Sri Lanka Tigers say resisting military onslaught

Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tiger rebels said Thursday they were resisting a major military thrust into their territory and said they had killed at least 25 government troops in two days of fighting.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said they pushed back security forces from the Catholic pilgrim area of Madhu in the coastal district of Mannar, where heavy fighting has raged in recent weeks.

“The Sri Lanka army adamantly initiated several clashes within 1,500 metres of the church premises,” a statement said. “The LTTE defenders successfully repelled the Sri Lanka army offenders.”

The separatists added that more than 90 soldiers had been wounded, placing their own losses at one killed and three hurt over the two days.

The LTTE statement came as the military said they killed 75 rebels for the loss of three soldiers in Mannar, Vavuniya and Weli Oya on Wednesday and Tuesday.

The latest defence ministry casualty claims bring to at least 2,595 the number of rebels said to have been killed by security forces since January.

The ministry has reported losing 154 soldiers in the same period.

The figures given by both sides in the decades-old ethnic conflict that has claimed tens of thousands of lives cannot be independently confirmed as journalists and rights groups are barred from front-line areas.

Source: khaleejtimes.com

India requested to allow rice exports to Sri Lanka

Hit by soaring prices of rice, the Sri Lanka government has requested New Delhi to exempt the island nation from its recent curbs, including hike in rice export duties. “President Mahinda Rajapaksa is directly speaking to the governments of India, Pakistan and Burma, with the aim of importing rice from these countries. We hope there would be a positive outcome,” Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Bandula Gunawardena told IANS Thursday.

He said that immediate import of rice from these countries would help ensure availability of rice at a reasonable rate in the local market, especially on the eve of the Sinhala-Tamil New Year.

Sri Lanka has always looked to India whenever it faced a rice crisis in the local market, but it has been badly hit with the Indian government banning the exports of non-basmati rice.

A top Indian diplomatic official confirmed the request made by Colombo and said it has been passed on to New Delhi for consideration.

Gunawardena said that Myanmar has agreed to sell 100,000 metric tonnes of white rice to Sri Lanka.

“I am leading a delegation to Burma on Friday to finalise this deal,” Gunawardena said, adding that the Pakistani government has also agreed in principle to export 50,000 metric tonnes of rice to Sri Lanka.

“With these two countries conceding our request, we hope that neighbouring India would also consider our request positively,” he said.

Commerce and Consumer Affairs Ministry sources said there was an artificial shortage of rice in the local market due to hoarding and the unfavourable weather that has hindered the milling of rice.

Source: thaindian.com

LTTE accuses Army of initiating clashes

Denying that it has deployed arms around the historic Madhu Church in north-western Mannar, the LTTE has accused the Sri Lankan Army of initiating clashes within the premises of the famous Christian place of worship.

The Sri Lankan Army (SLA), it alleged, "makes false accusations" by reporting that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam has deployed its guns near the 400-year-old church.

"The LTTE Operational HQ, Mannar, denies that baseless allegations and points out that LTTE has guns of enough ability to fire from quite some distance and better places to position them," the LTTE said in a statement last night.

The rebel outfit claimed it had never violated the rules of the church and "anyone with simple military knowledge would see the tactlessness of deploying guns in a public place".

The Sri Lankan military has alleged that the LTTE fired mortar bombs inside the church premises on Tuesday.

The Bishop of Mannar, Rev Rayappu Joseph, meanwhile said he had "successfully" appealed to the LTTE not to deploy arms around the Mannar church, media reports said.

He prayed for calm and peace during a function in Mannar, where Christians took out a march earlier this week to urge protection for the shrine.

The LTTE statement claimed that its forces had successfully repelled "the Sri Lankan Army advances and had found warlike materials including RPG launchers left behind by the Sri Lankan security forces".

Sources: Hindu

Nominations closed for eastern Sri Lanka elections

The nominations to contest Sri Lanka's Eastern Provincial Council election was closed on Thursday with the voting to take place on May 10, elections officials said.

Nominations were accepted from registered political parties and independent groups to contest local councils at the three different districts in the province.

Parties and groups handed in their nominations at the Election Department offices in the Batticaloa, Ampara and Trincomalee districts and the handing over period passed without any incident, defense officials said.

Some 12 political parties had handed over nominations for the Batticaloa and Trincomalee districts while 11 political parties had handed over for the Ampara district, officials said.

They said 15, 19 and 22 independent groups respectively are vying in the three districts.

Over 980,000 voters are eligible to vote, officials said.

Several applications from both political parties and independent groups were rejected in the three districts.

The Eastern Provincial Council election on May 10 will be the first such since November 1988.

The east was then part of the north and east provincial council until the two provinces came to be de-merged in late 2006 through a court order.

