Sri Lanka news columns

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Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi said he had to ponder over whether his government should continue in power if attacks on Sri Lankan Tamils continued unabated in the island nation, even after the union government's stern warning to Sri Lanka on the issue, the Chennaionline said. Addressing a rally in Chennai to protest the attacks on Sri Lankan Tamils by the island nation's army, he said that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had spoken to him on the issue this morning, after which National Security Advisor M K Narayanan summoned the Sri Lankan Deputy High Commissioner at New Delhi to convey the country's protest over the attacks. If the attacks continued even after this, there was no point in his government continuing in power, he said. Though the Chief Minister had spoken vaguely on the subject, leading the media to interpret that his party might consider withdrawal of support to the UPA government, sources close to him clarified that Karunanidhi had only spoken about ...

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It was 10 p.m. on Tuesday and doctors at Apollo hospital had just removed shrapnel from Chintamani Rout’s thigh. For a wounded man caught in the middle of fierce shelling and artillery fire less than 15 hours ago, Chintamani Rout seemed to be recovering quickly. “This is nothing,” Rout said pointing to his just-operated thigh. “These things happen.” He was one of the two Indian radar technicians injured when the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam launched a simultaneous air and ground attack on the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) base near Vavuniya town in north Sri Lanka early Tuesday. Rout was luckier than his colleague A.K. Thakur, who had to be operated just below his left eye to remove a similar metal piece lodged inside the eye socket. Rout said: “We were resting when the sound of sirens woke us up. I didn’t know the time. There was heavy shelling. We heard bombs exploding.” The attack was launched soon after 3 a.m. and the exchange of fire continued for over three hours. For Rout, ...

BY Dayan Jayatilleka Fascists launch a final surge before they lose wars. The Kamikaze pilots were a last card against the US fleet. The Nazis developed the Tiger tank, launched the V-1 and V-2 rockets and fought the Battle of the Bulge in the closing stages of the war, when they had already lost in the strategic sense. The battle of Iwo Jima is the classic model of a fanatical, suicidal, dug–in fighting force defending its home turf against a final onslaught. It was the toughest possible going but the US Marines won. It is only to be expected that the Tigers would offer the stiffest possible resistance in their Ithiyabhoomi or ‘heartland’. In their best case scenario they would turn Kilinochchi–Mullaitivu into a meat-grinder and then launch tactical counteroffensives which could develop into strategic ones, reversing their losses. The Tigers’ strategy containing these two scenarios can be defeated by a combination of superior thinking and planning, strategy and tactics, resources and...

Both parties suffer heavy casualties By Ranga Jayasuriya Guns roared in the Wanni front amidst heavy rain lashing the soggy wanni soil as the security forces and Tigers fought a bloody close quarter battle over a trench line. The military attempted to break through several identified positions at the 25 kilometre long massive earth bund running from Nachchukudah to Akkarayankulam. They captured some land but then the Tigers put up stiff resistance. Both parties emerged with a bloody nose, with dozens of men dead and some missing. This earth bund, on which many bunkers have been built, is the main defence of the Tigers against troops pushing towards Pooneryn and Kilinochchi. On Tuesday morning, troops of 4 Sinha Regiment, attached to 571 Brigade attacked the Tiger defence lines in Vannarikulam. Armed with light anti-tank weapons and high explosive RPGs, they delivered a swift attack. They dislodged the defending Tiger cadres, capturing 600 meters of the defence line. ...

කොටි ත‍්‍රස්තවාදීහු 52ක් මරුට මහින්ද කුලතුංග සහ චන්ද්‍රිකා පෙරේරා කිලිනොච්චියේ නාව්විකුඩා සහ අක්කරායන්කුලම් ප‍්‍රදේශයේ දී පෙරේදා (02) ආරක්‍ෂක හමුදාවත් කොටි ත‍්‍රස්තවාදීනුත් අතර ඉතා දරුණු සටන් ඇවිලී ගිය අතර කිලිනොච්චිය ඇතුළුව වන්නියේ ගැටුම්වල දී කොටි ත‍්‍රස්තවාදීන් 52 ක් මියගොස් තවත් 65 ක් තුවාල ලැබූහ. නාච්චිකුඩා සහ අක්කරායන්කුලමේදී වූ ගැටුම්වලදී පමණක් ත‍්‍රස්තවාදීන් 27 ක් මරා දැමූූ හමුදාව තවත් 31 කට තුවාල සිදුකර තිබේ. මෙහිදී වූ ගැටුමෙන් යුද හමුදාවේ සෙබළු හත්දෙනකු මිය ගොස් තවත් 50 ක් තුවාල ලැබූ බවත් හමුදා සෙබළු හත්දෙනකු අතුරුදන් වූ බවත් ජාතික ආරක්‍ෂාව පිළිබඳ මාධ්‍ය මධ්‍යස්ථානය සඳහන් කෙළේය. වවුනියාවේ නාවක්කුඩා සහ පාලමොඩෙයි ප‍්‍රදේශවලදී සිදු වූ ගැටුම්වලින් ත‍්‍රස්තවාදීන් 19 ක් මරා දැමූ හමුදාව විසින් තවත් 23 කට තුවාල සිදුකර තිබේ. එහිදී යුද හමුදාවේ සෙබළකු මියගොස් තවත් අයකු තුවාල ලබා ඇත. වැලිඔය ප‍්‍රදේශයේදී වූ ගැටුම්වලින් ත‍්‍රස්තවාදීන් හයදෙනකු මියගොස් තවත් 11 ක් තුවාල වූ බවත් මාධ්‍ය මධ්‍යස්ථානය සඳහන් කෙළේය. යාපනය එලුත්තුකඩවායි ප‍්‍රදේශයේ දී කොටින්ගේ අත් බෝම්බ ප‍්‍රහාරයකින් හමුදාවේ සෙබළකු තු...

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