LTTE Suicide terrorist blast in Modara wounds 7 people

29 Feb 2008 - 14:00

A  Tamil Tiger suicide bomber ignited a blast that wounded seven people Friday when police knocked on a house door during a security sweep in Sri Lanka's capital, the military said.
Police officers were searching a neighborhood in the northern part of Colombo for Tamil Tiger rebels suspected of infiltrating the capital and had just knocked on a door of a house at dawn when the blast was triggered inside, military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara said.The blast killed the bomber and wounded seven people, including three police officers, he said. He said police searched the area based on information given by a suspect during questioning.The military blamed the Tigers for the blast. The group could not immediately be reached for comment. It routinely denies responsibility for such attacks.Three policemen and four civilians were being treated at Colombo National Hospital.
 

Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara, the military spokesman, told reporters that intensive military offensives against the LTTE  have continued since the Feb. 14 and the Tamil Tiger terrorists have suffered a large number of casualties. The Tamil Tiger terrorists are in a state of disarray due to continued government military offensives in the island's north and northeast.

                   Defence sources in the Welioya battlefront say Sri Lanka Army soldiers have destroyed a fortified stronghold of LTTE terrorists this evening (February 25). According to the sources, Army infantrymen launched attacks at the LTTE defences located in the North of Janakapura area between 1.p.m. to 2.p.m.

Following the attack, troops found 7 bodies of slain LTTE cadres, along with 6, T-56 riffles, one Light Machine Gun (LMG) and one GPS equipment, the sources said.

In addition, the terrorists attempted to regain the control over the area but failed in the face of army retaliation, said the sources. Army engaged artillery at the LTTE reinforcements and caused them to turn tail with heavy casualties. Later, LTTE radio transmissions revealed that 5 more LTTE cadres were killed and 4 injured due to Army retaliation.

One soldier was killed in this incident, the sources added.

On the 22nd of February, fighter jets of the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombed a sea tiger installation in Kiranchchi,  west of Kilinochchi. The tigers, as usual  claimed that the SLAF jets raided a civilian settlement and presented many photographs of the dead (which  included infants) to prove their claim. However latest intelligence reports suggest that a sea tiger base actually was hit in the air raid.

According to naval intelligence sources, the base housed a number of LTTE sea tiger crafts. At least 10 sea tigers have been killed in the bombing and another 12 more have been wounded. Among the dead are a senior female sea tiger cadre (Lt. Colonel rank) who was in command of one of LTTE's larger attack crafts (Surali), a LTTE major and a lieutenant . Exact amount of damages caused to sea tiger assets are not available as of now.

Clashes between government forces and Tamil Tiger terroristss killed at least 40 Tamil Tiger combatants across northern Sri Lanka, the military says.LTTE Terrorists spokesman Rasiah Ilanthirayan did not respond to calls seeking comment on the military's claims.

20 Feb 2008 - 20:30

                     Heavy fighting erupted in Mannar on Wednesday as government troops tried to take LTTE Terrorists-held territory, the defence ministry said, reporting scores of Tamil Tiger Terrorists killed or wounded.The LTTE launched a major attack against military positions in Mannar district and troops retaliated, the ministry said in a statement.

"The LTTE has suffered heavy casualties, with scores believed killed," the ministry said, adding that four government soldiers were wounded.There was no immediate word from the Tamil Tiger Terrorists about the latest battles.

The defence ministry said troops went on the offensive to capture Adampan village from the terrorists in coastal Mannar district."Troops continued to surge into LTTE terrorists  territory towards Adampan junction in a fresh offensive launched at  6:00 am,today (20)" the defence ministry said.  Tiger's artillery fire was neutralised by security forces, the ministry said in a statement.

It said 23 Tamil Tiger terrorists were killed in separate clashes on Tuesday, while another 28 terrorists and three government soldiers were killed on Monday.According to latest ministry figures, at least 1,358 LTTe terrorits have been killed so far this year. The military estimates the rebel strength at 5,000 combatants.

Sangaree appeals P'Karan to surrender

                     In an appeal which he named an eleventh hour one Tamil United Liberation Front President V. Ananda Sangaree appealed to V. Prabhakaran to surrender arms, give up the concept of separation and sit down for talks on the resolution of the Sri Lankan conflict.