The two provinces came to be merged as a result of the India-Sri Lanka Peace Accord of July 1987.

Source: Xinhua

Fighting in Sri Lanka kills 32 Tamil rebels, 9 soldiers, military says

Battles, roadside bombings and mortar attacks across Sri Lanka's turbulent north killed 32 Tamil Tiger rebels and nine government soldiers, the military said Thursday.

The newly reported fighting Wednesday took place along the front lines separating government-controlled territory with the rebels' de facto state in the north, military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara said.

The casualties brought the death toll from fighting Wednesday to 45 rebels and 10 soldiers, he said. All the soldiers were killed in roadside bombings and mortar attacks, he said.

In the worst clash, 18 rebels and seven soldiers were killed in the Mannar region, he said.

Rebel spokesman Rasiah Ilanthirayan did not answer calls seeking comment.

It was not possible to independently verify the military's claims because journalists are banned from the war zone. Both the government and rebels often exaggerate the other side's casualties and underreport their own.

Fighting had fallen off over the past week because of heavy rain, but appears to have escalated again in recent days.

Nanayakkara said the rebels were fiercely trying to recapture land the military had seized.

"They keep on attacking those locations ... and we repulse them," he said.

The Tamil Tigers have fought since 1983 for an independent homeland for ethnic minority Tamils, who have been marginalized for decades by successive governments run by ethnic Sinhalese. More than 70,000 people have been killed in the violence.

Source: IHT

Court restrains lab from delivering prints of 'Prabhakaran'

A civil court today restrained the Gemini Colour Lab from delivering the prints of Sinhala Film 'Prabhakaran' for a week.

Admitting a suit filed by Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) President Thol Thirumavalavan, I Additional City Civil Court Judge Sethuraman ordered notices to the State Home Secretary, Director General of Police, the Union Home Secretary, Sinhala Film Producer Osmand-de-Silva and Film Director Thusara Peiris to file a counter in two weeks.

In his petition, Mr Thirumavalavan said the film contained scenes and dialogues which highly affected the Tamil diaspora. The Tamil population in Sri Lanka had been displaced and was living as refugees worldwide due to the ethnic conflict.

But the film showed the majority Sinhala population as being displaced and living in poorly maintained refugee camps in Sri Lanka. It also showed them starving, which was totally untrue, the petitioner contended.

He said the film by a Sri Lankan producer was being processed at the Gemini Colour Lab here.

The producer was dubbing the film in Tamil and other Indian languages, making sufficient number of prints for release in India, including in Tamil Nadu.

The petitoner also prayed for permanent injunction against the film. The judge then posted further hearing in the case to April eight.

Source: newkerala.com

Sri Lankan bishop appeals for peace zone near prominent Marian shrine

With Sri Lankan forces closing in on the Marian shrine of Madhu in northwestern Sri Lanka, Bishop Rayappu Joseph of Mannar, Sri Lanka, has appealed to government forces and the Tamil rebels to leave the area around the shrine a "zone of peace."

"Today as the military operations are taking place very close to the shrine, we are compelled to make an urgent appeal to both the government and the (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) to respect the Madhu shrine and (its) area as a zone of peace," Bishop Joseph said in a written appeal.

Tamil rebels had already moved into the church compound, and Sri Lankan soldiers were very close, the bishop said.

"The situation is really serious, and the shrine could be razed to the ground unless an immediate cease-fire is declared there," Bishop Joseph told Catholic News Service April 1 following his appeal.

Father Emilianuspillai Santhiapillai, the shrine's administrator, told the Asian church news agency UCA News April 1: "The whole of last night, we were awake as heavy fighting continued and shells kept falling close to the church and into the compound. ... This morning again until 11 a.m., we could hear blasts going off."

Father Santhiapillai said it had become so unsafe that the four priests, four nuns and 15 domestic helpers staying with him "made small bunkers in the sacristy so we can shelter ourselves when shells fall."

In his written appeal, Bishop Joseph urged both sides in Sri Lanka's war "to keep away from the area and to ensure that area remains completely and solely under the control of the church" and "to completely desist from using the shrine for their military and political purposes."

The Marian shrine at Madhu is one of the biggest pilgrimage centers in Sri Lanka. In mid-August, hundreds of thousands of people from across Sri Lanka obtain a special pass from the government to cross over to Madhu, which is under the control of the Tamil rebels.

In January, 18 Catholics were killed and many more injured near the shrine when a bus carrying school students, teachers and others got blasted by a claymore mine hung from a tree.

While the rebels blamed the government's "deep penetration" unit for the mine, the government accused the rebels of being responsible for the blast.

Since 1983, the Tamil rebels have been fighting for autonomy for ethnic majority Tamil areas in the north and east of Sri Lanka.

