Category: Politics

June 18, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s army chief Sarath Fonseka who survived a suicide bomb assassination attempt two months ago has been flown to Singapore for medical treatment, military officials said Sunday. Lieutenant General Fonseka, who was critically wounded in the bomb attack carried out inside the tightly-guarded army headquarters here on April 25, […]

June 18, 2006 (AFP) – A mine attack blamed on Tamil Tiger rebels killed three Sri Lankan police Sunday following a day of fierce land and sea battles that left more than 50 people dead.Peace broker Norway last week failed to arrange face-to-face talks between the Colombo government and the LTTE in Oslo. The constables […]

June 18, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lankan police Sunday were investigating a new type of improvised sea mine developed by Tamil Tiger rebels to target naval craft, police chief Chandra Fernando said Sunday. Police have questioned four of five men arrested Saturday while laying the mines, which are similar to limpet mines. They stick magnetically […]

June 17, 2006 (AFP) – At least 15 Sri Lankan naval troops, 30 Tamil Tiger rebels and six civilians were killed in major sea and land battles along the island’s northwestern coast Saturday, officials said.Helicopter gunships were pressed in to defend naval patrol craft which came under attack off the northwestern coast, the defence ministry […]

17, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tiger rebels Saturday warned the government that they will retaliate against air strikes and artillery attacks carried out by security forces amid escalating violence. The rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said they asked peace broker Norway to convey a “strong warning to Colombo of possible retaliation […]

June 17, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lankan police Saturday arrested five suspected Tamil Tiger frogmen who were laying mines along a strategic sea lane used by naval craft, police chief Chandra Fernando said.The inspector general of police said information from local residents helped them to make the arrest of the frogmen laying a locally produced […]

June 16, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s president vowed not to allow the killing of 64 bus passengers derail the island’s peace process as the air force bombarded Tamil Tiger positions Friday for a second straight day. Security was stepped up in the main city of Colombo as the authorities prepared to hold a mass […]

June 16, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lankan air force jets bombarded suspected Tamil Tiger positions Friday for a second straight day after the rebels were blamed for a landmine blast that killed 64 people, a military official said.Warplanes bombed Tiger positions in the island’s northern and eastern regions at first light and again at last […]

KEBITIGOLLEWA, Sri Lanka, June 15, 2006 (AFP) – Suspected Tamil Tiger rebels blew up a packed bus Thursday, killing 64 passengers, including 15 children, in the deadliest attack on civilians in Sri Lanka for 10 years, the military said.Sri Lanka’s key foreign backers condemned the bombing and blamed the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam […]

KEBITIGOLLEWA, Sri Lanka, June 15, 2006 (AFP) – The crowded bus was ferrying mothers and children to a free medical clinic in central Sri Lanka, but many ended up in a make-shift morgue after a landmine blast by suspected Tamil rebels.The yellow and green bus, meant to carry only 60 passengers, was already loaded with […]

OSLO, June 15, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera on Thursday said Tamil Tiger rebel leader Velupillai Prabhakaran should be tried for war crimes, Norwegian news agency NTB reported. “There is a great obstacle to peace in Sri Lanka, and it’s not the (rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) LTTE, it’s the […]

June 15, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tiger rebels denied involvement in Thursday’s bus bombing that killed at least 64 passengers and said the blast had been aimed at discrediting them.The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rejected government charges that they carried out the morning attack near Kebitigollewa town in the North-Central Province […]