The Sri Lankan troops have captured an important earth embankment used by the Tamil Tiger rebels for defence, an official said Sunday. The area is located near the Nanthikandal lagoon, south of an important highway in northeastern Sri Lanka. “The 53rd division (army) has captured the bund (the earth embankment) north of the Nanthikandal lagoon, [...]
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Sri Lanka’s government and the Tamil Tigers could face prosecution for committing war crimes in their long-running war that appears to be ending, the New York Times said Thursday. “Sri Lanka’s leaders and the rebels must be warned that they could face prosecution for war crimes,” the daily said in an editorial titled “Sri Lanka’s [...]
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Amid mounting concern over civilian suffering, Sri Lanka Monday announced that “combat operations” against the Tamil Tigers had concluded and clarified that this did not amount to a ceasefire though it would stop using aircraft and heavy weapons. The government ordered its security forces to stop using “heavy guns, aerial weapons and combat aircraft” that [...]
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Sri Lanka Monday flatly rejected reports of making a ceasefire offer and said that the “media illusionists” have twisted the government statement on its decision “to stop using heavy guns, aerial weapons and combat aircraft” in operations in the north to ensure the safety of civilians. The defence ministry said the troops will continue with [...]
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The Sri Lankan government plans to turn the country’s war-torn northeastern region, which boasts of some of the island’s most scenic beaches, into a tourist attraction as the decades-old conflict with the Tamil Tigers seems to be nearing its end. “The battle between the Sri Lankan forces and the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) [...]
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Government forces have stepped up operations to capture the last LTTE-held area in northern Sri Lanka after rejecting a unilateral ceasefire offered by the Tamil Tigers, a pro-rebel website said Monday. Sri Lankan troops have launched operations from the north, west and south on Mullivaikkal area, a narrow strip on the coast area of the [...]
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Government troops fought their way into some of the last Tamil rebel-held areas in north-eastern Sri Lanka Friday, with special focus on locating the hideout of the rebel leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, military officials said. The officials said that unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), which had been capturing visual images from air, also have been used to [...]
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Sri Lanka and the UN Thursday made frantic appeals for assistance as the exodus of Tamil civilians from the war zone escalated into a grave humanitarian crisis even as the government claimed that the Tamil Tigers were about to be crushed, ending one of the world’s longest running insurgencies. With the number of Tamil refugees [...]
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With more than 25,000 Tamil protesters likely to converge on parliament when Prime Minister Stephen Harper returns to the house Tuesday, Canada has urged Tamil Tigers to negotiate with Sri Lanka to end hostilities. Thousands of Sri Lankan Tamils have been protesting in Ottawa for two weeks, seeking Canada’s intervention to end the “genocide” of [...]
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Closing in on the last Tamil Tiger base, Sri Lanka Monday ordered rebel chief Velupillai Prabhakaran and his fighters to surrender by Tuesday noon or face death. “We have issued the last and final 24-hour ultimatum to Prabhakaran and his group to surrender,” defence ministry spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella told reporters Monday. “The ultimatum began this [...]
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