| 8
civilians killed in SLAF bombardment
in Poonakari,
children among victims |
(TamilNet)
22 02 2008 GMT 19:00
 |
Eight
civilians including a 6-month-old
infant, a 4-year-old boy, their mother,
a 8-year-old girl and an English teacher
were killed, 14 including four children
and another teacher were wounded in
a Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) aerial
bombardment of a civilian settlement
at Kiraagnchi in the Poonakari division
of Ki'linochchi district Friday at
8:10 a.m. Three houses were fully
destroyed and many houses have sustained
damage in the indiscriminate aerial
bombardment in which more than 20
bombs were dropped by four bombers.
Meanwhile, Sri Lankan ministry of
defence in Colombo claimed that the
SLAF had attacked "an inland
sea tiger base" at Kiraagnchi.
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| 14
dead in Sri Lanka bombings, president
says winning war |
(AFP)
04 02 2008 GMT 17:00
 |
At
least 14 people were killed in two
roadside bombings in Sri Lanka, as
the island's president marked independence
day by insisting he was winning the
war against Tamil Tiger rebels.
A
bomb in the northeast of the ethnically-divided
island killed 13 bus passengers and
wounded 16 others, including children,
the military said, adding that among
the dead were two women and two off-duty
soldiers.
A
similar blast in the south against
a military vehicle killed one soldier.
Three other soldiers escaped with
injuries.
The
attacks, both blamed on the Tamil
Tigers, came hours after an annual
military parade at Colombo's seaside
Galle Face promenade to mark Sri Lanka's
60th anniversary of independence from
Britain.
In
an address to the nation, President
Mahinda Rajapakse said the "challenge
bestowed upon us by history is the
defeat of terrorism," and said
government forces had cornered the
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)
in the north.
"We
faced this challenge squarely without
avoiding it. Our security forces are
today achieving victories against
terrorism unprecedented in history,"
he said.
"Terrorism
is receiving an unprecedented defeat,"
said Rajapakse, whose government last
month pulled out of a tattered truce
with the rebels, who are fighting
for an independent ethnic homeland
in the Sinhalese-majority island.
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| Suicide
bombing kills 12 at Sri Lanka train
station |
(AFP)
03 02 2008 GMT 18:00
 |
A
suicide bomber attacked a train at
Colombo's main railway station Sunday,
killing at least 12 and injuring 100
others on the eve of Sri Lanka's independence
day celebrations, officials said.
The
blast near a suburban train as it
arrived at the Fort terminal came
just hours after six people were hurt
in a hand grenade attack at Sri Lanka's
main zoo on the outskirts of Colombo,
prompting authorities to boost security.
Fearing
more such attacks, the government
put off by three days Monday's opening
of a public exhibition marking Independence
Day, officials said, adding that it
was due to "security considerations."
A
police spokesman said the train attack
had been carried out by a suspected
female operative of the Tamil Tigers,
the rebel group fighting to carve
out a separate homeland in the ethnic
Sinhalese-majority island nation.
"The
bombing has all the hallmarks of the
Tigers," a police officer at
the scene said. "The head of
the woman suicide bomber was found
on a platform."
The
officer said initial reports indicated
that the woman had blown herself up
aboard the train, but forensic experts
later determined that she had carried
out the attack on the platform as
passengers were exiting the train.
There
was no immediate claim of responsibility
for the attack, but defence officials
said they believed it to be the work
of the separatist Liberation Tigers
of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
The
United States, one of Sri Lanka's
main financial backers, condemned
the spate of bombings and asked all
sides in the decades-old conflict
to ensure the safety of civilians.

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| Britain
warns Sri Lanka |
(AFP)
11 12 2007 GMT 07:50
 |
Britain’s
top envoy to Sri Lanka has asked the
government to improve its human rights
record and politically end the island’s
drawn out Tamil separatist conflict
or risk international sanctions.
British
High Commissioner (ambassador) Dominick
Chilcott said the UK had a direct
interest in ending the conflict in
its former colony, partly because
of the law and order problems in London
caused by rival Sri Lankan groups.
