At least 22 Iranian sailors from the IRIS Dena, which sank after being torpedoed, have been discharged from a Sri Lankan hospital. Another 10 remain under treatment, while arrangements are being made to repatriate the bodies of 84 sailors recovered after the incident.
A spokesman of the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) said a video released by Ajith Dharmapala, a former police officer, claimed that President Rajapaksa was staying at the house belonging to Pathirana.
The Indian Air Force has stepped up its efforts to assist Sri Lanka in the wake of Cyclone Ditwah, deploying aircraft and helicopters for relief operations and evacuation of stranded citizens under Operation Sagar Bandhu.
"The High Commission categorically denies baseless and speculative media reports that India facilitated the recent reported travel of @gotabayar @Realbrajapaksa out of Sri Lanka," the High Commission of India in Sri Lanka tweeted.
Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was appointed as the country's acting president after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled to the Maldives on a military jet on Wednesday in the face of a public revolt against his government for mishandling the economy that has bankrupted the country.
The Sri Lankan government has asserted that the recently signed maritime security pacts with India will "neither result in hindrance nor threat" to the island nation's security as "misinterpreted" by several media outlets in this country.
If the two Dravidian parties up the rhetoric it increases the risk of Tamil Nadu becoming a safe haven for Tamil extremism with serious implications for national security. As these developments affect Sri Lanka's internal security, it would kindle legitimate concerns in Colombo, says Colonel (retd) R Hariharan.
For the LTTE to be able to stage a come-back one, it needs a beach-head out of the reach of the Sri Lankan armed forces where it can re-group, re-train and re-plan and wait for an opportunity to strike back.
Fresh from their success in capturing the entire North-western coast, the Sri Lankan Air Force fighter jets on Sunday pounded bunkers of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and seized hundreds of arms and ammunitions while recovering the bodies of two militants, officials said.
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran was injured last month during an aerial raid by Sri Lankan Air Force jets, the government confirmed on Wednesday night.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam said on Friday said the air strikes carried out by it over capital Colombo killing two people and injuring 54 others were suicide attacks by its elite 'Black Air Tiger' squad.
The Panama registered tanker New Diamond was carrying 270,000 metric tonnes of crude oil from Kuwait to India when its engine room caught fire off the coast of Sangamankanda in the eastern district of Ampara, Sri Lankan Navy spokesman Capt Indika Silva said.
Sri Lankan Air Force jets on Thursday bombed and destroyed a key LTTE facility occupied by senior rebel leaders as a series of clashes in the island's embattled north left at least 40 Tamil Tigers dead.
Air Force spokesman, Group Captain Ajantha Silva confirmed that the air force had bombed some targets in the LTTE-held areas in the Eastern province, but refused to divulge what they were.
Sri Lanka declared a state of emergency on Wednesday as angry protesters stormed the prime minister's office in Colombo, hours after president Gotabaya Rajapksa fled to the Maldives on a military jet, amid the country's worst economic crisis in decades.
Xi Jinping is winning the war without firing a shot in Sri Lanka, observes Colonel R Hariharan (retd).
The Sri Lanka Air Force and Egypt has also shown some interest in procuring the Tejas.
-- Seven suicide bombers believed to be members of an Islamist extremist group carried out the series of explosions. -- Police have so far arrested 24 people - mostly members of an Islamist extremist group - in connection with the blasts
Over 20,000 people have been displaced with officials warning the situation could get worse.
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