The bomber, with explosives strapped on her body, blew herself up as she was to go through a checkpoint meant for Tamil civilians who have crossed over from rebel-held lines. his was the first major suicide attack in Sri Lanka in a month, though last week government forces claimed to have thwarted several such attempts on the battlefront near Mullaittivu.
Army tanks and infantry moved deep into the sea Tiger base in Chalai region in Northern Mullaittivu after killing four top LTTE leaders, including Vinayagam, number three in the hierarchy list of sea tigers.
The Sri Lankan army's hopes to crush Tamil Tigers and end Asia's longest running civil war are still not around the corner, a media report said. 'Peace still will not be easy or, despite recent good news, immediate. The Tigers may still be able to carry out some terror attacks, though they no longer pose a wide-scale threat. And Colombo faces questions about its commitment to a permanent political settlement,' a Wall Street Journal report said.
While refusing to hazard a guess on the time frame for liberating the entire northern Sri Lanka from the rebels, Army Chief Sarath Fonseka said he had been given another one year extension beginning January 2009 and the period is enough to completely clear the LTTE held areas.
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".
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.
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.
A heavy gunbattle between Sri Lankan troops and Tamil Tiger rebels left 28 militants and two security personnel dead in the island nation's embattled north, the defence ministry said on Monday.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam attacked army defence lines between Mannar and Vavuniya districts since Saturday night inflicting heavy losses.
Describing the slain head of LTTE political wing S P Thamilselvan as an extra-ordinary son of our nation, Tamil Tigers' reclusive supreme V Prabhakaran on Tuesday charged that the international community contributed to his killing by only paying "lip service to peace".
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.
The fierce clashes got under way at a time when President Mahinda Rajapaksa unveiled the budget proposals for 2008 in Parliament and vowed to wipe out terrorism completely in the island nation.
Senior Lankan minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle and 11 others were killed and over 90 injured in a powerful suicide bombing at a ceremony marking the start of a marathon race as part of Sri Lanka's traditional New Year celebrations near Colombo. Former Olympic marathoner K A Karunaratne and national athletic coach Lakshman de Alwis, were also killed in the suicide blast.
With the Tamil Tiger territory fast shrinking in northern Sri Lanka, the LTTE's second-in-command and spy chief Pottu Amman has assumed direct charge of the battle against the Sri Lankan security forces.
The Tamil Tigers said on Monday that they were ready for a ceasefire with the Sri Lankan government, but refused to lay down their arms. With the Liberation Tigers of the Tamil Eelam cornered in a fast shrinking small landmass in the north easter coast of the country, the rebels appeal for a truce came in a letter to the United Nations and other foreign powers.
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.
With his forces encircling the fighters of the Liberation Tigers of Tami Eelam in a tiny strip of land in the northern region of the country, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse held out an olive branch to the Tamil Tigers on Monday, asking them to lay down arms after which they will be 'readily accepted and treated humanely'. The President said all facilities would be made available for the LTTE cadres who lay down their arms and surrender.
The troops, backed by fighter jets, had on Thursday stormed two key rebel bastions near Killinocchi in the island's north after killing 50 guerrillas and injuring 100. The security forces took control of the rebels' Iranamadu Junction on Thursday morning, shortly after capturing the LTTE's strategic Paranthan town.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Speculation was rife at Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu on Wednesday about whether the wife of Liberation Tiger of Tamil Eelam supremo V Prabhakaran arrived here, along with a group of Sri Lankan refugees, in the face of escalating violence between the Tamil Tigers and Sri Lankan forces. Police and media personnel rushed to the Mandapam refugee camp in Rameswaram after rumours claimed that Prabhakaran's wife Madhivadhani had reached the camp early on Wednesday morning.
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.
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.
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.
V V Ganeshananthan discusses her first book Love Marriage, a novel set in Sri Lanka, with Arthur J Pais.
A suspected Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam suicide bomber blew himself up when troops surrounded him in Sri Lanka's northern Jaffna peninsula, where two Tamil Tiger rebels and a soldier were killed in separate incidents, the army said in Colombo on Monday.
"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.
Two Tigers were killed in a ground attack on Monday evening in the Vavuniya region where two soldiers were also wounded.
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.
"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.
"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.
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.
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."
"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.
The rebels attempted to breach the Muhamalai forward defence line in northern Lanka late on Wednesday night, leading to clashes between the Tigers and the army. While 14 rebels were gunned down by the security forces, seven were killed on Thursday.
The Tigers' air strike on the military base in Vavuniya came as part of a brazen counter-attack by the rebels that led to heavy fighting on the ground in which 22 people, including 10 soldiers and equal number of guerrillas were killed. Sources said the two Indians, identified as Roop and Thakur, were carrying out maintenance and training of Sri Lankan personnel manning an Indian-supplied radar at the northern airbase.
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.
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