Chilcott,
making his final public appearance
before his posting as number two in
the British mission in Washington
early next year, issued thinly veiled
warnings on the government to improve
its rights record.
Sri
Lanka has repeatedly resisted calls
for United Nations (UN) monitoring
of human rights amidst allegations
that over 1,000 people had been killed
or disappeared at the hands of government
forces fighting Tamil rebels this
year.
Chilcott
warned that it would be a mistake
to view something as sensitive as
human rights as a purely internal
matter.
"Those
who argue for the inviolability of
the principle of non-interference
in the internal affairs of a country
are swimming against the tide of history,"
he said while adding that intervention
may not always mean military action.
"There
are many non-military interventions
that a country can make - from arguing
and persuading, to economic and political
sanctions," he said.
He
cautioned the government to immediately
to stop equating human rights campaigners
as "unpatriotic" and halt
"demonising" United Nations
agencies operating in the island’s
embattled regions.
"There
should be no further equating support
for human rights and the rule of law
with support for the LTTE (Liberation
Tigers of Tamil Eelam)," he said.
"Being
critical of the government’s
record on human rights does not mean
you support the LTTE. For the record,
let me say again, the British government,
which outlawed the LTTE in 2001, unreservedly
condemns the LTTE’s terrorist
activities.
"It
would also be good to see greater
recognition that there is no contradiction
in being a peace campaigner and a
patriotic Sri Lankan," he added.
There
was no immediate reaction to Chilcott’s
address at a ceremony commemorating
prime minister Dudley Senanayake.
Chilcott
said Britain was against the tactics
adopted by the Tiger guerrillas, but
did not consider their demand for
a separate state as illegal.
"I
am not saying that the political aspiration
for Eelam (separate state) is illegitimate...
What is crucial, however, is what
methods are used... And the LTTE’s
methods are simply unacceptable."
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| Suicide
Bomb Targets Sri Lanka Official |
(AP)
28 11 2007 GMT 08:15
 |
A
female suicide bomber blew herself
up in the heart of Colombo on Wednesday,
killing one person in an attempt to
assassinate a government minister,
the military said.
The
attack took place outside the office
of Douglas Devananda, the minister
of social services and the leader
of the Eelam People's Democratic Party,
an ethnic Tamil party seen as a rival
to the Tamil Tigers rebel group, the
military said.
Devananda,
the repeated target of assassination
attempts, was not injured in the attack,
the military said. The blast killed
one of his staff members and critically
injured another, said Dr. Hector Weerasinghe,
the medical director of Colombo National
Hospital. A third person was lightly
injured, he said.
"This
was an attempt to kill the minister,"
said military spokesman Brig. Udaya
Nanayakkara.
Rebel
spokesman Rasiah Ilanthirayan said
he was unaware of the blast. The Tamil
Tigers, listed as a terror organization
by the United States and the European
Union, have carried out more than
240 suicide bombings.
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| SRI
LANKA: "Groundless" allegations
could threaten aid work - UN official |
(IRIN)
28 11 2007 GMT 08:14
 |
"Groundless
public accusations can seriously compromise
our ability to carry out humanitarian
and development work and are also
putting the safety and security of
UN staff and non-governmental organisation
(NGO) partners at risk," Neil
Buhne, the UN resident and humanitarian
coordinator in Sri Lanka, said in
a recent statement released by the
UN Inter Agency Standing Committee
(ISAC) country team.
Buhne's
warning came in response to recent
accusations against the UN Children's
Fund (UNICEF) by members of the Sri
Lankan opposition, widely circulated
in the local press. They include allegations
that the UN agency had imported "combat
rations" allegedly destined for
the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
(LTTE), that it had channelled finances
to a banned organisation, the Tamil
Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO),
and that its staff participated in
a local protest in June 2007. On 26
November UNICEF was accused of providing
the LTTE with bullet-proof vehicles.
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| Sri
Lanka vows to kill Tamil Tiger leader |
(AFP)
28 11 2007 GMT 08:04
 |
Sri
Lanka's government has marked the
birthday of Tamil Tiger leader Velupillai
Prabhakaran with a vow to kill him.
