Category: Politics

SAMPUR, Sri Lanka, May 9 (AFP) – A smiling Sri Lankan army soldier lifts a thin metal barrier and you head toward Tamil Tiger rebel territory.Troops from the two sides are surprisingly close, about the length of a football pitch, on this edgy ceasefire line in northeastern Sri Lanka. Violence between government and rebel forces […]

May 9, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lankan troops recovered Tuesday seven Claymore mines, guns and a large quantity of ammunition belonging to Tamil Tiger guerrillas, the defence ministry said.The mines weighing 70 kilos (154 pounds) were found in the northern Jaffna peninsula together with two automatic assault rifles, hand grenades and remote-controlled detonating devices, the […]

COLOMBO, May 9, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tiger rebels Tuesday sought foreign help to halt alleged military attacks against them and warned that the island could face “doom” if they decided to retaliate.The rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) appealed to Japanese envoy Yasushi Akashi to persuade the Sri Lankan government to […]

COLOMBO, May 8, 2006 (AFP) – At least 11 people were killed in factional fighting in Sri Lanka on Monday, defence sources said, as a Japanese envoy sought to salvage the island’s faltering peace process. A breakaway faction of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) launched a pre-dawn attack against a base of the […]

TRINCOMALEE, Sri Lanka, May 8, 2006 (AFP) – Sweat glistens on the faces of Sri Lankan army soldiers in the early-morning heat as they search the edges of a red-dirt road for the weapon that is increasingly killing them Since December, suspected Tamil Tiger rebels have exploded dozens of Claymore mines, Scandinavian truce monitors say, […]

May 7, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka imposed a curfew in the restive Jaffna peninsula Sunday as a Japanese envoy began talks with government officials to try to save a faltering peace process amid escalating violence.The security forces clamped the indefinite curfew ahead of demonstrations called by residents to protest Thursday’s killing of seven men […]

TRINCOMALEE, Sri Lanka, May 7, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tigers are increasingly taking their fight to the sea thanks to a secretive and lethal rebel “navy”, a rarity among the world’s guerrilla forces, observers say.Founded in the early 1990s, the “Sea Tigers” claim to have sunk dozens of naval vessels over the years […]

May 7 (AFP) – A senior Japanese envoy began talks with government officials Sunday to try to save Sri Lanka’s peace process as Tamil rebels said troops abducted eight men in the island’s north. The men had slept overnight at a Hindu temple after a ceremony in the Jaffna peninsula before troops allegedly took them […]