Karuna Amman, a rebel Tamil Tigers leader, jailed in London for entering Britain on a forged visa and diplomatic passport, will not face further charges and be deported to Sri Lanka soon, the Crown Prosecution Service has said. The 45-year-old Karuna whose real name is Vinayagmoorthy Muralitharan, has been accused by human rights groups of forcing teenagers to serve as child soldiers, torturing prisoners and killing hundreds of civilians.
Military officials said they switched off electricity to the city as part of the air defence system that was activated following reports of the suspicious aircraft.
Though the situation in Tamil Nadu is normal now, there is underlying tension about the possible reactions that will be evoked once Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam chief Velupillai Prabhakaran's death is confirmed."Though the common man will not turn to violence, there are still fringe elements that are pro-LTTE, which will try to whip up the sentiments of the people. But this can be brought under control if the state is alert," security analyst B Raman said.
"Government troops have retaliated the LTTE attack using mortar and artillery guns," the ministry said adding that 20 LTTE cadres have been confirmed killed due to retaliatory firing.
He clarified that the government is not going to help the LTTE "as it is a terrorist organisation responsible for assassination of an Indian Prime Minister and not even apologised for it."
From Vijay's fiery latest to atom bomb origins, brace yourself for some explosive action on OTT this week.
This is the second time that Vaiko had been arrested for supporting the banned outfit. He was arrested under POTA by the previous All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam government for speaking in support of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
The demand for an independent war crimes investigations into the "massacre" during the final days of the civil war in Sri Lanka has been intensified amid outrage that Vijay Nambiar, a top aide to UN Secretary-General was aware that over 20,000 Tamils were killed by the army.
In stepped-up fighting, Sri Lankan security forces gunned down at least 43 Tamil Tigers and lost seven soldiers in the island's restive north, where the Air Force jets today raided an LTTE transport base in the rebel-dominated Kilinochchi area.
Tamil Tigers, now virtually on the run, have claimed that they still retained the capability to seize back LTTE's de-facto capital of Killinochchi and said the Sri Lankan government's plans to hold elections in the northern areas "would be a futile exercise".
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.
In a major boost to the presidential campaign of former top Sri Lankan army general Sarath Fonseka, the dominant Tamil party, Tamil National Alliance on Wednesday announced support to him.
Sri Lankan Estate Housing Infrastructure Minister Muthu Sivalingam has said that assassination of the country's foreign minister Lakshman Kadirgamar, would not derail the peace process.
It was not immediately clear whether President Chandrika Kumaratunga wanted parliamentary approval of the plan before putting it into place.
The government has slammed peace broker Norway for 'misleading' the international community.
While 18 rebels were killed on Thursday, 20 LTTE cadre were shot dead yesterday, the defence ministry said, adding that seven soldiers were also injured during the operations.
"One of the military outposts at Thalgasmankada, located about 50 km south of Pottuvil, guarding the Yala national park came under the LTTE attack on Monday night. Six soldiers were killed and one more wounded," military spokesman Udaya Nanayakkara told UNI over phone, adding that the military had repulsed the rebel attack.
India on Monday denied a report in a Sri Lankan newspaper that 'terrorists' were being trained at three secret camps in Tamil Nadu, describing it "entirely erroneous".
Tamil Nationalist Movement leader, one of the most vocal supporters of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and its supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran, speaks on the civil war raging in Sri Lanka.
With the Sri Lankan forces poised to capture the remaining strongholds of the Lankan Tigers of Tamil Eelam, India on Thursday told Colombo to ensure the safety of the Tamil civilians who are caught in the war zone in the north of the island. External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee also asked the LTTE to allow civilians in the areas held by it to cross over to the safe zones of the Sri Lankan government
Over 24 Tigers rebels are believed to have been killed on Sunday when the Sri Lankan Navy attacked and destroyed a ship carrying arms for the LTTE. "There were 24 to 25 people aboard the ship and we believe all of them have been killed," Defence Spokesman Udaya Nanayakkara said. The Lankan naval task group comprising Off Shore Patrol vessels SLNS Sayura, SLNS Sagara, Fast Attack Vessel SLNS Suranimila and Rendezvous vessel 521 were engaged in the elite operation.
In the wake of the arrival of MV Sun Sea in Canada on August 12 with 492 Sri Lankan Tamils -- including 63 women, and 49 children, about half-a-dozen of them unaccompanied -- there are reports that two more ships are heading towards Canada.
His remarks followed National Security Advisor M K Narayanan's recent remarks in Chennai that Sri Lanka should not seek weapons from Pakistan or China, but should come to India for its requirements.
V V Ganeshananthan discusses her first book Love Marriage, a novel set in Sri Lanka, with Arthur J Pais.
'The struggle for Tamil equality and justice for Tamils did not start with the LTTE and will not end with LTTE. I am not saying that the LTTE has come to an end.'
The mine, planted near an electricity transformer, was targeted at a bus taking constables home on leave, a police official said.
Balasingham first met Prabhakaran in Tamil Nadu in the late 1970s and since then they had been close associates.
Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga on Saturday imposed a state of emergency to deal with the aftermath of the assassination of her foreign minister Lakshman Kadirgamar.
They assured that they will 'not try to topple the government' despite a ruling coalition partner threatening to quit over the issue.
Over 29 Tamil Tigers have been killed and 36 injured in separate clashes with the security forces in Sri Lanka's embattled north. In a separate incident, two civilians were killed in a roadside bomb attack in northern Jaffna.
156 people have died in the week-long clashes.
The fighting started after Naval personnel intercepted a group of Sea Tiger boats moving toward the Pulmodai area on the northeast coast.
Claiming that rebels of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam were 'receiving an unprecedented defeat,' Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Monday vowed that government troops would flush out the Tigers from their Wanni heartlands in the north.
Kumaratunga told visiting European Union Commissioner for External Relations Benita Ferrero-Waldner Monday that she expected talks to begin soon for lasting negotiated settlement in the country.
The Sri Lankan Army chief on Monday said his forces have inflicted heavy losses on Tamil Tigers and the militant outfit's capability to wage a conventional war will be wiped out within a year.
LTTE and the Tamil cause was a stepping stone that Vaiko used just as other Tamil leaders did. For his exertions, he was thrown out of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam where, he claims, he fell a victim to family politics: he came in the way of Karunanidhi's son Stalin's elevation.
The court heard that Vinayagamoorthy bought 3500 electronic transmitters worth $97,000 between September 2003 and October 2005.
'Children and their families need to return to their homes and put the pieces of their old lives back together again after the trauma of conflict,' says UNICEF official Sarah Crowe.