The island's powerful defence secretary,
Gotabhaya Rajapakse, said Colombo
now had the upper hand in the long-running
conflict, with the elusive guerrilla
chief limited in both his movements
and ability to score strategic victories.
Earlier
this month the political head of the
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE),
S.P. Thamilselvan, was killed in what
the government said was a precision
air strike on the north and not a
mere lucky hit.
"The killing of Thamilselvan
sent a very powerful message: they
know we have good intelligence on
their movements," Rajapakse told
AFP in an interview Monday at the
heavily-fortified defence ministry
in Colombo.
Monday
was also the day the LTTE chief marked
his 53rd birthday, and Rajapakse said
that if all goes to plan it will be
his last.
"We
are after him. We are specifically
targeting their leadership,"
he said.
"For
the last few months he (Prabhakaran)
has been even more restricted in his
movements. We want to keep them under
pressure. We are gathering intelligence,
information."
The
threat came as Prabhakaran was set
to give his annual speech from a jungle
hideout in his northern mini-state
marking the end of "heroes' week",
commemorating around 20,000 Tamils
who have died fighting for a separate
homeland.
Prabhakaran's
speech, due to be broadcast later
Tuesday, will come at the end of a
year of several setbacks for the LTTE.
Government
forces regained full control over
the east of the island in July, and
have also managed to sink what the
government says is the bulk of the
rebels' fabled fleet of gun-running
ships.
The
outspoken defence secretary, who is
also the brother of the island's president,
insisted that the tide of the 35-year-old
conflict -- Asia's longest-running
civil war -- was finally turning in
the government's favour.
He
also signalled that the year ahead
would see a renewed escalation of
the conflict, finally closing a chapter
of "phoney war' that began with
a 2002 Norwegian-brokered ceasefire
and its progressive collapse.
"Our
objective is to weaken them. We have
to defeat them militarily, we have
to control Wanni," he said of
the LTTE's northern stronghold.
"It
is possible. We just have to squeeze
them. Then a political solution becomes
possible," the defence secretary
said, repeating his view that the
Tamil Tigers only used a truce to
smuggle in more arms and can therefore
only be bombed into peace.
Prabhakaran,
in his speech Tuesday, is also expected
to cast aside any talk of diplomacy
and issue a rallying call to his thousands
of hardened guerrillas.
The
LTTE supremo, renowned for his ability
to bring out the suicidal tendencies
in his followers, has also managed
to withstand successive government
offensives in the past.
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Propping
up genocidal Sinhala State counterproductive,
International Community should change
approach
- LTTE leader
|
(TamilNet)
27 11 2007 GMT 12:4
 |
The
leader of the Liberation Tigers of
Tamil Eelam (LTTE), V Pirapaharan,
in his annual Heroes' Day statement
put a heavy responsibility on the
shoulders of the international community
for the breakdown of the peace process.
He said that the involvement of the
international community to resolve
the Tamil national question has been
unhelpful and added that their failure
to condemn unambiguously the military
path of the current regime has created
the present situation in the island.
He asserted that the propping up of
the genocidal Sinhala State by the
international community through economic
aid, military aid and subtle diplomatic
efforts will be counterproductive.
About the long and bitter history
of deception by the Sinhala State
he further said, “None of the
Southern parties are ready to accept
the core principles for a lasting
peace: the Tamil homeland, the Tamil
nation and the Tamil Right to self
determination. The ruling party is
adamant on unitary rule; the red and
yellow parties are calling for no
solution at all; and the main opposition
party, somersaulting from its earlier
position, is, on the one hand, saying
nothing concrete and using evasive
language to support the military actions
of the government and, on the other
hand, saying it supports peace efforts.
All this clearly clarifies our point
and proves beyond doubt that all the
Sinhala political parties are essentially
chauvinistic and anti-Tamil. To expect
a political solution from any of these
Southern parties is political naivety.”
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| Sri
Lanka says bombed rebel positions in
north |
(Reuters)
26 11 2007 GMT 17:10
 |
|
The Sri Lankan air force pounded Tamil
Tiger rebel positions on Monday in
the restive north and four civilians
were shot dead by rebels.
