Tag: lankabusinessonline

HABARANA, Sri Lanka, Oct 17, 2006 (AFP) – The mobile phones, stowed in bags still on board shattered, blackened buses, rang until dawn as frantic relatives sought news of their sons, Sri Lankan sailors about to come home on leave.“It’s a very terrible situation — more than 100 deaths and now so much to do. […]

DAMBULLA, Oct 17, 2006 (AFP) – Through a narrow doorway leading to the dead, the grim routine of cataloguing the slain from Sri Lanka’s latest suicide bombing ground on late into the night.Dazed young sailors, some smelling of alcohol, crowded round the doorway in a building set apart at one end of the hospital grounds […]

Oct 17, 2006 (AFP) – The worsening cycle of violence in Sri Lanka, where Tamil Tiger rebels this week launched their bloodiest-ever suicide attack, is a sign that neither side in the brutal ethnic conflict is ready to sit down for talks slated for next week, analysts said Tuesday.In the latest carnage, more than 100 […]

Oct 16, 2006 (AFP) – A Japanese peace envoy opened talks with Sri Lankan leaders Monday as the international community stepped up pressure to salvage peace talks many fear have been doomed by an upsurge in violence.More than 60,000 people have been killed in the three-decades-old conflict for a Tamil homeland on the Sinhalese-majority island.Yasushi […]

Oct 16, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka suffered its worst ever suicide attack on Monday when suspected Tamil Tiger rebels detonated a truck packed with explosives next to a convoy of sailors, killing at least 102 people and wounding 150 more.More than 60,000 people have been killed in the three-decades-old conflict for a Tamil homeland […]

Oct 16, 2006 (AFP) – A Sri Lankan war plane crashed Monday shortly after take off on a mission to attack Tamil Tiger rebels, official sources said adding that pilot ejected and there were no casualties on the ground.The Israeli-built Kfir jet crashed shortly after take off from the main Katunayake airbase which is located […]

Oct 15, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s navy sank a suspected Tamil Tiger trawler Sunday along the island’s northwest coast, killing at least four people, after the ship opened fire on patrol craft, military sources said.Naval patrols had ordered the trawler to stop before it fired on the government boats, a source said, adding that […]

Oct 15, 2006 (AFP) – The Tamil Tigers’ pummeling of Sri Lankan troops has proved that, despite apparent battlefield setbacks, they are still a force to be reckoned with ahead of peace talks later this month, analysts say. In just six hours last Wednesday, the Tigers turned back a government push into their territory, deftly […]

Oct 15, 2006 (AFP) – Japanese peace envoy Yasushi Akashi was expected in Sri Lanka Sunday for talks with government and rebel leaders amid fears that the island is veering dangerously close to all-out war.His arrival follows reports of overnight shelling and other bloodshed that capped off one of Sri Lanka’s most violent weeks since […]

Oct 14, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lankan army jets dropped 48 bombs on a village in Tamil Tiger-controlled territory on Friday, a pro-rebel website said, amid ongoing violence in the troubled northeast.Japan, Sri Lanka’s main financial backer, was also sending special peace envoy Yasushi Akashi to the island on Sunday to meet with the government […]

Oct 14, 2006 (AFP) – The bodies of 15 aid workers massacred in Sri Lanka will be exhumed next week in a fresh bid to determine who killed them, their French employer said Saturday as sporadic fighting continued in the troubled north of the island.The aid victims were among 17 mostly Tamil workers with the […]

HELSINKI, Oct 14, 2006 (AFP) – The European Union on Saturday urged Sri Lanka’s leaders and the Tamil Tiger rebels to end fierce fighting which threatens peace talks due this month, after a week of raging violence there.“The presidency urges the government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE to ensure that humanitarian aid deliveries be […]