Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran would never face the Sri Lankan security forces closing in on his last stronghold of Mullaitivu and would flee the country, a senior minister has said. "Our troops are on the verge of wiping out the LTTE and most of its leaders are now trying to either surrender or flee the country," Transport Minister Dallas Alahapperuma said.
The LTTE opened the sluice gates freeing water to some 15,000 farmer families downstream following a request from peace broker Norway.
The fighting since last Wednesday at Muttur, which the military said was a diversion from the main battles near the Maavilaru min-dam, or anicut, has left some 30,000 refugees.
It was unhappy with the government's proposals on ways to rebuild war-hit Tamil parts of the country.
Anton Balasingham recently had a kidney transplant in Norway and his condition has been further complicated by diabetes.
Abdul Samad Mohamed Raik was convicted for cloning more than 500 credit cards to steal 175,000 in a fraud allegedly driven by links to a Sri Lankan guerilla group.
The US asked the Sri Lankan government to "take advantage" of the opportunity and accept an offer of a UN team that is probing alleged human rights abuses in the final months of the war with the Liberation Tigers of the Tamil Eelam. The UN on Tuesday announced that Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon had set up a three-member panel to look into alleged human rights violations during the final stages of the war against the LTTE in Sri Lanka.
The dreaded Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam may have been wiped off from Sri Lanka, but its lessons to Naxals are showing in the form of attacks carried out by improvised explosive devices with precision in the hinterlands of Chhattisgarh. The Left-wing extremists used the technique to blow-up a civilian bus on Monday in which at least 50 people were feared killed, officials said. The Maoists staged the attack by digging a tunnel on either side of the road.
At least seven persons including four women were killed and 72 others injured when a bomb, planted by suspected LTTE terrorists, ripped through a packed train near the Colombo on Monday.
Home Minister P Chidambaram ruled out military operations as an option to tackle the Maoist menace and said it is a matter of "ethical consideration" not to do so.
Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama says that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam has lost out in terms of its causes as support for the terrorist outfit has been steadily decreasing both at home and abroad. The foreign minister also said that thanks to joint patrol by the Indian and Sri Lankan governments in mid-seas the traditional arms-smuggling by the outfit has been coming down.
Arunachalam Chrishanthakumar alias A C Shanthan, the de-facto leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in Britain, was arrested on Tuesday for a second time in less than a year in connection with fund-raising and procurement activities for the militant outfit.Shanthan was allegedly operating with LTTE leader Anton Balasingham and trying to build up the outfit in London. He had accompanied Balasingham for peace talks in Geneva in 2006.
Lt Gen Fonseka, who left for Pakistan on Sunday on an official tour, is slated to discuss several issues including defence purchases, the Daily Mirror newspaper reported. During his stay, the visiting army chief is scheduled to meet President Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan Army Chief Gen Ashfaq Pervez Kiyani and several other defence officials.
The all-party meeting aimed at reconciliation and conferring full powers to Sri Lanka's provincial councils will be reconvened in a month after initial deliberations on Wednesday failed to yield any agreements, party officials said on Thursday.
At least three children were among 26 killed in the bombing, the latest in a string of attacks by the rebels amid spiralling fighting in the north which has claimed 300 lives in the two weeks since the government announced its decision to scrap the ceasefire.
A claymore mine exploded as the vehicles crossed the Rukmani Devi junction along the Colombo-Negombo road. Dassanayake, Minister for Nation Building, and two others were initially admitted to the Intensive Care Unit with serious injuries, but the minister later succumbed to his injuries, officials said.
Meanwhile, the Daily Mirror in a report quoting military intelligence said the LTTE chief may have suffered only a minor bruise in his right shoulder.
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam cadres, who escaped the final assault by the Lankan army in May, could give a new lease of life to the now vanquished outfit and are even trying to launch fresh attacks in Sri Lanka, according to a report.
Raja Ayyappan, a member of the 'Tamizhar Pasarai' outfit, was arrested by Q-Branch police on Monday at Thanjavur, about 165 km from Madurai, following a tip off, they said.
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has said that he had never met slain Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran and would have preferred to chat with him."I would have preferred to bring him here and have a chat with him. I have never seen this man," Rajapaksa said. The President also said he was not at all interested in knowing how the LTTE chief had been killed.
The outfit was banned in 1991 soon after former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi's assassination at Sriperumbudur near Chennai.
He made every fighter of his guerrilla outfit wear a cyanide capsule, to be swallowed when they were facing arrest, but Vellupillai Prabhakaran himself did not carry one when he was killed by the Sri Lankan troops, in the last phase of the 30-year-old bloody civil war."Prabhakaran did not have a cyanide capsule on him. We did not find any such thing. Many other LTTE cadres had capsules with them, but not Prabhakaran," top defence sources said.
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa's address at the ceremony to pay tribute to the War Heroes on May 23, 2009
It is unprecedented in the history of United States-Sri Lanka relations that a US President goes out on the South Lawn of the White House to make remarks expressing his deep concern over the humanitarian crisis in Sri Lanka and berates both the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and the Sri Lankan government for their actions that have led to tens of thousands of innocent civilians being caught up in the cross-fire.
There was no immediate confirmation of the incident from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
Sri Lanka on Monday insisted that India is not involved in the recent attack on its cricket team in Lahore, but did not rule out the possibility of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam link to the audacious gun and grenade strike that left seven players injured and eight people dead.
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse has said he does not want joint patrolling with India to check smuggling of arms to Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
Sri Lankan Navy, assisted by helicopter gunships, on Saturday destroyed three Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam boats, killing at least 15 of its cadres, while rebels said they sank two naval vessels in a fierce sea battle.
India has mended its stand on Sri Lanka, no longer insisting that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, should lay down arms as a pre-condition for talks with the government in Colombo for a political settlement. Instead of asking the LTTE to lay down the arms, India now wants it to at least agree in principle to lay down the arms as that can pave the way for negotiations with the Sri Lankan government.
Will Killinocchi prove a turning point in the battle being fought between the Sri Lankan army and the LTTE? If the LTTE loses the battle, it could mark the beginning of its end as an insurgent force, but not as a terrorist organisation. If the Sri Lankan army wins, it will be a Pyrrhic victory, says B Raman
The pitched battles follow two days of air raids by government troops triggered by the killing of 64 bus passengers in a suspected rebel landmine attack on Thursday in Anuradhapura.
In a letter to Prime Minister Wickremesinghe, the LTTE said it was committed to a negotiated settlement to the war, but demanded that progress be made before proceeding.
In a televised address to the nation, Mahinda, who is under growing pressure to quit due to the worst economic crisis facing the island nation, said that he understands the people's sufferings.
Pro-Tamil outfits like Periyar Dravida Iyakkam and 'May 17 movement' celebrated the birth anniversary in various parts of the city by cutting cakes and distributing sweets.
The LTTE are already banned in India, the US and Britain.
A senior Sri Lankan defence ministry official said since intelligence reports have 'confirmed' that Prabhakaran sustained injuries on November 26, there could be an attempt by the Tiger leader to go to India for treatment if the medical facilities in Killinocchi or Mullaithivu were not sufficient to treat him.
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