'These are people who are anxious to die.' 'We have not seen such type of committed people anywhere.'
Stepping up the momentum of their advance to capture the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam stronghold of Kilinochchi, the Lankan troops on Tuesday claimed to have killed scores of rebels after smashing through a string of LTTE bunkers. Government troops of the 53 Division, advancing from Kilaly village near Jaffna, carried out the ambush in the morning, a defence ministry official said
Sri Lankan security forces on Saturday captured the strategic northern town of Pooneryn, the last Liberation Tigers of the Tamil Eelam bastion in the west coast, giving the forces a vital land link to Jaffna.
The vote on a critical resolution against Sri Lanka at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva has been postponed to Tuesday, as Colombo stepped up efforts to garner international support ahead of the voting which is being seen as an acid test for President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
Sri Lanka on Thursday refuted allegations that India was compelling the government to end the military offensive against the Tamil Tigers, saying New Delhi only sought a peaceful solution to the decades-long problem.
Leader of Opposition of North-Central Provincial Assembly Maj Gen Janaka Perera and his wife are among the 20 killed, Army spokesman Udaya Nanayakkara said.
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.
Over 67 Tamil Tigers and three soldiers were killed in fierce clashes in Sri Lanka's embattled northern region, officials said in Colombo on Thursday.
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.
In a no-holds barred address, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has dared Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam chief Velupillai Prabhakaran to a one-on-one clash with him. He said that he would challenge Prabhakaran to clash with him directly to avoid a killing spree targeting innocent civilians, Parliamentarians and Ministers.
Ruling out talks with the LTTE till the outlawed outfit agreed to disarm, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse has accused Britain of double standards in dealing with the global menace of terrorism.
Prabhakaran's extravagant underground bunker is constructed as per his instructions and equipped with air-conditioning and power generators, the Bottom Line newspaper reported, showing a sketch of the alleged bunker mapping. The bunker is 30-feet deep and divided into two sectors. It has a tunnel which connects to a similar bunker complex, and the rebels leader's room is tucked away in the lowermost floor with two exits, the sketch shows.
'The residual historical hostility against India was certainly a factor,' says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
New Delhi is approaching Gota with an open mind, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
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 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.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam attacked army defence lines between Mannar and Vavuniya districts since Saturday night inflicting heavy losses.
Over 26 Tamil Tiger rebels and one soldier were killed in fresh clashes between government troops and the guerrillas in the restive northern Sri Lanka, the military said on Monday.
At least 10 Sri Lankan Naval officials went missing after a powerful mid-sea blast destroyed and sunk a fast attack craft they were sailing at Nayaru in the seas off Mullaitivu, sources said. "One of our Fast Attack Craft (FAC) has got caught in a suspected sea-mine explosion around 0230 hrs in the Nayaru seas. Ten sailors aboard are missing while another six have already been rescued," Navy Spokesman, Commander DKP Dassanayake said.
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.
The Madras high court on Tuesday issued notices to the government and the Central Bureau of Investigation on a petition seeking extradition of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam operative Kumaran Padmanabhan, one of the main suspects in Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, from Sri Lanka.
Opposition government's reaction to a website claim that the key Bofors case accused had hatched a conspiracy with the LTTE to assassinate former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi.
The military said it was checking on the Tiger report.
"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.
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.
One shocking finding of the investigation was the extent to which sexual violence was committed against detainees, often extremely brutally, by the Sri Lankan security forces, with men as likely to be victims as women.
The successful air strike at Kilinochi will encourage the SLAF to re-double its efforts for a decapitation strike on Prabhakaran himself
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.
Even without the ISI, ISIS and Al Qaeda, Tamil Nadu, otherwise acknowledged as a progressive and developed State in the Indian context, has been at the centre of 'multiple militancy' for decades now, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
The LTTE said on Tuesday that they were entering talks although they had little confidence that the government will deliver on promises made to restore normality.
Sri Lanka has asked the Nordic truce monitors not to accede to the rebels' 'unreasonable' demand to remove members in the peace mission who belong to states of European Union, which had outlawed LTTE as a terror organisation.
Delhi finds itself between the rock and hard place in the coming Sri Lankan election, points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The Union Territory administration has conveyed to the government that foreigners from Myanmar, Bangladesh, Thailand and Sri Lanka often intrude into the archipelago.
As many as 16,000 Sri Lankans -- who disappeared during the war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam -- will be issued certificates of absence instead of death certificates, head of a probe panel said on Wednesday.
Rejecting reports of fresh talks, the LTTE said it would resume talks only on the basis of their "Interim Self-Governing Authority" plan unveiled in October last year.
India also hinted its backing to the Sri Lankan Army's action against Tamil Tigers, saying any country is free to take action against terrorists within its legal system.
"It is Tamils only who can be truly loyal to neighbouring India, and India should keep this in mind," the Tamil National Alliance Parliamentarian, M K Sivajilingam said.
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