Category: Politics

July 28, 2006 (AFP) – At least six rebels died and eight people were wounded when Sri Lankan warplanes attacked a Tamil Tiger camp, a rebel leader said Friday as both sides traded artillery fire. Three civilians were among the injured during the air raids over Trincomalee district on Thursday, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam […]

HELSINKI, July 28, 2006 (AFP) – Finland said Friday it would recall its ceasefire monitors from Sri Lanka, sparking fears of increased violence between the Sri Lankan government and Tamil Tiger rebels on the wartorn island.The Finnish foreign ministry announced it would withdraw its 10 observers on security grounds before a September 1 deadline set […]

July 28, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s ceasefire hung by a thread Friday as Tamil Tiger rebels and government forces traded artillery fire and Finland announced its truce observers would leave the country.More than 60,000 people have been killed in the three-decade-old Tamil separatist conflict. Sri Lankan war planes struck a Tamil Tiger base Friday, […]

July 27, 2006 (AFP) – Warplanes bombed suspected Tamil Tiger positions in northeast Sri Lanka on Thursday for a second day after the rebels allegedly blocked an irrigation canal, a military official said.“The bombing raids were over the northeastern region,” the military official said, adding that three Israeli-built Kfir jets were used in the offensive […]

COLOMBO, July 27, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lankan warplanes bombed a clandestine airfield being built by Tamil Tiger rebels Thursday, the second day of bombardment against the guerrillas, the defence ministry said. The rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) had cleared a jungle patch just north of the district of Trincomalee and were building […]

July 26, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lankan war planes bombed suspected Tamil Tiger positions in northeast Sri Lanka Wednesday after the rebels allegedly blocked an irrigation canal, a government minister said.Israeli-built Kfir jets pounded bases of the rebels at Maavilaru and Hirugalaru in the northeast district of Trincomalee where the Tigers had blocked the waterway, […]

July 26, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s army chief Sarath Fonseka has resumed work after surviving a suicide bomb attack three months ago, military spokesman Prasad Samarasinghe said Wednesday. More than 60,000 people have been killed in the conflict.Lieutenant General Fonseka returned to the capital Colombo Tuesday after undergoing specialised treatment in Singapore for more […]

July 26, 2006 (AFP) – Peace broker Norway will launch a fresh bid to save Sri Lanka’s troubled peace process ahead of a September 1 deadline set by Tiger rebels for European truce monitors to quit, officials said Wednesday. Special envoy Jon Hanssen-Bauer will arrive on the island in the “early part of August” to […]

COLOMBO, July 24, 2006 (AFP) – Suspected Tamil Tiger rebels shot dead a pro-government Tamil politician in Sri Lanka’s main city of Colombo Monday, police said. A lone gunman killed Mark Kanapathipillai of the Eelam Democratic People’s Party (EPDP), police said adding that the victim was a close associate of party leader Douglas Devananda. The […]