In a cordial letter addressed to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) supremo by his pet name and addressing him as "My Dear Thamby" the elder Tamil leader Sangaree told Prabhakaran, "I have written a number of letters to you with good intentions but there had been no response for anyone of them either from you or from anybody else on your behalf. more>>>

Sri Lankan soldiers captured a line of strategic terrorists bunkers after a battle Monday that killed 10 terrorists and one soldier, the military said.

Backed by mortar and artillery fire, army troops captured a 650-yard line of bunkers in northern Mannar district following a two-hour battle that also injured four soldiers, said Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara, the military's spokesman.

Though small, the stretch will help the military in its push to take terrorists-held territories in Mannar district, Nanayakkara said.

LTTE spokesman Rasiah Ilanthirayan did not answer calls seeking comment.

Sri Lanka, fighting a 25-year insurgency by LTTE terrorists, said it was concerned about Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence as it could set a precedent in other parts of the world and hurt nations.

"The Unilateral Declaration of Independence by Kosovo could set an unmanageable precedent in the conduct of international relations, the established global order of sovereign States and could thus pose a grave threat to international peace and security," the Foreign ministry said in a statement.

"This action by Kosovo is a violation of the Charter of the United Nations, which enshrines the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Member States," the statement said.

Kosovo Albanians declared independence on Sunday, confidently awaiting Western recognition for their state despite the anger its secession provoked in Serbia and Russia's warnings of fresh Balkan unrest.

China has also expressed concern.

Sri Lanka also said the Kosovo declaration was made without the consent of the majority of the people of Serbia and was a violation of the charter of the United Nations.

At least 41 LTTE Terrorists  and two soldiers were killed in clashes between the terrorists and the security forces in the embattled northern Sri Lanka, the military said. Twelve LTTE terrorists were killed in clashes the Jaffna peninsula yesterday, it said adding, one soldier also lost his life during the gun battle.

Separately, one LTTE terrorist was gunned down in Vempotukerni in northern Sri Lanka, another in Vedamakilam in Vavuniya and eight Tigers were killed in north-western Mannar, it said.

Army snipers deployed at Periyapantrichurichchan and Kallikulam killed four LTTE terrorists in two separate incidents during the weekend.

Meanwhile, in another ambush, eight LTTE terrorists were gunned down in general area of Andankulam in north-eastern Sri Lanka. Reports said.

One soldier was also killed in the clash, it said.

Those whom God wishes to destroy...(Island Editorial)

The civilized world is horrified at the dastardly shell attack the LTTE launched on a much venerated Catholic church in Mannar on Tuesday. The beleaguered Tigers trained their big guns on St. Sebastian's Church, Thallady, where soldiers were engaged in repairs on a request from a group of Catholic priests, killing six of them and injuring ten. That horrendous act of desecration is proof of the Tigers' callous disregard for religions as well as places of worship and the fact that they won't baulk at anything in trying to achieve their macabre objectives. Nothing can the Tigers claim in extenuation of that unspeakable act. They made no mistake. They deliberately targeted the church to kill as many soldiers as possible. Priests were lucky that they were not harmed.  more>>>>

LTTE launched artillery barrages fell at the densely populated Thalladi town this morning (February 12) damaging the Thalladi Church, Mannar defence sources said.

According to military sources, LTTE mounted artillery shell attacks since 08.35.a.m.

SLA retaliated with heavy gun fire towards identified LTTE artillery positions in the non-liberated areas north of Mannar, security sources said.

Six soldiers who were at the St. Sebastian church premises were killed while another ten received injuries due to this incident.

These soldiers were participating in a "Shramadana" campaign as the request made by the chief clergy, Defence sources said.

Leading Democratic presidential candidate Senator Hillary Clinton through her Office in Washington, DC announced that they have already rejected the election campaign funds sent by the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) proscribed as an arm of the banned Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

A New Jersey resident in U S A, allegedly connected to the TRO had sent in the funds. This was revealed to Sri Lanka’s Foreign Secretary Dr. Palitha Kohona and Bernard Goonatilake, Sri Lanka’s Ambassador in Washington.

