Arumugam (named changed) told a team of visiting journalists at a fortified building in Jaffna that houses the former LTTE cadres that the LTTE chief was quite regular in attending training camps and used to personally supervise their programmes. "I worked for the LTTE for almost six years and was classified as a Black Sea Tiger," Arumugam told the journalists.
A Presidential task force on the Prevention of Child Abuse had initiated an investigation into Clarke's conduct in 1988. In February 1998, Clarke denied a story about him in this regard published in a British newspaper. "There will be no investigation on the matter. The chapter is closed. He is the pride of Sri Lanka," a senior official told PTI.
A war between Pakistan and India is no more an option to resolve their disputes as both countries have become nuclear powers, a senior Pakistan leader has said. "Now that both countries have turned a nuclear power, I do not think war will be an option," Mushaid Hussain Sayed, secretary general of the pro-Musharraf Pakistan Muslim League-Q, said.
Over 67 Tamil Tigers and three soldiers were killed in fierce clashes in Sri Lanka's embattled northern region, officials said in Colombo on Thursday.
ONGC Videsh and Cairns India have bid for oil exploration blocks in Sri Lanka.
'We urge you to consider recognising Tamil sovereignty as a constructive approach to end the five decades long, large-scale, and serious rights violations against the Tamil people,' the LTTE political head B Nadesan said in a letter to the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon on Wednesday.
Sri Lankan fighter jets pounded a 'field headquarters' of the LTTE and destroyed at least 35 rebel bunkers as security forces gunned down 64 rebels and lost three of their soldiers.
The army captured the Viyattankulam area in Mannar after killing 22 rebels and destroying 16 bunkers
The summit will be held in the picturesque city of Kandy, with Colombo planning 'foolproof' security arrangements to ward off any attack from the LTTE as it battles the rebel forces in the north.
At least 63 LTTE militants and three security forces personnel were killed in raging ground battles since weekend while Tamil Tiger rebels on Monday shelled a main Sri Lankan military air base linking the country to the embattled north.
Air Force spokesperson Wing Commander Andi Wijesoriya said the target has been a regular visiting place of Prabhakaran. Fighter pilots have confirmed that the target was accurately hit, he added.
The Pak defence delegation's visit comes at a crucial time when the Lankan military, emboldened by Colombo's withdrawal from the six-year old ceasefire agreement with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, has stepped up its offensive against the rebels.
Forty-four Tamil Tigers and two soldiers were killed in fierce clashes between the rebels and security forces in the embattled northern Sri Lanka, where fighting has intensified since the government pulled out of a six-year-old ceasefire pact with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam this month.
The opposition United National Party leader died of a gun shot injury along with a civilian, police spokesman N K Ilangakoon told PTI.
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam supremo V Prabhakaran will find it difficult to survive beyond six months, Sri Lankan army chief Sarath Fonseka has warned, vowing to eliminate the 3,000-strong Tiger rebels from their stronghold of Wanni in the embattled north. "The three armed forces are confident of wiping out the LTTE, which is now smarting its wounds due to the present military operations," Fonseka, who survived an assassination attempt by LTTE in April 2006, said.
Indian Telecom giant Bharti Airtel is looking to establish itself as a major player in the Island nation's mobile telephony space as it prepares to launch its $200 million operation in Colombo early next year. Mobile penetration in Sri Lanka is pegged at around 30 per cent, with approximately 2 million mobile users being added each year.
The LTTE has been conducting multi-pronged war exercises at the facility when it was hit by the jets, the defence ministry said. "The LTTE's Kilinochchi leadership is yet to reveal losses," the army said citing intercepted communication.
Over 52 militants of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam have been killed in gunbattles between security forces and the rebels in Sri Lanka's embattled north, where the Army captured a portion of the rebel-held Thampane area.
A heavy gunbattle between Sri Lankan troops and Tamil Tiger rebels left 28 militants and two security personnel dead in the island nation's embattled north, the defence ministry said on Monday.
At least 22 Tamil Tigers and a soldier were killed in separate clashes in restive northern Sri Lanka as government troops captured a key base of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam hours after taking control of two defence lines in the region, the army said on Sunday.