Category: Politics

COLOMBO, Aug 22, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka Tuesday welcomed the arrest in the United States of men allegedly trying to buy surface-to-air missiles for Tamil Tiger rebels and said the crackdown was “tangible support” for the war against terrorism.Sri Lanka’s government said US authorities had filed charges against eight people accused of trying to […]

Aug 22, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lankan police Tuesday discovered a powerful Claymore mine in a crowded Colombo market area as the city hosted thousands of athletes for the South Asian Games. The 15-kilogram (33 pound) device was found rigged up to a vegetable vendor’s bicycle in the Borella district of the city, a police […]

Aug 22, 2006 (AFP) – A Sri Lankan cargo ship is to set sail Tuesday with food aid for the embattled Jaffna peninsula but it may go half-empty because bad weather has disrupted loading, officials said. The vessel must leave as the food is badly needed by civilians in the northern district where fighting between […]

Aug 22, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lankan warplanes bombed a suspected Tamil Tiger munitions dump Tuesday as a ship prepared to sail with food for tens of thousands cut off by fighting in the besieged Jaffna peninsula.Israeli-built Kfir jets attacked a Tiger position close to the frontline of fighting in the northern district where rebels […]

Aug 22, 2006 (AFP) – At least 159 Sri Lankan soldiers were killed and 485 were wounded while resisting a Tamil Tiger offensive against the northern peninsula of Jaffna, the military said Tuesday.During the 11-day offensive, the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) lost at least 487 of their fighters, military spokesman Prasad Samarasinghe […]

Aug 21, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lankan troops and Tigers are locked in fierce fighting over Jaffna, but analysts say the arid peninsula is of little real value to either party except as a symbol. Yet, more blood has been spilt over Jaffna than any other region in Sri Lanka. The latest fighting, which began […]

Aug 21, 2006 (AFP) – The monitors of Sri Lanka’s collapsing truce were retreating to Colombo amid fierce fighting as the nation’s financial backers met the president to press for a return to peace talks, officials said Monday.Clashes continued between government troops and separatist Tamil Tiger rebels amid growing concern over food shortages in parts […]

Aug 20 (AFP) – A foreign team monitoring Sri Lanka’s crumbling ceasefire will be almost halved after Tamil Tiger rebels ordered members from European Union states to leave the country, the group said Sunday.The team will be reduced from a full strength of 57 members to 30 next month after the Liberation Tigers of Tamil […]

Aug 19 (AFP) – Sri Lankan troops bombed an alleged Tamil Tiger seabase and traded fire with rebels in the northern Jaffna peninsula amid concern over supplies for thousands of civilians who fled fierce fighting, officials said Saturday.An airforce jet bombed a boatyard in Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) territory claiming it was used […]

Aug 19 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s airforce Saturday said it had destroyed attack craft used by Tamil Tigers in an airstrike on a boatyard in rebel-held territory.The military said it had destroyed many boats in Friday’s raid on the yard in the northern Jaffna peninsula where the guerrillas were building boats to launch seaborne attacks […]

HELSINKI, Aug 18, 2006 (AFP) – The Finnish presidency of the European Union has called on the warring parties in Sri Lanka to return to the negotiating table after renewed fighting in the South Asian island nation. “The presidency urges the government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to cease […]