Tag: news

Feb 27, 2007 (AFP) – The ambassadors of the United States and Italy were wounded Tuesday in an artillery attack by suspected Tamil rebels in eastern Sri Lanka, Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe told AFP.Samarasinghe, who was accompanying a group of Colombo-based diplomats to the district of Batticaloa, said the attack came shortly after one […]

TOKYO, Feb 27, 2007 (AFP) – Japan’s ambassador to Sri Lanka is safe after Tamil rebels attacked a group of diplomats Tuesday, wounding the US and Italian envoys, the foreign ministry said.Ambassador Kiyoshi Araki was one of the diplomats who had flown in two helicopters to the island’s restive eastern Batticaloa district. “Our ambassador was […]

COLOMBO, Feb 27, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lankan jets bombed suspected Tamil Tiger positions in eastern Sri Lanka on Tuesday after the rebels shelled two military helicopters and wounded three Western diplomats, officials said.Air force aircraft attacked the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) who admitted they shelled the landing points of military aircraft which […]

BEIJING, Feb 27, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s foreign minister condemned an artillery attack Tuesday by Tamil Tiger rebels that wounded the German, Italian and US ambassadors, saying it was a deliberate strike against the diplomats.“The government of Sri Lanka condemns this attack by the LTTE in the strongest terms,” Rohitha Bogollagama, who is accompanying […]

BEIJING, Feb 26, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse began a week-long state visit to China on Monday — and showed up with an elephant as a gift as well as a large delegation, state media said.Rajapakse, in China to mark 50 years of diplomatic ties between the countries, will meet Chinese President […]

COLOMBO, Feb 25, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lankan troops seized at least four bases from Tamil Tiger strongholds in the northeast in the past week, the defence ministry said Sunday, in fighting that has forced thousands to flee.The LTTE has not commented on the military’s claim, but on Thursday night announced they were relaunching their […]

Feb 25, 2007 (AFP) – As thousands flee for their lives amid heavy weekend artillery fire in northern and eastern Sri Lanka, analysts say the government, Tamil rebels and Norway are clinging to a truce that is dead.The Oslo-backed peace process suffered yet another blow last week when the rebels vowed to resume their campaign […]

SYDNEY, Feb 24, 2007 (AFP) – Australia vowed Saturday not to send home a group of 85, mostly Sri Lankan boat people if it meant they would face persecution.The Australian government said the fate of the group, intercepted by a navy ship this week, was being discussed with both Jakarta and the tiny Pacific nation […]

COLOMBO, Feb 23, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka and the rebel Tamil Tigers marked the fifth anniversary of their truce on Friday, hours after the guerrillas said the deal was all but dead and that they will press ahead for full statehood.The party of nationalist Buddhist monks argued that there was no need for the […]

COLOMBO, Feb 22, 2007 (AFP) – Three civilians were found shot dead in northern Sri Lanka and a soldier was killed in the country’s east Thursday, on the eve of the fifth anniversary of a failed truce agreement, police said. The bullet-riddled bodies of the civilians were found in three locations in the town of […]

COLOMBO, Feb 22, 2007 (AFP) – Norway’s top peace broker in Sri Lanka, Erik Solheim, Thursday offered to go the extra mile to revive the stalled process on the eve of the fifth anniversary of a moribund truce.Solheim, who is also Norway’s international development minister, expressed the hope that Sri Lanka’s government and the Liberation […]