A power-struggle appears to be brewing among the remnants of the Liberation Tigers of the Tamil Eelam, with one faction claiming that the Tamil Tiger leadership, including its supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran is safe and will re-emerge when the "right time comes".
There is a deep-seated sense of rejection that the new generation Tamil youth have felt for a decade and more now, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Sri Lankan government on Wednesday night decided to formally ban the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, a move signalling end of prospects of peace talks with the Tamil Tigers against whom the security forces have launched a major offensive. The decision to ban the outfit with effect from midnight on Wednesday was taken at an emergency Cabinet meeting chaired by Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
"Koozhangal" had won the top honour, the Tiger Award for best film, at the 50th International Film Festival Rotterdam.
Clamping down on terrorist funding, a Canadian Court has sentenced a Tamil Tiger fundraiser to six months in jail after the man pleaded guilty to raising funds in the country to help support the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam rebels in Sri Lanka. The court in Vancouver sentenced Tamil-Canadian Prapaharan Thambithurai, 46, for raising funds for a banned terrorist organisation. He was the first person to be charged under a new Canadian legislation.
The body of the 24-year-old Anthony, chief of the LTTE's air wing, was found during mop-up operations in the last rebel-held territory in the no-fire zone on Monday morning, the defence ministry said
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.
Classified as 'Secret' and titled 'LTTE Threat to Canada', the intelligence report said the Canadian Tamil community was among the LTTE's largest sources of funds, having contributed up to 10 to 12 million dollars annually in past years.
US Secretary of State John Kerry on Saturday warned Sri Lanka that "true reconciliation" with Tamils will take time, even as he praised the "openness" of the new government in efforts to boost democracy, human rights and reaching out to the minority community.
Under international flak for his handling of the Tamil issue, President Mahinda Rajapaksa said on Friday that nations who sympathise with separatism are bound to become the victims of terrorism, as Sri Lanka celebrated with pomp a year of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam's military defeat.
Disclosing that more than 5,000 LTTE cadres had surrendered before the gvernment, Defence Secretary Gothabaya Rajapaksa made it clear that criminal elements among the surrendered Tiger cadres would be brought to book while others will be rehabilitated.
'She is a very thoughtful actor.' 'She is in the industry not only because she is beautiful, but also because she is sensible.'
The Sri Lankan Navy on Wednesday claimed that it has killed at least 40 Tamil Tiger rebels when it confronted a flotilla of Sea Tiger boats in the seas off Vettilaikerni in the northern Jaffna peninsula.
Sukanya Verma lists her this week's OTT recommendations.
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran's son Charles Anthony is commanding a contingent of the Tamil Tigers, alongside other top rebel leaders like Banu and Lakshman, arrested black Tigers have revealed. Anthony, who returned from Ireland in 2006, is believed to have got a degree in aeronautical engineering and is heading the air wing and computer unit of the LTTE, according to the reports.
Elsewhere, the guerrillas abducted 21 students and later freed them.
Sri Lankan security forces destroyed four Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam bunkers as they continued to lay siege to the crucial Kilinochchi town and 35 Tamil Tigers and six security personnel were killed in fierce clashes in the northern region, the army said on Monday.
Three Liberation Tigers of the Tamil Eelam supporters who admitted providing over one million dollars in cash to the terror group were allowed to walk free on Wednesday by the Australian Supreme Court on bonds to be of good behaviour. The supreme court was told an Australian-based charity was used as a cover to collect and send money to the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka, the Herald Sun reported.
In a significant move coinciding with the visit of a top United States official probing war crimes, the American embassy in Colombo on Thursday posted pictures of places where civilians had died allegedly during Sri Lanka's final war against rebel Tamil Tigers four years ago.
At least 56 Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam cadre and ten soldiers were killed in clashes between the Sri Lankan Army and the Tamil Tigers in rebel stronghold of Kilinochchi even as Lankan fighter jets sank an LTTE vessel and bombed rebel targets. "56 LTTE rebels were killed and 87 Tigers injured during the army offensive against the rebel stronghold of Kilinochchi," Army spokesman Udaya Nanayakkara said.
Sri Lanka on Tuesday claimed to have found slain Tamil Tiger chief Vellupilai Prabhakaran's personal gun and body armour, seven months after overrunning the last Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam bastion in the decisive battle at Nanthaikadal lagoon off the northern coast.The arms used by Prabhakaran were found buried 15 feet under the ground at Vellamulliwaikkal area in Mulaittivu along with scores of suicide kits and several anti-aircraft guns.
