Tag: Sri Lanka

COLOMBO, March 3, 2008 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s navy on Monday rescued 71 Myanmar and Bangladeshi survivors adrift in the Indian Ocean after 20 people died aboard their wooden boat, a navy spokesman said.The survivors would be brought to the capital Colombo, navy officials said. The craft developed engine trouble and was towed to Sri […]

March 3, 2008 (AFP) – Artillery exchanges between Sri Lankan troops and Tamil Tiger separatists across the embattled tropical island’s north left at least 25 rebels and two soldiers dead, the defence ministry said Monday.Heavy fighting in Vavuniya and Weli Oya left 21 rebels dead on Sunday, the ministry said in a statement, putting government […]

March 2, 2008 (AFP) – A government soldier was killed in a roadside bomb attack carried out by Tamil Tiger guerrillas Sunday in northern Sri Lanka, the army said.Casualty figures provided by both sides differ vastly and cannot be independently verified since the government bars journalists and human rights workers from frontline and rebel-held areas. […]

Mar 01, 2008 (LBO) – Another mediaman who filmed a confrontation between state TV workers and a minister who stormed the station’s newsroom has been threatened by gangsters, a media rights body said. Assistant camera news director Priyal Ranjith Perera had been threatened by a four-member gang who came to his residence and appeared to […]

March 1, 2008 (AFP) – A police officer wounded in a suicide bombing died in hospital Saturday, a hospital spokesman said as Sri Lanka’s defence ministry claimed security forces had killed 45 rebels in fresh fighting.The policeman died of his injuries a day after being caught in a huge blast detonated by a suspected Tamil […]

Feb 29, 2008 (AFP) – A Tamil Tiger suicide bomber blew himself up on Friday injuring seven people as police moved in to search his house in the Sri Lankan capital, police and military officials said. Casualty figures provided by both sides differ vastly and cannot be independently verified. The government bars journalists and human […]

Feb 29, 2008 (AFP) – A powerful explosion ripped through a house in Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo early Friday, police said, adding that at least seven people were wounded.“At least seven people were taken to hospital after the blast,” a police official at the scene said. The blast came as the authorities had stepped up […]

Feb 28, 2008 (LBO) – A bomb exploded during a search operation in the Kotahena area of Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo Friday morning, injuring four police officers and three civilians, police said. There has been intense fighting in the Mannar area on the northwest of the island in recent weeks. The capital is under tight […]

Feb 29, 2008 (LBO) – A Tamil Tiger suicide bomber triggered a bomb during a search operation in Colombo’s Kotahena area and a pistol and ammunition had been recovered in subsequent search operations, the military said. There has been intense fighting in the Mannar area on the northwest of the island in recent weeks. Updated […]