Category: Politics

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 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 […]

TRINCOMALEE, Sri Lanka, Aug 4, 2006 (AFP) – Thousands of civilians clambered onto bull-drawn carts, tractors and other rickety vehicles Friday to flee fighting between Sri Lankan troops and Tigers in a Muslim fishing town, witnesses said.Women and children were the first to escape the town of Muttur, just a few kilometres (miles) from the […]

Aug 4, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lankan police Friday found a large haul of land mines and grenades and arrested two men who were transporting the cargo deep into a plantation in the island’s south, officials said.Police found 18 Claymore mines, 15 hand grenades, three automatic assault rifles and 100 detonators hidden inside a truck […]

Aug 3, 2006 (AFP) – Seventeen civilians and four police were killed in artillery attacks in Sri Lanka’s northeastern Muslim town of Muttur on Thursday, military officials said.The civilians were killed when shells hit three schools where they were sheltering after security forces asked them to move to public buildings while troops mopped up Tamil […]

TRINCOMALEE, Sri Lanka, Aug 3, 2006 (AFP) – At least 17 Muslim civilians were killed and another 60 wounded Thursday when shells landed on the schools in which they were sheltering during fierce fighting between Sri Lankan troops and Tamil Tiger rebels, military officials said.Local officials said troops had not managed to reopen the sluice […]

Aug 3, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s peace broker Norway Thursday announced a pledge of 1.5 million dollars to help civilians caught up in the island’s latest upsurge in violence. The Norwegian government, in a statement issued in Colombo, said Oslo would provide the assistance in humanitarian aid through the International Committee of the Red […]

Aug 3, 2006 (AFP) – Fighting between Sri Lankan troops and Tamil Tiger rebels for control of a vital waterway spread Thursday, as peace broker Norway launched a fresh bid to prevent a return to full-scale war. Local officials said troops had not managed to reopen the sluice gates as the area is heavily mined. […]

Aug 3, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s long conflict between the government and ethnic Tamil rebels is rooted in the nation’s colonial past, but the bloodshed remains an intractable problem of the present.At least 60,000 people are believed to have been killed since 1972 when a disgruntled school dropout, Velupillai Prabhakaran, formed the militant group […]