Category: Politics

LONDON, March 20, 2007 (AFP) – Somalia has overtaken Iraq as the world’s most dangerous country for minority groups, a report from a leading human rights group said Tuesday.The research, from Minority Rights Group International (MRG), placed Somalia first, Iraq second and Sudan third in its “Peoples Under Threat” list. Although Afghanistan came fourth and […]

COLOMBO, March 21, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lankan troops and Tiger rebels fought a pitched battle in the island’s restive east Wednesday, killing at least 12 from both sides and wounding more than 30, military officials said. The rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) launched a pre-dawn mortar attack on an army camp at […]

COLOMBO, March 21, 2007 (AFP) – Tiger rebels on Wednesday fought pitched battles with troops in Sri Lanka while war planes bombed guerrilla positions, the military said, placing the death toll from both sides at 18. Troops and the Tamil Tigers were locked in fierce mortar and artillery duels for five hours in the east […]

COLOMBO, March 20, 2007 (AFP) – Government troops destroyed four boats believed to be carrying Tamil Tiger guerrillas in northern Sri Lanka, the defence ministry said Tuesday, as one civilian was shot dead in other violence.Troops attacked four suspected Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) boats off the Jaffna peninsula around midnight Monday, the ministry […]

GENEVA, March 20, 2007 (AFP) – Some 95,000 people have fled fierce fighting in Sri Lanka’s eastern Batticaloa district in the past week, the UN food relief agency said Tuesday.World Food Programme spokesman Simon Pluess said the fighting between government forces and Tamil Tiger rebels in the area had triggered a “dramatically increased number of […]

Air attacks, land battles in Sri Lanka after ship sinkings ATTENTION – ADDS sabotage of electricity, new mine attack, air strikes /// March 19, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lankan troops and Tamil Tiger rebels have fought fierce land battles after government forces said they sank two ships smuggling weapons for the guerrillas, the defence ministry […]

March 18, 2007 (AFP) – A Sri Lankan defence official said the navy sank a ship of the eastern coast Sunday that was believed to be smuggling weapons for Tamil Tiger rebels.There have been increasing clashes between suspected Tamil Tiger ships and the Sri Lankan navy in recent months amid heavy fighting in the island’s […]

March 18, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s navy on Sunday sank two cargo vessels believed to be smuggling weapons and explosives for Tamil Tiger rebels, the defence ministry said. Sri Lankan naval craft shelled the first ship after it failed to stop for an inspection and opened fire on the navy, ministry spokesman Prasad Samarasinghe […]

March 17, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lankan police arrested on Saturday a government legislator who had accused his own ruling party of striking a secret deal with Tamil Tiger rebels, an official said. . Lawmaker Sripathi Sooriarachchi was arrested and taken before a magistrate who remanded him to judicial custody for two weeks, a police […]

COLOMBO, March 17, 2007 (AFP) – Government troops and Tiger rebels traded artillery attacks in northern Sri Lanka Saturday as the overnight toll rose to at least six soldiers and a rebel killed, officials said.More than 4,000 people have been killed in a new wave of fighting since December 2005 despite a truce that has […]

WASHINGTON, March 16, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama on Friday sought international help to prod Tamil Tiger rebels waging a battle for a separate homeland to return to the negotiating table. “The international community should once again seek to prevail upon the LTTE to return to the negotiations and to negotiate […]

COLOMBO, March 16, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lankan troops Friday shot dead a suspected Tamil Tiger rebel suicide bomber in the northern district of Jaffna, the defence ministry said.Army personnel had come across the suspected guerrilla wearing a jacket packed with explosives while manning a road block at Savalkattu junction around Friday afternoon. The suspect […]