Sri Lanka news columns

Amid fierce fighting in recent days, the military says it will soon take the rebel base and, within months, end one of Asia's longest-running conflicts. By Jonathan Adams posted September 29, 2008 at 9:29 am ED The Sri Lankan government claims it is on the verge of wiping out the Tamil Tigers' last rebel stronghold. If it's right, Sri Lanka could at last see the end of a long-running conflict that has left some 70,000 people dead. The claims come amid fierce fighting in and near the Tigers' base in Kilinochchi on the northern tip of the island, where government airplanes are pounding rebel positions as ground troops slowly tighten the noose. Numerous media noted that the military's claims could not be independently verified. Both the government and the rebels often make exaggerated claims, the Associated Press (AP) noted. A top Sri Lankan military official told the BBC Friday the government had won ground, sea, and air superiority over the rebels, and that victory w...

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පිටකොටුව මල්වත්ත පාරේ බෝම්බයෙන් වාහන 5කට අලාභහානි: 4කට තුවාල භක්ති ධර්මප‍්‍රිය මෙන්ඩිස්, අනුර පේ‍්‍රමලාල් සහ සුභාෂිනි සේනානායක කොළඹ කොටුව මල්වත්ත පාරේ පිහිටි මෝටර් රථ ගාලක් තුළ ඊයේ (09) දහවල් 12.45 ට පමණ පුපුරා ගිය කොටි බෝම්බයකින් පුද්ගලයන් සිවුදෙනකුට සුළු තුවාල සිදුවී මෝටර් රථ පහකට හානි සිදුවී ඇතැයි පොලිසිය පවසයි. මෙම බෝම්බය ප‍්‍රභූ පුද්ගලයෙකු ඉලක්ක කරමින් පුපුරුවා හරින්නට කොටි සැලසුම් කර ඇතත්, එය ව්‍යර්ථ වී ඇතැයි පොලිසිය කියයි. මල්වත්ත පාර ජනාකීර්ණ ප‍්‍රදේශයක් වූවද බෝම්බය පුපුරන අවස්ථාවේ එහි සිට ඇත්තේ පුද්ගලයන් කිහිපදෙනෙකු පමණක් බව කොටුව පොලිසිය පැවැසීය. පුපුරා ගිය බෝම්බයේ බර ග‍්‍රෑම් 250 කට ආසන්න ගණනක් බව මූලික පරීක්ෂණවලදී හෙළිවී තිබේ. පිපිරීමෙන් තුවාල ලබා ඇත්තේ අංක 151/18, කොළඹ 13, ජින්තු පිටියේ මුණසිංහ ආරච්චිගේ මේරි හිල්ඩා (48), මහරගම පදිංචි ජී. එස්. ඩී. ජයසෝම (36), නෙළුම්දෙනිය, උඩුකුඹුර, කමල් කාරියවසම් (30), මට්ටක්කුලිය, ජින්තු මාවතේ පදිංචි මොහොමඩ් ඉම්රාන් (18) යන අය වෙති. වන්නේරිකුලම් බංකර් පෙළකට එම්. අයි. 24 ගුවන් ප‍්‍රහාර චන්ද්‍රිකා පෙරේරා සහ භක්ති ධර්මප‍්‍රිය මෙන්ඩිස් කිලිනො...

by Harischandra Gunaratna At least two Tigers were killed in an exchange of fire between the Police Commandos and the LTTE in the Kodumadu lagoon in Kalavanchikuddi. According to Military Spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara the STF personnel had spotted a boat in the lagoon and ordered those in the boat to alight. "Pretending that they obeyed the orders of the Police Commandos, the Tiger cadres moved out from the boat and suddenly started firing at them. But the STF men fired back and the boat exploded leaving two LTTE cadres dead," he said. STF men recovered the two dead bodies and a haul of weapons with a T-56 assault rifle and a small quantities of explosives he said. Now,Tigers use Vel cart for cover by Harischandra Gunaratna x Three LTTE cadres hiding in a Vel Cart in a temple in Kandarodai, Chunnakam had hurled a grenade at four soldiers who were inspecting it on suspicion and fled, Military Spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said. No one was injured in the blast....

