base and the rebels’ leader may have already fled the island, the army chief said.The Sri Lankan army chief, who narrowly escaped assassination in a Tamil Tiger suicide bombing in April 2005, said he hoped […]