The
air raid in rebel-held Kilinochchi
and the attack on the civilians in
the north-central district of Anuradhapura
are the latest bouts in intensified
fighting between government forces
and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
(LTTE) rebels.
The
military is on alert for possible
Tamil Tiger rebel attacks during rebel
"Heroes' Week" celebrations
which will end on Tuesday after shadowy
rebel leader Velupillai Prabhakaran,
who lives in hiding, makes his annual
policy statement.
"Air
force jets bombed a LTTE leaders'
rendezvous point in Puthukudiyruppu
in the evening and 10 minutes later,
another identified LTTE target was
raided west of Kilinochchi,"
a spokesman at the Media Centre for
National Security said.
The
military said four civilians were
shot dead by the Tamil Tiger rebels
in Anuradhapura.
The
military also said 14 rebels had been
killed in north of the island in separate
clashes during the past 24 hours.
There
was no independent confirmation and
military analysts say both sides exaggerate
enemy losses and play down their own.
The
Tigers, marking "Heroes' Week"
by honouring comrades killed in the
fight for an independent state for
minority ethnic Tamils in the north
and east, were not immediately available
for comment.
"Normally
they increase their activities whereever
possible, we know that. Therefore
we have educated our troops to be
extra vigilant," military spokesman
Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said.
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| Sri
Lanka bombs Tamil Tiger-held north:
ministry |
(AFP)
25 11 2007 GMT 09:10
 |
| Sri
Lankan war planes bombed the Tamil
Tiger-held north Sunday, with the
government claiming it destroyed a
satellite communications centre but
the rebels saying only civilians were
killed.
The air strike hit
an area just outside the rebels' political
capital of Kilinochchi that was "also
a clandestine meeting place for LTTE
(Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam)
leaders," the defence ministry
said in a statement.
But the LTTE said
the attack only hit a civilian settlement,
killing three members of the same
family and injuring seven other locals.
The rebels also said
three more civilians died in the north
in a roadside bomb attack that it
claimed was carried out by the national
army's so-called deep penetration
units.
According to the LTTE,
the government was trying to disrupt
the rebels' "heroes' week"
celebrations, which ends on Tuesday
with an annual policy statement from
the group's elusive leader, Velupillai
Prabhakaran.
The government has
not commented on the roadside bombing.
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| Roadside
bomb blast kills 2 policemen in eastern
Sri Lanka, says military |
(AP)
24 11 2007 GMT 09:07
 |
| Suspected
Tamil Tiger rebels exploded a roadside
bomb in eastern Sri Lanka on Saturday,
killing two policemen, the military
said.
The blast occurred in Batticaloa district
around 10.00 a.m. as the two officers
were riding past on their motorbike,
a defense official said on condition
of anonymity, citing government policy.
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| Sri
Lanka bans Tamil Rehabilitations Organisation
|
(Hindu)
22 11 2007 GMT 16:07
 |
| In
a move to cripple the LTTE's fund
raising activities, Sri Lankan government
on Thursday banned the Tamil Rehabilitations
Organisation, a charity group considered
a front of the Tiger rebels. The LTTE
itself is not banned in Sri Lanka
as it is felt this would foreclose
the option of any direct negotiations
with the organisation.
The
decision of Sri Lanka government comes
days after United States imposed ban
on the charity organisation. Welcoming
the decision of US treasury to freeze
the assets of TRO in the United States
last week, Sri Lankan foreign minister
Rohita Bogollagama had told Parliament
that the government could now expect
a "significant decline"
in the collections of the LTTE world
wide which ranged from USD 20 million
to USD 30 million per month.
The
outfit has maintained that freezing
of the TRO bank accounts by the Government
of Sri Lanka and now the US Government
will further exacerbate the humanitarian
situation and cause untold suffering
to the approximately 300,000 people
who rely on TRO assistance.
This
decision to proscribe the TRO was
taken by the Cabinet following the
findings of group's links with the
LTTE, a Sri Lankan government statement
said. The TRO under guise of a charity
organisation collected and directed
funds to the LTTE for procurement
operations. Those operations included
the purchase of ammunitions, equipment,
communication devices, and other technology
for the LTTE, it said.
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