Source: catholicnews.com

61 killed in intense Sri Lanka clashes

At least 58 Tamil Tigers and a security personnel were killed in fierce clashes in the embattled northern Sri Lanka as Air Force jets pounded and destroyed an LTTE secret meeting place in the rebel stronghold of Mullaittiuvu, officials here said on Wednesday.

Bullet-ridden bodies of two civilians were found in North-central part of the country.

At least 13 LTTE militants were killed on Wednesday in intense fighting between rebels and security forces at Kalliadanchan, about 1.5 kms North of Giant's Tank northern bund in Mannar front, the Defence Ministry said.

Air Force fighter jets targeted a secret meeting place of LTTE kingpins located in the West of Visuamadu Kulam in Mullaittiuvu in the morning.

According to Air Force Spokesperson Wing Commander Andrew Wijesooriya, the fighter pilots have confirmed the target was accurately hit.

A soldier also lost his life and 12 others injured in the confrontations, the ministry said.

In deadly clashes with the army, at least 18 LTTE cadres were killed in Padeirkulam area in Vavuniya on Tuesday in two separate incidents, the Media Centre for National Security (MCNS) said.

While six LTTE militants were killed in Nagarkovil in Jaffna on Tuesday, five rebels were shot dead in Marathamadu in Vavuniya, the MCNS said.

As many as 12 LTTE cadres were gunned down in sulaina Marthamadu in Vavuniya on Tuesday in intense clashes with the army, the Defence Ministry said.

In a separate incident, three militants were gunned down in a confrontation in Andekulam in North-east Welioya on Tuesday, it said.

One Tamil Tiger was killed in Andankulam in North-western Mannar on Tuesday, the army said.

Meanwhile, two bullet riddled bodies of civilians were found at Galayaya in general area Nochchiyagama on Wednesday afternoon in Anuradhapura district in North-central province.

Motive for the killing and the identity of the assailants are yet to be known, Nochchiyagama police said adding an investigation has been launched into the incident.

Source: Hindu

Lanka says no move to postpone Provincial Council polls

Sri Lanka has denied any move to postpone the Eastern Provincial Council elections scheduled for May 10, which are being held after a gap of 16 years.

"We deny there is any such moves to postpone the polls for the Provincial Council in the East. As of now there is no such thinking and the polls will go ahead on schedule," a government spokesman and senior minister Keheliya Rambukwella told reporters on Monday.

Rambukwella charged the former minister and Leader of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress, Rauff Hakim with giving false information in this regard.

He dismissed it as an allegation based on false information given by certain groups that accuse the government of not wanting to conduct the Eastern elections in a peaceful manner.

He said the Elections Commissioner had made preparations to conduct a free and fair election in the Eastern Province like the one held for the local body polls in Batticaloa recently.

The spokesman assured that there was no need to worry about the security situation during the time of polls and that additional forces including police had been stationed in the East to meet any unforeseen incidents.

Source: Hindu

Prabhakaran met suicide squad before Lankan vessel was sunk

LTTE chief V Prabhakaran met his "elite" Black Sea Tigers suicide squad before they detonated an explosion on a Sri Lankan Navy Fast Attack Craft that killed 10 sailors late last month.

"The 10 sailors who had gone missing since March 22 are now presumed dead," a defence ministry official said.

Meanwhile, pro-LTTE website Tamilnet has said that the members of the suicide squad had a meeting with Prabhakaran and were photographed with him prior to undertaking their operations. The website identified three men as "Lt Anbumaran, Major Niranjan and Major Kananeela".

The Sri Lankan Navy on March 22 had announced that one of its Fast Attack Craft was caught "in a possible underwater blast". The locally built P438 deployed in northeastern coastal waters off Nayaru near the rebel stronghold of Mullaithivu has sunk due to the explosion, the Navy said.

It said that on receiving the SOS message from the sinking craft, other sea units launched a rescue mission and six of the 16 crew members were rescued.

An underwater blast damaged the boat's hull and caused it to sink in short duration of time, it said.

The navy asserted that there was no sea confrontation nor was any LTTE craft was present in the area when the incident took place.

"Navy suspects the blast was caused by a possible sea mine or due to some underwater weapon developed by the terrorists," it had said.

The pro-Tiger TamilNet, quoting the LTTE, had said the LTTE's "elite" Black Sea Tigers, engaged in a confrontation with a fleet of the navy in the seas off Mullaiththeevu, attacked and sank a SLN Dvora Fast Attack Craft between Mullaithivu and Nayaru.

The website had quickly confirmed the death of three of LTTE sea tigers though did not mention it as a suicide attack at that time.

Source: Hindu