This was a sequel to two top ranking Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry diplomats visiting Senator Hillary Clinton’s office at Washington on the Hill, to protest against the collection of campaign funds by TRO.

Sources at the Clinton office indicated that after thorough scrutiny, the funds were deemed unacceptable under U S law. The two Sri Lankan diplomats met Andrew Shapiro, Senior Foreign Policy Advisor of Senator Hillary Clinton and recorded their objections over her remarks she reportedly made about terrorism and LTTE in October 2007.

The Clinton office revealed that they were aware of the criticism arising from Senator Hillary Clinton’s alleged statement that “There are personality-driven terrorist objectives.

Courtesy: Daily News

Army general Sarath Fonseka vows to defeat LTTE terrorists

Sri Lanka's army chief has renewed a vow to defeat Tamil rebels, but refused to set a deadline for ending the decades-old conflict, saying the separatists remain a potent force, a report said Sunday.

Army general Sarath Fonseka said in an interview with the Lakbima weekly Sinhalese newspaper that a military campaign to capture the rebel-held Wanni region in the north begun in March last year was proceeding according to plan.

"They are an organised force with a lot of experience. They have thousands of fighters. I don't conduct the war looking at deadlines and timeframes," Fonseka said in the interview published Sunday.

"Can a war that has been going on for more than 25 years be completed by March? But, what I say is -- give us a chance."

At least 42 Tamil Tiger terrorists and four soldiers were killed in fresh fighting across military operations in north at the weekend, the Defence Ministry said.

In the heaviest fighting in Vavuniya district, at least 15 terrorists and three troops were killed on Saturday, the Ministry said in a statement.

In separate clashes across the region, 27 more terrorists and one soldier were killed, the statement said.

The Defence Ministry put the number of rebels killed since the start of the year at 1,088. A total of 48 soldiers were killed during the same period, it said.

The number of casualties reported by both the Government and the Tigers cannot be independently verified as journalists and human rights workers are not allowed to enter the battle zone.

                            A Sri Lanka Navy Petty Officer while on leave has averted a bloodbath attempted by LTTE terrorists in the Anuradhapura town by defusing a bomb weighing 1.5kg this forenoon (February 10). The bomb has been located in the weekend fair in the Anuradhapura town around 11.15 a.m.

According to the defence sources in the area, civilians shopping at the fair have detected a suspicious plastic can that is used to store engine oil placed near a fruit stall. The Petty Officer who has been alerted by the disturbance has volunteered to check the suspicious can, after make arrangements to inform the relevant authorities.

Having identified that the can was a time bomb, the Petty Officer has informed the public to vacate the place immediately and engaged himself in diffusing the bomb, the sources added.

The bomb has been made out of C-4 high explosives and large number of iron balls. Using his training, the Petty Officer has disconnected the timer from the detonator before the bomb disposal

The Leader of Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF), V. Anandasangaree stressed the necessity of international pressure to prevent LTTE targeting innocent civilians in pursuit of their unrealistic dream. He said that India should play a major role in this regard.

In a Press Statement to the Press Trust of India the TULF chief said, "the time has now come for India to step in and tell the LTTE to keephands off civilians". "The LTTE's only hope now is to unleash fresh violence for which the Sinhalese are not prepared," he said in the statement form London.

"I condemn every killing; I believe that no one has any right to take the life of another," he said. "It (the killing) will not take them (LTTE) anywhere. Instead they lose their credibility day by day. It is high time that the international community warns the LTTE to refrain from causing the deaths of innocent civilians," he said.

Expressing his dissatisfaction over the role played by the Tamil media particularly, the TULF leader said that Tamil media in Sri Lanka is not categorically blaming the LTTE for the killings of civilians in the country. "I reiterate that the Tamil media, both print and electronic, should bear part of the blame. Their failure to condemn these killings in one voice, gives some encouragement to the LTTE terrorists."

Given that they have a good network of reporters, they can easily assist the authorities to detect the real culprits. Without doing their duty they find fault with others," he observed.

Courtesy: Government Information Department

South of Adampan Tank liberated: 12 terrorists killed

Troops advanced into general area south of Adampan Tank, Mannar forcing terrorists to flee, killing 12 terrorists and overrunning LTTE defences today (February 8) at 10.a.m.