SLAF Fighter jets pounded a LTTE gathering point 2.5 km north of Vannerikulam tank area around 4.10 p.m. yesterday. These air strikes were in support of the troops on the kilinochchi battlefront, Air Force spokesperson Wing Commander Janaka Nanayakkara said. He said Air Force MI 24 helicopter gunships lunched strikes at a Tiger bunker line three Km north of Vannerikulam around 12.15 p.m. This attack was in support of Task Force 1 troops operating in the western half of the Kilinochchi front. The targets were taken accurately, the spokesman said Source

By Rohan Abeywardena The Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) this week introduced fuel-air bombs for the first time, more than matching the battlefield stakes raised by the LTTE early last week by its gas attacks on troops at Akkarayankulam and Wannivilakulam. The impact of the new bomb was instant, as the LTTE’s expatriate sympathisers began making immediate discreet calls to Colombo to inquire and complain of air raids in Kilinochchi on Wednesday morning. Wednesday’s introductory air raid over Wanni, with the new bomb, could even be just a warning shot to the LTTE not to resort to any further chemical strikes, as the return could be far more devastating SLAF’s fuel-air bomb ‘sucks out’ Tigers According to military analysts, the lethal new bomb is ideal to take out Tigers from the thick jungles of Kilinochchi and Mulaithivu and could even help expedite an end to the war. As the name fuel-air indicates, it is a bomb that explodes on the...

by Ranil WIJAYAPALA The frequency of gas attacks and the wave type of attacks were intensified this week as troops inched into the outskirts of the Kilinochchi Tiger capital whilst its leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, frequently attending ceremonies to pay homage to their dead Tiger leaders at clandestine locations, frantically changed his hide outs to avoid air attacks targeting the LTTE leadership and other military and logistic bases. Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran has to allocate all 365 days of the year to attend funerals and ceremonies to commemorate the Tiger leaders who sacrificed their lives to appease his thirst for blood in achieving an illusionary goal of Tamil Eelam. Prabhakaran cannot just ignore the lives of these Tiger leaders whom he had preyed to achieve his illusionary goal Tamil Eelam. Can a leader like Prabhakaran, who put the lives of the entire Tamil community in danger by igniting flames of hatred in their...

By Iqbal Athas Troops now on the doorstep of Tiger guerrilla strongholds in the Wanni carried out a series of probes into their enemy positions this week. This was whilst directing artillery fire at their targets. Among the reasons for the caution that somewhat slowed down hectic military activity was to allow civilians who had converged on Kilinochchi to move out to secure areas. As reported last week, the guerrillas have ordered those arriving in their centre of political power to leave for several villages in the Mullaitivu district. They include Puthukudiyiruppu, Visvamadu and Vattakachchi. Yesterday’s (27 Sep, 2008) picture in the Tamilnet website shows smoke billowing after the Air Force carried out a bombing raid near the Kilinochchi town. ...

By Ranga Jayasuriya The fourth Eelam war has entered a decisive stage with troops moving as close as four kilometres of Kilinochchi city limits, the administrative headquarters of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. Last week, Army Commander Lt. Gen Sarath Fonseka went on record, claiming at a book launch by journalist Tissa Ravindra Perera, that troops would fire the first salvos at guerillas defending the town next week. Some military units are in the vicinity of the southern perimeters of Kilinochchi and troops are in sight of city buildings there. Past battles On Friday, troops of the 57 Division captured Kokavil, south of Kilinochchi for the first time since 1990. On June 11, 1990, the Kokavil military camp - which housed 69 men commanded by young Lt. Saliya Upul Aladeniya - came under LTTE attack. The fall of Kokavil in 1990 was a fiasco in a long list of past military blunders. But, it also highlighted the valour of troops who fought to the las...

