Category: Politics

Apr. 30 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s main political parties have agreed to call off May Day rallies scheduled for Monday because of fears that large gatherings could attract suicide bombers, a government minister said.Plan Implementation Minister Keheliya Rambukwella said there was a consensus among political parties to avoid large meetings after a female suicide bomber […]

TRINCOMALEE, Apr. 30 (AFP) – The governor of Sri Lanka’s Northeast Province has played down civilian casualties inflicted during military strikes on Tamil Tiger areas, saying they were lower even than those caused by one recent Tiger bombing. “Considering the amount of firepower, the collateral damage is minimal,” Rear Admiral Mohan Wijewickrama said in an […]

Apr. 30 (AFP) – At least 18 rebels were killed and many more wounded when Tamil Tiger guerrillas on Sunday launched a major attack against a breakaway faction in eastern Sri Lanka, military and rebel sources said.The battle was one of the bloodiest incidents in an escalation of violence in recent weeks that has severely […]

Apr. 30 (AFP) – Four children were killed in government air strikes in northeastern Sri Lanka last week, the United Nations children’s agency said Sunday, urging the reopening of schools in the affected area.UNICEF, which sent a mission to the rebel-held areas of Trincomalee district, said two schools were damaged in the bombardment. “Four children […]

Apr. 30 (AFP) – Sri Lanka on Sunday protested an allegation by Scandinavian truce monitors that government forces may have been responsible for extrajudicial killings. Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapakse met Ulf Henricsson, the head of the truce monitoring mission, to demand an explanation for Saturday’s statement, a top government official said. The Sri Lanka Monitoring […]

April 30 (AFP) – Sri Lankan security forces fired artillery guns at suspected Tamil Tiger positions after the rebels carried out an abortive attack on a fishing community and wounded at least two civilians, police said.Troops kept up the barrage against the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) after the guerrillas stormed into a […]

Apr. 29 (AFP) – A woman soldier has died of her injuries, bringing to 11 the number of people killed in a suicide bomb attack against Sri Lanka’s army chief, a hospital spokeswoman said Saturday. The soldier died at the national hospital in Colombo on Friday, spokeswoman Pushpa Soysa said. The dead include 10 victims […]

Apr. 29 (AFP) – Sri Lanka is facing a propaganda war more dangerous than the recent violence in the country, the president said, as newspapers on Saturday accused foreign journalists of biased coverage. “Now we are confronted with a more dangerous war — that is the propaganda war,” President Mahinda Rajapakse told a meeting of […]

Apr. 29 (AFP) – Sri Lanka violated a ceasefire with Tamil Tiger rebels by launching air strikes this week, foreign truce monitors said Saturday, expressing fears government forces had also been involved in extrajudicial killings. The strikes conducted on Tiger targets in northeastern Trincomalee district on Tuesday and Wednesday “are a clear violation of the […]

TRINCOMALEE, Apr. 29 (AFP) – Community leaders met in this northeastern Sri Lankan port town Saturday in a bid to defuse tension and suspicion between Sinhalese and Tamils following the bombing of a busy market that killed 17 people. “Trincomalee has always been a power-game area,” he said. “Various groups play their power games here. […]

OSLO, Apr. 28 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s international donors meeting in Oslo on Friday pressed both rebels and the Sri Lankan government to return to negotiations to shore up the country’s faltering ceasefire.“We call upon both sides to put a stop to the violence.On this basis we call upon the two parties to come to […]

Apr. 28 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s bloodiest bombings in four years have made investors jittery and led to the first-ever downgrade in the island’s sovereign ratings, industry officials said Friday. Three British nationals were wounded in a mine attack aimed at a naval bus in the island’s northeast this month, prompting Britain to issue a […]