Over 34 Tamil Tiger rebels and nine soldiers have been killed in a series of gun battles in Sri Lanka's embattled northern region, officials said in Colombo on Tuesday. Reacting to the stepped-up battles between the security forces and Tiger rebels, Nanayakkara said, "Since the LTTE has been incurring heavy losses in the recent weeks; they wanted to make their presence felt and are resorting to attacks."
Sri Lankan Air Force pounded identified LTTE hideout located in the jungles south of Puthukudiyirippu, Mullaittivu, believed to be frequented by top Tamil Tiger leadership, including supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran. According to Wing Commander Janaka Nanayakkara, Air Force spokesperson, the air raids targeted the hideout believed to be frequented by Prabhakaran.
Nitin Gokhale, Defence Editor, NDTV, recalls his encounter with then Sri Lankan army chief General Sarath Fonseka soon after the LTTE's defeat last year. A fascinating column on how Velupillai Prabhakaran finally met his nemesis.
The rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the army exchanged fire across the Muhamalai-Nagarkovil frontline in the peninsula, the pro-rebel Tamilnet.com website said.
The military said it was checking on the Tiger report.
Central intelligence agencies were aware of 'the presence of small LTTE pockets and their counterparts in the two states had been asked to closely monitor such activities,' Narayanan told media persons.
For the first time in Tamil Nadu, a lion has died of coronavirus while nine others in the pride have tested positive for the infection at a zoo near Chennai, an official said.
The posters invite people to a show on Thai-Pongal day in January sponsored by an organisation allegedly close to the Tamil Tigers, Sri Lanka's government-owned Daily News said.
India has once again pressed for the devolution of powers to the provinces under the 13th amendment (13A) of the Sri Lankan constitution and the system of provincial councils as a meaningful step towards better representation of the island's Tamil minority.
The renewed attacks came as peace broker Norway failed on Friday to secure an agreement to end a blockade on the Jaffna peninsula where nearly half a million people are trapped by fighting.
Over 12 Tamil Tiger rebels were killed and three soldiers injured in separate gun battles triggered by the Liberation Tiger of Tamil Eelam's attempts to breach the de facto front line in northern Sri Lanka, the military said in Colombo on Wednesday.
Eight Tamil Tiger rebels and a soldier have been killed in a series of gun-battles in Sri Lanka's troubled northern region. While four Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam rebels were killed in a confrontation with security forces in Mannar, two Tigers died in Jaffna, the Defence Ministry said in a statement. Vavuniya region also witnessed a clash on Monday in which a solider lost his life.
The United Nations Security Council on Thursday asked the Tamil Tigers to immediately surrender, renounce terrorism and join the political process through dialogue to put an end to the decades old ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka. "We demand that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam immediately lay down arms, renounce terrorism, allow a UN assisted evacuation of the remaining civilians in the conflict area, and join the political process through dialogue," UNSC stated.
Dismissing as 'hilarious' the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam's ceasefire offer, the Sri Lankan government termed it a ploy, saying the Tamil Tigers call for a truce whenever they are on the verge of defeat.The LTTE has written a letter to the United Nations, Britain, Japan, Norway and the United States, indicating its readiness to agree to a ceasefire with the government, but refusing to lay down arms and surrender.
After uncovering attempts of Tamil Tigers to build crude submarines, Sri Lankan forces on Thursday said they had unearthed a possible rebel aircraft research wing that apparently studied ways to either repair planes or construct new ones.
The talks will be the first high-level meeting between the two sides since the peace process stalled in 2003.
The elusive Tamil Tiger supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran is still in Sri Lanka and leading his fighters on the battlefront in Mullaittivu, a top rebel leader has said.Describing as 'malicious propaganda' reports that Prabhkaran has fled the island, B Nadesan, the political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, said, "Prabhakaran is with our people. He is still leading the freedom struggle".Nadesan's comments came amidst reports about heavy fighting between Tigers & Army
Sri Lankan troops on Sunday entered a key town on the road to the last remaining Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam stronghold Mullaittivu and were within striking distance of the vital Elephant Pass as the army said the operation to capture Tamil Tiger chief Velupillai Prabhakaran was on course. Fresh from their takeover of rebel 'capital' Kilinochchi, troops entered the strategically vital Oddusuddan town located along the Mankulam-Mullaittivu main road.
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