Making his first public appearance after claims of injuries he sustained surfaced over three months ago, Tamil Tiger leader V Prabhakaran paid homage to a slain pro-LTTE lawmaker in the rebel-held Wanni area in northern Sri Lanka. Attired in combat fatigues, Prabhakaran offered floral tributes to K Sivanesan, a Tamil National Alliance MP who was killed in the blast.
The Sri Lankan government, which militarily defeated the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in May 2009, believes that the outfit's sympathisers and remnants continue to indulge in fund-raising activities in many countries, according to a United States State Department report on terrorism.
Meanwhile, a pro-rebel website said troops were amassing heavy weapons along the de facto border in the island's north and there were long range attacks.
In the first post war elections in Sri Lanka after the defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, a pro-Tiger party on Sunday won the municipal poll in Vavuniya, an indication that the separatists still attract popular support, even as President Mahinda Rajapaksa's coalition won the prestigious Jaffna local elections.
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.
Two aircraft carried out the attacks on oil storage facilities near Colombo.
New Delhi's handling of the post-May 2009 situation has been a case of one faux pas after another, says B Raman
The United Nations has sought an explanation from Sri Lanka on the death of three top Tamil Tiger leaders after former Army chief Sarath Fonseka alleged that surrendering Tamil rebels were killed in cold blood.
Sri Lanka's Criminal Investigation Department has arrested the head of the finance division of the Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation, a front organisation for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, in Jaffna.He is alleged to have provided millions of rupees to the Tiger rebels for their war efforts. Investigations have claimed that he had provided TRO funds to slain LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, its political head S Thamil Selvan and several key members.
It was started when the LTTE launched a suicide attack on a ship with Indian crew.
Balasingham, who is living with a transplanted kidney, is already a heart and diabetic patient and has been living in London with his Australian-born wife Adale Anne.
Three male and two female police officers, two Catholic priests and a civilian were detained by the Tigers on Friday, after they ventured into rebel-controlled territory in Mannar.
The Home Ministry on Tuesday has issued a Look out Circular (LOC) against a USA-based Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam sympathiser Dr. Ellyn Shander, who was to have addressed a meeting in New Delhi on Thursday, at the India Islamic Culture Centre .Shander has a valid Indian visa, still the LOC was issued.
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.
Sri Lankan troops are in full control of the airstrip from where Tamil Tigers launched many a surprise air raids deep into government controlled areas including the capital Colombo. Nothing is known about the fate of air force of the LTTE. Sri Lankan army liberated the sensitive Iranamadu, known for LTTE airstrips, located a few kilometers away from its defacto capital Kilinochchi. But apparently the Tigers had moved their Czech made fighters.
The LTTE are already banned in India, the US and Britain.
Buoyed by the string of recent military success against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, Sri Lanka has once again asked the beleaguered rebels to surrender to facilitate the safe exit of the Tamil civilians.
"We are for fight against terrorists and all sorts of terrorism. Therefore, we have no sympathy for any terrorist activity indulged in by any organisation, particularly LTTE (which) is a banned organisation in India," he told media persons. He made the remarks hours before his departure to Sri Lanka, where the government has claimed to have captured Mullaithivu, the last bastion of LTTE.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam fighters were dressed in Indian army uniforms during the final battles of the nearly three-decade long civil war, former Sri Lankan army chief Sarath Fonseka has said.
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.
Is the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam chief Prabhakaran dead? If the Sri Lankan Army is to be believed, Prabhakaran's body was found dead. There are also reports that a huge explosion was heard outside where the LTTE chief was reportedly hiding.
In a major breakthrough in their ongoing offensive against Tamil Tigers, Sri Lankan forces today seized the key town of Paranthan on the edge of Kilinochchi after intense battles which left 50 rebels dead, the defence ministry said.
The Tamil rebel outfit, however, vowed to resolve differences with V Muralitharan without bloodbath.
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.
On the verge of total defeat, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam on Thursday said that nearly 165,000 civilians in the areas controlled by it were close to starvation and accused Sri Lankan authorities of blocking food and humanitarian supplies to the area. Comparing the humanitarian crisis in the 10 sq km swath of coastal land in Pudukudiyyiruppu to the Dafur crisis in Sudan, the LTTE in a statement asked the United Nations and other international aid groups to intervene.
President Kumaratunga has embroiled the nation in a crisis by sacking three ministers and suspending parliament.
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.
LTTE's political wing chief, V Nadesan, on Thursday said that the group was ready for a ceasefire now, while accusing the Sri Lankan government of 'abrogating' the six-year-long ceasefire, which came to an end early this year.
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.
A Sri Lankan military court of inquiry has given a clean chit to the army and ruled that civilian casualties in the last stage of the military operations "might have occurred due to unlawful acts of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam ".
Sri Lanka has included three ex-LTTE marksmen as members of the national rifle shooters' pool for the South Asian Games to be held in New Delhi next year.
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.
Eighty-two Tamil Tigers were killed by security forces in Sri Lanka's north, including 51 who died in an army raid on a key Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam base, as fighter jets pounded another area in the embattled region targeting a rebel gathering, officials said on Thursday. The rebel toll in Wednesday's attack on the LTTE-held Vidattaltivu town in Mannar, which was captured by security forces, reached 51, according to the military.
Expressing concern over reports of increased LTTE activities in the state over the last two years, the Congress demanded the arrest of VCK leader Thol Tirumavalvan for his 'open support' to the banned outfit.
India's security authorities have urged the (Indian) government to revamp coastal security mechanisms in the wake of the escalation of fighting between Security Forces and the LTTE, state-owned Daily News reported.
A high-level commission appointed by Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa to look into the last seven years of conflict with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam opened public hearings on Wednesday, amid global apprehensions over its credibility and mandate to probe war crimes.The eight-member 'Lesson Learnt and Reconciliation Commission' recorded the testimony of its first witness, former top diplomat Bernard Goonatilake.
Unfazed by the recent reverses, the Tamil Tigers on Sunday hinted an escalation in their military offensive against the Sri Lankan government even as they accused India and other countries of being "indecisive" in taking a stand on the ethnic strife in the island country.
In a statement issued to coincide with Karunanidhi's visit to New Delhi to take part in the Chief Ministers' Conference on Internal Security on December 20, she said following a tip-off from central agencies, one Vanniyarasu, belonging to ruling DMK's ally Viduthalai Chiruthaigal, was arrested by police.
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.
The war against the LTTE, waged by the Mahinda Rajapakse government, may have restored peace in Sri Lanka. But thousands of Tamils paid the price for the so-called victory with their lives, journalist Frances Harrison says in her new book Still Counting the Dead.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances