Category: Politics

Jan 01, 2007 (LBO) – Gunshots were heard inside a Hindu temple in the Kotahena area of the Sri Lanka capital Colombo, eyewitnesses said. A witness at the scene said he had heard half a dozen gunshots sending devotees stampeding for cover. .. For updates on this story go to the news front page at […]

Jan 01, 2008 (LBO) – Gunmen shot a Tamil parliamentarian inside a Hindu temple in the Sri Lankan capital Tuesday morning, eyewitnesses and police said. T. Maheshwaran was rushed to hospital, police said. He had previously survived an assassination attempt by the Tamil Tigers when he represented the United National Party, now in the opposition. […]

Jan 01, 2008 (LBO) – A Sri Lankan Tamil parliamentarian has died after being shot inside a Hindu temple in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo Tuesday morning, police and hospital officials said. T. Maheshwaran was rushed to hospital in a critical condition but succumbed to his injuries soon after, Colombo hospital director Hector Weerasinghe told […]

Jan 01, 2008 (LBO) – A Sri Lankan Tamil parliamentarian who was assassinated Tuesday morning had not asked for additional protection, the island’s top defence bureaucrat has said. T. Maheshwaran, an opposition United National Party (UNP) lawmaker, was gunned down by unknown gunmen at a Hindu temple in a suburb north of the capital Colombo. […]

Jan 01, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lankan police have arrested a suspected gunman alleged to have shot dead a Tamil parliamentarian at a Hindu temple in the capital Colombo Tuesday, the defence ministry said. The suspected gunman had been wounded when a bodyguard of assassinated lawmaker T Maheshwaran returned fire during the attack, the ministry […]

COLOMBO, Dec 31, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s top military commanders have vowed to escalate attacks against Tamil rebels in the New Year to achieve a “turning point” in the decades-old separatist war, a state-run daily said Monday. Army chief Sarath Fonseka expressed the hope that government forces would be able to dislodge the Liberation […]

Dec 31, 2007 (LBO) – A Sri Lankan media rights group Monday slammed President Mahinda Rajapakse for not taking action against a junior minister who allegedly rampaged through a state television station and assaulted its news director. It also urged the government to free the state print media from its control and to “re-establish state […]

Dec 30, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s security forces and Tamil rebels were locked in fierce fighting Sunday in the island’s north with both sides claiming to have inflicted heavy losses against the other. The defence ministry said troops killed at least 33 members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and wounded another […]

Dec 30, 2007 (AFP) – The assassination of Pakistan’s Benazir Bhutto is the latest deadly chapter plaguing South Asia’s dynasties and shows violence has become entrenched in the region’s political culture, analysts say. Ruling families from the Bhuttos of Pakistan to the Gandhis of India, the Bandaranaike family of Sri Lanka and Bangladesh’s Rahman family […]

Dec 29, 2007 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s defence secretary said the government should formally pull out of a ceasefire with Tamil Tiger rebels amid escalating fighting in the island, a state-run daily reported Saturday. A 2002 Norwegian-brokered truce began to unravel in December 2005 and both sides have blamed each other for the mounting violence […]

Dec 28, 2007 (AFP) – At least 25 Tamil Tiger rebels were killed in fresh military attacks along the de-facto border of territory held by the guerrillas, the defence ministry said Friday. The members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) were killed in four separate attacks in Vavuniya district on Thursday, the ministry […]

Dec 28, 2007 (AFP) – A Sri Lankan judge reprimanded police Friday for failing to thoroughly investigate a minister who sparked a riot at the state-run television channel after allegedly assaulting a journalist.Colombo Chief Magistrate Mohamed Macky said he was not happy with a police report into Thursday’s alleged assault by Labour Minister Mervin Silva […]