නාවක්කුඩා සෝදිසියේ දී කොටි උපකරණ තොගයක් සොයා ගනීයි චන්ද්‍රිකා පෙරේරා කල්අඩි නාවක්කුඩා හා නරකමුල්ල ලැවනියාරු ප‍්‍රදේශවල ත‍්‍රස්තවාදීන් විසින් සඟවන ලද ජීව උණ්ඩ කොටි කැළෑ ඇඳුම් කට්ටල පණිවිඩ හුවමාරු යන්ත‍්‍ර හා ප‍්‍රදේශ සිතියම් ඇතුළු යුද උපකරණ, ඇතුළු භාණ්ඩ තොගයක් විශේෂ කාර්ය බළකාය විසින් පෙරේදා (24) සොයාගෙන තිබේ. ලැවනියාරු ප‍්‍රදේශයේ ත‍්‍රස්තවාදීන් රැඳී සිටි ගොඩනැගිලි තුනක් විශේෂ කාර්ය බළකාය විසින් මෙම සෝදිසියේදී සොයාගෙන ඇති අතර එහි සඟවා තිබූ භාණ්ඩ අතර කොටි කැළෑ ඇඳුම් කට්ටල අටක් අයිකොම් පණිවිඩ හුවමාරු යන්ත‍්‍රයක් ටී 56 මැගසින් දෙකක් ජීව උණ්ඩ 145 ක් හා කිලිනොච්චි ප‍්‍රදේශය මීටර් වලින් දැක්වෙන බිම් සිතියමක් තිබුණු බව විශේෂ කාර්ය බළකාය පැවැසීය. නාවක්කුඩා නැගෙනහිර හතරවැනි කොටසේ කළ සෝදිසියේදී මිලි මීටර් නවය වර්ගයේ ගිනි අවි වලට යොදන ජීව පතොරොම් 40 ක් සොයා ගෙන ඇත. මුහමලේ කොටි නායක වර්ධන් හමුදා ප‍්‍රහාරයෙන් මරු දකී භක්ති ධර්මපි‍්‍රය මෙන්ඩිස්, වෙල්ලස්සේ බණ්ඩාර, උපාලි කරුණරත්න සහ චන්ද්‍රිකා පෙරේරා යුද හමුදාව එල්ල කළ ප‍්‍රහාරවලින් ප‍්‍රබල කොටි නායකයකු වූ ‘වර්ධන්’ නමැත්තා මුහමලේ ප‍්‍රදේශයේ දී ම...

The Security Forces have advanced to the outskirts of Kilinochchi, the Army Chief Lieutenant General Sarath Fonseka said yesterday. “Our forces are around four kilometres (2.5 miles) from Kilinochchi town. In fact we can see some of the buildings,” Lieutenant General Fonseka said. He also said the LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, was “now a caged animal.” “Our military campaign won’t stop until we liberate our motherland from the LTTE,” Fonseka added. Kilinochchi, is where the LTTE have hosted visiting foreign dignitaries and peace brokers. They maintain their police headquarters, courts and own bank there. Fonseka, who was speaking at a book launch in Colombo, did not say when he expected the town to fall. But he suggested a fresh offensive would begin in the coming days. “We will fire the first shots towards Kilinochchi town next week,” he said. Foreign aid workers who evacuated the North last week have confirmed that the fighting has drawn steadily closer to Kilinochchi. Meanwhil...

The battle on the Kilinochchi battlefront has reached this new momentum turning the battle into one of the most decisive phases within the past two weeks commencing from the September 14 when troops changed the axis of the battlefront towards new direction. Colonel Senerath Bandara 572 Brigade Commander It is tiring to fight seven days continuously, yet there is no complaint from the troops and Commanding Officers as they are committed to see an end to LTTE terrorism to leave a better country for the future generation. Lt. Colonel Epsitha Dissanayaka Commanding Officer 8 Sri Lanka Light Infantry Battalion We are spending sleepless nights and effectively facing Tiger counter attacks. At the end of the day we are happy as we see the results of our commitment. Major Kaushal Gunasekera Brigade Major 573 Brigade Gas attacks of the LTTE ...