Category: Politics

May 14, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka Police asked for help from the public Sunday to identify a woman suicide bomber who attacked the island’s army chief killing 10 people. The police Criminal Investigations Department said in a statement that the bomber had yet to be identified contrary to earlier claims that she was a […]

May 14, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapakse has warned Tiger rebels not to take his patience for weakness and vowed to defend his country against attacks.Rajapakse, 60, said in an interview with the Sunday Times newspaper he was committed peacefully to settling the Tamil separatist conflict and had ordered recent air attacks […]

May 14, 2006 (AFP) – May 14, 2006 (AFP) – At least 19 people have been killed in fresh violence in Sri Lanka, officials said Sunday, as Tamil Tigers vowed a “war” to deploy their navy even though truce monitors say it violates a ceasefire. Thirteen of the victims were gunned down in separate incidents […]

UNITED NATIONS, May 12, 2006 (AFP) – UN Secretary General Kofi Annan on Friday made a fresh appeal to Sri Lanka’s government and Tamil rebels to end violence and resume Norwegian-brokered peace talks.UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Annan, who is on a visit to Austria, was “disturbed by the news of major sea and aerial […]

May 13, 2006 (AFP) – The European Union criticised Sri Lankan rebels Saturday for staging a deadly sea attack and warned that the escalation in violence could wreck any chance of returning to peace talks.The statement came two days after a Tamil Tiger suicide attack on a navy gunboat that killed its 18-man crew, dealing […]

May 12, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s airforce bombed a rebel airfield in the island’s north to “deter further attacks” by the guerrillas after they sank a navy gunboat and killed 18 people, the government said Friday. The airforce carried out a “limited operation” to bomb the airfield of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam […]

May 12, 2006 (AFP) – Tamil Tiger Friday rejected a ceasefire ruling against them and demanded “sovereign rights” as Sri Lanka’s military hunted for the bodies of 18 people killed in a major sea battle.The rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) insisted they will operate naval and air wings and slammed Scandinavian ceasefire monitors […]

May 12, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s truce prevents Tiger rebels from venturing out to sea, but “Sea Tiger” sailors are openly defying the ban and testing the resolve of the government and Nordic peace monitors, officials say.The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) sparked a fresh row over their right to operate their deadly […]

May 11, 2006 (AFP) – Tamil Tiger rebels sank two Sri Lankan navy gunboats in sea battles on Thursday and attacked a ferry transporting 700 soldiers, Scandinavian truce monitors said, as the military hit back with air strikes.The military called in jets to bomb suspected Tamil Tiger positions after the sinkings at two locations along […]

May 11, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s military hit back with air strikes on Thursday after a fierce sea battle with Tamil Tiger rebels left at least 45 dead, according to the navy, and punched another hole in a flimsy three-year truce.In January, suspected Tamil Tiger rebels blew up another Dvora gunboat, killing 15 sailors, […]