Category: Politics

SERUVILA, Sri Lanka, Apr. 27 (AFP) – The two men who came to kill her and her family wore masks and spoke Sinhalese, a wounded Josep Devi, wincing in pain, said from her hospital bed in this northeastern Sri Lankan town Thursday.“I managed to save my baby by rolling on her as I fell when […]

HONG KONG, Apr. 27 (AFP) – Government air strikes in northeast Sri Lanka have caused thousands of people to flee their homes, the United Nations refugee agency said Thursday.UNHCR spokesman Lyndon Jeffels said UN staff could not confirm local government figures in the district of Trincomalee that 40,000 had been driven from their homes by […]

OSLO, Apr.26 (AFP) – The main mediator in the Sri Lankan conflict, Erik Solheim of Norway, on Wednesday condemned the flare-up of violence on the war-torn island but said he was optimistic that it would end shortly.Government forces have carried out coordinated air, sea and land attacks against rebel positions in the restive northeast since […]

Apr. 26 (AFP) – Escalating violence between Sri Lankan forces and Tamil rebels left at least 15 civilians dead and 15,000 Tamil villagers fleeing for their lives, reports from both sides said Wednesday.Three people died and 13 were wounded when the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) fired mortar bombs against a naval detachment in […]

Apr. 26 (AFP) – Air strikes, mortar attacks, a suicide bombing in the heart of Colombo — while it may seem Tamil Tiger rebels and Sri Lanka’s government are beating war drums, they are in fact preparing to return to truce talks, some analysts said Wednesday. The fact that the government has recommitted itself to […]

Apr.26 (AFP) – “Black Tiger” suicide squads, secular Hindus driven by loyalty to the Tamil cause rather than religion, have been sowing terror in Sri Lanka for over two decades.The audacious bombing Tuesday inside Sri Lanka’s main military base, in which a female member of the Tamil Tigers feigning pregnancy blew herself up, was just […]

Apr. 26 (AFP) – Peace broker Norway expressed hope Wednesday that Sri Lanka will retreat from the brink of full-scale war even as 18 more people were killed in escalated air strikes aimed at avenging rebel attacks and thousands of Tamil villagers were fleeing for their lives. Top peace envoy Erik Solheim said Oslo was […]

Apr. 26 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tigers, blamed for a suicide attack against a top military official that threatens to pitch the island back into civil war, is one of the world’s deadliest guerrilla groups.For Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) chief Velupillai Prabhakaran the most lethal weapon in his armoury is the young […]

WASHINGTON, Apr. 25 (AFP) – The United States on Tuesday condemned the attack against an army headquarters in Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo and called the suicide blast a provocation by the Tamil Tigers. “This is clearly an act of terror, which we condemn,” the State Department’s deputy spokesman Adam Ereli told reporters. “It is an […]