Two soldiers also laid their lives while five others were reported wounded in the pitched gunfire exchanged between troops and LTTE, MCNS reported.

defence.lk

Sri Lankan troops smashed bunkers of Tamil Tiger terrorists in the island's embattled north and kept up attacks elsewhere leaving 39 guerrillas dead, the island's defence ministry said Friday.

In the clashes along the front lines in Vavuniya district, security forces killed 22 guerrillas while destroying three of their bunkers on Thursday, the ministry said in a statement.

It said another 17 rebels were killed in fresh fighting since Thursday in the northern peninsula of Jaffna, north-eastern Trincomalee and the north-western mannar districts.

There were no casualties reported among security forces.

There was no immediate word from the LTTE.

The government claims cannot be independently verified since journalists and human rights groups are not allowed to go to frontline areas or terrorists-held territory.

According to the defence ministry, the LTTE terrorists have lost at least 989 fighters since the beginning of the year, compared with just 42 government soldiers killed.

Sri Lankan troops backed by tanks and artillery destroyed 30 Tamil Tiger bunkers in the island's far north on Wednesday killing 12 rebels, while air force jets bombed a gathering of rebel leaders, the military said.

The pre-dawn ground fighting along a border that separates Government from rebel territory in the far northern Jaffna peninsula comes amid an ever-deepening new chapter of a 25-year civil war analysts say neither side is winning.

Terrorism is facing an ``unprecedented defeat'' in Sri Lanka, President Mahinda Rajapaksa said in his Independence Day speech. The country has lived with the ``cancer of terrorism'' for three of the six decades since independence, he said.

Rajapaksa's government says it won't consider any peace settlement that divides the country of 20 million people. Tamils make up 11.9 percent of the population and Sinhalese almost 74 percent, according to a 2001 census.

An all-party forum has proposed creating an interim council in the Northern Province under a power-sharing agreement based on a 1987 constitutional amendment creating provincial councils.

The LTTE, designated a terrorist organization by the U.S., the European Union and India, rejected the amendment in 1988, saying it left too much power with the national Parliament.

Sri Lanka said the army is driving the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam from defense lines toward the rebel headquarters in the north, the last region held by Tamil Tiger forces in the South Asian island nation.

Fighter jets bombed a rebel gathering point early today near Thiruwaiaru, the Defense Ministry said in a statement. Soldiers destroyed 30 LTTE bunkers and killed 12 fighters in clashes at about 5:30 a.m. Colombo time, the ministry said.

The air force attacked an LTTE command center and communications base in the north in separate attacks yesterday, the ministry said. The LTTE, in its latest communiqué, said an army advance was repulsed in the Manalaaru area yesterday, TamilNet reported. Two civilians were injured when an area of Kilinochchi town was bombed today, it said.

Sri Lanka staged mass funerals for bomb blast victims on Tuesday after independence day festivities were marred by a string of attacks blamed on Tamil Tiger terrorists.

Schools in Colombo were shut as a Buddhist service was held for seven students and their baseball coach killed in a LTTE suicide bombing at a train terminal here on Sunday on the eve of Freedom Day.

After funeral rites, the coffins were taken to the victims' homes for burial.In the northeastern Weli Oya region, a funeral was held for three people killed on Freedom Day in a bomb attack on a civilian bus that left 14 people dead and 15 injured.

Five people killed on Saturday in a bus bomb attack were buried in a mass grave in Kandy district on Monday. Villagers have been hacked to death inside government-controlled territory, and another roadside bomb attack killed a soldier in the south on Monday.

Sri Lankan jet fighters bombed a place where LTTE leaders gather at THIRUWAIARU this morning around 8.30 a.m.

This was a clearly identified target located at 01 km North - West of IRANAMADU Lake. The Air Force confirms that strikes reached the target.

Sri Lanka air force fighter jets raided one of the main strategic command and control centres of the LTTE terrorists located at Kaivelikulam, Northwest of Puthukudiruppu this morning (February 5).

According to the defence intelligence source, the target was engaged on the real-time ground information that indicated intensified terror activity at the target. Also, it has been kept under thorough ground and air surveillance for considerable period, the sources added.

Fighter pilots have confirmed that the target was accurately hit.        

