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 best form of defence is offence," Tiger military spokesperson Rasiah Ilanthirayan remarked hours after the Monday clash at an air force base north of Colombo, which killed around 34 people.
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.
"Sri Lanka in its battle against terrorism has set examples and its successes has given other democracies hope that terrorism can be fought and overcome," Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama said.
Following a truce between Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and security forces, the International Red Cross has agreed to resume duties from Friday at the vital Omanthai crossing, thus bringing relief to thousands of Tamils in the tiger rebels-dominated Vanni region of Northern Sri Lanka.
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."
Three supporters of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, including two Sri Lankan nationals, have been arrested by the 'Q' Branch of the Tamil Nadu Police and an amount of Rs 4.59 lakh and 44 walkie talkies seized from them, the police said on Monday.The 'Q' branch is the intelligence wing of the state police which deals with the threats posed by militant and extremist organisations.
The LTTE triggered long-range artillery shelling at the Forward Defence Lines of the military at Muhamalai in the northern Jaffna peninsula.
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 Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam on Saturday sunk a Sri Lankan naval logistic ship at the Trincomalee harbour with the Tiger rebels claiming it was the handiwork of their commandos from 'Kangkai Amaran unit'. "An under-water explosion damaged and caused logistic vessel A-520 (MV Invincible) to sink at 2.15 am on Saturday while moored at the Ashroff jetty in Trincomalee harbour," a Sri Lankan Navy statement said.
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.
'It (India) must stop all military assistance given to Sri Lanka, remove the ban on our movement and recognise our struggle. I like to point out that our movement and our people are true friends of India,' LTTE political head B Nadesan said in an e-mailed interview to the India based The Week magazine from an undisclosed location.
"Despite heightened ground confrontations between troops and LTTE at the Wanni battle theatre, it was reported that three bombs were dropped by LTTE on Sunday at the military forward defence lines in Welioya at around 1.45 am," a defence spokesman said.
The Sri Lankan Defence Ministry said on Wednesday that its troops killed more than 100 Tamil Tigers while it lost 43 soldiers, with another 33 missing in action. The LTTE, however, claimed that at least 100 Sri Lankan troops were killed in the clashes and put their own losses at 16.
Kumaran Padmanathan, who allegedly financed former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi's assassination, was reported to have been detained in Thailand earlier this week.
Navy Chief Admiral Wasantha Karannagoda said he believed the LTTE were bringing three light aircraft, artillery and a bullet-proof vehicle in the ships sunk some 600 km off the island's south-eastern coast.
"Over 80 per cent of the war against the LTTE has been completed after regaining 80 per cent of the areas under them and killing over 12,000 of their cadres," Lieutenant General Fonseka said. Fonseka's remarks came on Monday as the troops reached about seven kilometres south of Kilali lagoon which separates the Jaffna peninsula from the mainland.
A number of children were reported to be among the killed and at least 35 other civilians were injured.
The two brothers led a decisive campaign that helped end the island nation's three decade long civil war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
Troops and the LTTE exchanged fire along a de facto border in the Wanni region on Tuesday evening, the ministry said.
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 LTTE said their leader Velupillai Prabhakaran bestowed the title of 'Mamanithar,' or great man, on Tamil National Alliance parliamentarian Raviraj, 44, who was shot dead in Colombo on Friday.
Perhaps the Indian establishment do not subscribe to the thesis that un-exhibited power is more potent. Innovative diplomacy and statesmanship with no nonsense approach is the need of the hour.
"Being a former chief minister, Jayalalithaa could have obtained a copy of the order in the POTA case from her lawyers and studied it properly before throwing a challenge," Karunanidhi said.
For the Lankan army, there are two questions involved -- defeating the LTTE conventionally, and destroying its capability for continuing its struggle for Tamil Eelam through acts of terrorism. The achievement of both these objectives will depend upon a critical weakening of the morale and motivation of the LTTE officers and cadres, leading to increasing desertions and splits in the organisation
The jets destroyed two camps of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in Mullaitivu district
Intelligence officials on Wednesday questioned local fishermen to verify reports that their boats had been used by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam to attack a Sri Lankan Navy vessel.
The blast inside the private bus, heading to Anuradhapura from Kandy, occurred at 7.05 am local time at a bus stand in Dambulla town, located 148 km from the capital Colombo, the army 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 security forces captured and destroyed the four bases of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in the jungles of Thoppigala in Batticaloa district during an offensive late Friday night and early Saturday.
During the 30-minute meeting between Samaraweera and Rice, the peace process in Sri Lanka and the current security situation came up for discussion.
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.
Favouring replication of the Indian model of federalism in Sri Lanka to solve the ethnic problem, members of Parliament from three Tamil parties of the island nation on Tuesday asked New Delhi to play a more active role in the peace process.
The dialogue must be open and the world at large told of the issues involved. But the first step for the process to begin is for both sides to accept that they are in a no win situation. If the world and India fails to convince the Sri Lankans, then we are looking at a fire next door with China gleefully fishing in troubled waters!
"The Government of Sri Lanka, without any justification, has now unilaterally withdrawn from the ceasefire agreement. The LTTE wishes to state that even at this juncture, it is ready to implement every clause of the CFA agreement and respect it 100 per cent," LTTE political head B Nadesan said in a statement.
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.
Apparently emboldened by its recent military successes against the LTTE, the Sri Lankan government on Wednesday night decided to terminate the truce agreement with LTTE.
According to a Pro-LTTE website, the rebels claimed they thwarted an attack from the Sri Lankan Armed Forces at Muhamalai in Jaffna peninsula on Saturday morning.
The LTTE has been conducting multi-pronged war exercises at the facility when it was hit by the jets, the defence ministry said. "The LTTE's Kilinochchi leadership is yet to reveal losses," the army said citing intercepted communication.
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