Category: Politics

Jan 13, 2007 (AFP) – British detectives have removed “exhibits” for forensic tests to try to identify the assassins of a Sri Lankan Tamil legislator, the British High Commission (embassy) here said Saturday. A team from Scotland Yard spent 10 days in Sri Lanka advising local police probing the killing two months ago of legislator […]

NEW DELHI, Jan 12, 2007 (AFP) – War-torn Sri Lanka and politically unstable Bangladesh suffered worsening human rights violations in 2006 while other parts of the subcontinent saw scant progress, Human Rights Watch said Thursday.In its annual report, the New York-based watchdog said Bangladesh’s “already poor human rights record worsened, as security forces continued to […]

Jan 12, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lankan commandos have taken at least eight bases used by Tamil Tiger guerrillas to launch attacks in the country’s east following an operation lasting several days, military officials said Friday. The elite Special Task Force commandos took the eighth base in the district of Ampara early Friday after a […]

Jan 12, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka has reactivated a mass detention centre to hold people rounded up during recent arrests of suspects allegedly linked to terrorism, police said Friday. A first batch of 60 people detained at police stations in Colombo will be sent Friday to the centre in Boossa, around 100 kilometres (60 […]

Jan 12, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse on Friday appointed a former United Nations official as the country’s top official to lead the ministry of foreign affairs. Palitha Kohona, 58, currently the head of the government’s office coordinating with peace broker Norway, was appointed Secretary to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with […]

Jan 12, 2007 (AFP) – At least 14 people were killed and another 61,000 made homeless in south and central Sri Lanka Friday in flash floods caused by heavy monsoon rains, relief officials said. The National Disaster Management Centre said two people were buried alive in a mudslide at Walapane while another was killed in […]

COLOMBO, Jan 11, 2007 (AFP) – Elite police commandos captured a key Tamil Tiger base Thursday after killing four guerrillas in a confrontation in eastern Sri Lanka, the defence ministry said.Sri Lanka troops take Tiger base after killing four The police Special Task Force commandos took the base known as “Janaka” in the district of […]

JAKARTA, Jan 10, 2007 (AFP) – Indonesia on Wednesday deported to the United States a Sri Lankan wanted by US police for smuggling military equipment to Tamil Tiger rebels, police said.“Sri Lankan national Pratheepan Thavarajah, was today (Wednesday) extradited to the United States through the Sukarno-Hatta international airport,” a national police spokesman, Bambang Kuncoko, said. […]

COLOMBO, Jan 10, 2007 (AFP) – At least 16 Tamil Tiger rebels were killed in clashes with security forces and rival rebels in Sri Lanka’s embattled eastern province, the defence ministry said Wednesday.At least 10 members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) were killed and another 25 wounded when troops retaliated against a […]

Jan 9, 2007 (AFP) – At least four civilians were killed and 16 hurt by Sri Lankan army shelling inside rebel-held territory, the Tamil Tigers said Tuesday, as sporadic violence was reported in the island’s troubled northeast. The rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said on its website that one more civilian was killed […]

Jan 9, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s president Tuesday said a cabinet reshuffle was being considered but discounted local media reports that he would call a snap parliamentary election. President Mahinda Rajapakse said he saw no reason for a general election “at this stage,” according to a statement released by his office. “There were no […]

Jan 9, 2007 (AFP) – Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee arrived in Sri Lanka Tuesday to invite President Mahinda Rajapakse to attend a South Asian summit in New Delhi in April, officials said. Mukherjee opened talks with his Sri Lankan counterpart Mangala Samaraweera here ahead of talks with Rajapakse and Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake before […]