Defence.lk

Sri Lanka's president insisted Monday his government was winning the war against Tamil Tiger rebels as the island marked its 60th anniversary of independence after a bloody weekend of violence by tamil tiger terrorists.

The president said the "challenge bestowed upon us by history is the defeat of terrorism," and asserted government forces had cornered the rebels in the northern part of the island.

"We faced this challenge squarely without avoiding it. Our security forces are today achieving victories against terrorism unprecedented in history," he said in an address to the nation from Colombo's Galle Face road.

"Terrorism is receiving an unprecedented defeat," said Rajapakse, whose government pulled out of a tattered Norwegian-brokered truce with the rebels last month.

Among those killed in a suicide bombing on Sunday at Colombo's main railway station were five boys from a school baseball team and their coach. The government ordered Colombo schools shut for a week as part of mourning.

Sri Lanka's navy also stepped up patrols to prevent sea-borne attacks by the Sea Tigers, the LTTE's naval unit, and air defence systems were on alert amid fears of a attacks by the rebels' light aircraft.

Two hours before the ceremonies got underway here, suspected Tiger terrorists set off a bomb and destroyed an electricity transformer in a Colombo suburb, police said, but there were no casualties.

They said a more powerful bomb was found and defused hours earlier in the same area.

President's Independence Day Message

Sixty years is a small interlude to a country with a history and civilization dating back more than 2500 years. Yet, this 60th anniversary of Independence has its own significance as it marks the period since we achieved freedom after nearly half a millennium of colonial rule, and made our mark as a free people in the community of nations.

Sri Lanka has cause to be proud of her many achievements in this period, in many of which she stands out as an example to other countries in our region and the larger developing world, too. We stand unique with the longest tradition of representative democracy in Asia. As one of the first developing countries to promote universal healthcare and education, gender equality and social mobilization, we have been able to achieve exceptional socio-economic indicators; way ahead of those normally expected of a country in the lower middle income range, and today we are moving to achieving or surpassing many of the Millennium Development Goals. In recent years we have also seen a welcome rise in the per capita income of our people, once again ahead of the larger engines of growth in our region. Significantly, it is despite the ravages of brutal terrorism of 25 years that we have been able to notch these gains in social development.

As we complete sixty years of freedom there are two main challenges before us. One is the challenge of eradicating terrorism and the other is that of eradicating poverty. With regard to the first there is cause for satisfaction that the entire Eastern Province has now been cleared of terrorism. The moves to eradicate it from the North are still under way, with good expectations for success. We owe a heavy debt of gratitude to the security forces for their exemplary work in the battle against terror.

Poverty alleviation requires more equitable economic development in the country, taking the fruits of progress to the many regions that have been neglected in the development plans since Independence, and those that have suffered due to terrorism and the battle against it. My government has already initiated several measures to expedite development in hitherto neglected rural areas, including the Eastern Province which is seeing new awakening, with freedom from terror.

While facing up to these challenges, it is also necessary to ensure equity in the rights enjoyed by all our people who in their rich diversity of language, religion and culture make up the Sri Lankan nation.

Having completed sixty years of measurable success amidst turbulence, and progress despite many an obstacle, we should look forward to the hard work that still lies ahead in our efforts to forge true unity as a nation, moving away from the divisions and suspicions that have held us back in the past, and proceed with determination to the daring new world of opportunity that lies ahead.

Let us renew our pledge to move in unity towards a New Sri Lanka

Mahinda Rajapaksa

A special training facility of the LTTE was completely destroyed in an aerial attack launched by the Sri Lanka Air Force around 5.10 pm today (31).  The LTTE base was located in a jungle patch at Kaivelikulam, around 4 kms Northwest of Puthukkudiyiruppu in Mullaittivu, Defence sources confirmed.
 

A suspected Tamil Tiger suicide bomber blew himself up in a crowded marketplace in northern Sri Lanka on Thursday killing three people, and the air force bombed rebel positions also in far north, the military said.Thirteen other people, also civilians, were wounded in the blast in Thirunaweli in the northern Jaffna peninsula."The bomber arrived at the site riding a bicycle and exploded himself," military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said.

There was no immediate comment from the Tigers who have in the past denied attacking civilians.