L&T to build Sri Lanka's tallest building

India's engineering and construction conglomerate Larsen and Toubro Ltd (L&T) is to build Sri Lanka's tallest building - the 59-storey and 246 metre high Diamond Tower in Colombo.

A joint venture between L&T and the Sri Lankan public sector National Housing Development Authority, Diamond Tower will be completed by May 2011, the state-owned Daily News reported Friday.

The $150-million complex to be built over an area of 1.5 million square feet will be a virtual township with luxury apartments, service apartments, commercial space and parking lots. It will be the first of its kind in Sri Lanka, the newspaper said.

Indian firms have recently entered Sri Lanka's private construction market. They are building high-rise, high-end residential complexes in Colombo.

Source: newkerala.com

Sri Lanka says kills 42 rebels as fighting grinds on

COLOMBO (Reuters) - Sri Lankan troops captured Tamil Tiger rebel positions and killed at least 42 militants, including an area leader, during two days of fighting in the island's north, the military said on Friday.

The military said they had captured rebel positions in the north-western district of Mannar on Friday.

The clashes occurred along a "border" that separates government and rebel territory.

The government is trying to drive the rebels from their northern stronghold and bring an end to a 25-year civil war. But analysts say neither side is winning as the rebels repeatedly hit back with suicide and roadside bombings and air attacks.

"A one kilometer stretch of LTTE positions were captured by the troops this morning. The confrontation killed 12 LTTE terrorists, while two soldiers died and five were wounded," said military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara, referring to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

The military said fighting on Thursday killed 30 Tiger rebels, including the area leader, and wounded 24 others in the northern districts of Jaffna, Vavuniya and Mannar and the north-eastern district of Trincomalee. One soldier was killed and eight were wounded from the fighting.

A civilian and a soldier were wounded from rebel mortar bomb fire on Friday into a village in the northern area of Weli-oya.

The rebels, who are fighting for a separate state in the Indian Ocean island's north and east, were not immediately available for comment.

There was no independent confirmation of what had happened or how many people were killed, and analysts say both sides exaggerate enemy casualty figures and play down their own.

Fighting between the military and the rebels has intensified since the government scrapped a six-year ceasefire pact last month. It said the rebels were using the truce to re-arm.

The military has captured large swathes of territory from the Tigers in the east of the country in recent months and vastly outnumbers them.

Thousands of people have been reported killed since last year as the truce crumbled and analysts expect the conflict to drag on with civilians being an easy target for rebel suicide bombers and roadside mine attacks on buses.

An estimated 70,000 people have died since the conflict began in 1983.

(Reporting by Ranga Sirilal)

Source: washingtonpost.com

Forces closing in on LTTE in Wanni, says Colombo

B. Muralidhar Reddy

COLOMBO: At least 40 cadres of the LTTE and eight soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) were killed in continued battles between the forces and the Tigers along the Forward Defence Lines (FDLs) in the north, the military said on Thursday.

A statement by the Defence Ministry claimed that security forces in an “offensive operation to liberate Wanni” are advancing further towards the LTTE stronghold, inflicting heavy casualties. It said 29 LTTE cadres were killed while another 14 were wounded during the clashes at Vavuniya, Mannar and Weli-Oya defences on Wednesday.

The ministry said troops ambushed an LTTE convoy at Periyantrichurchchan and interception of LTTE communication revealed that four LTTE cadres were killed in the attack.

The military said three soldiers were killed and one was injured in two separate incidents at Pokkaravani and Umayaratuvarankulam. In the Mannar front, troops attacked a group of LTTE militants at Parappakandal killing two Tiger cadres.

Two soldiers were killed during a confrontation that erupted at Adampan area. In Weli-Oya front, one Tiger cadre was killed at Kokkuthuduvai. Seven soldiers sustained injuries in the attack.

In the same area, troops attacked a group of LTTE terrorists and killed four cadres, the military said.

In another confrontation in Kokkuthuduvai five cadres of the LTTE were killed and six others injured. Three soldiers were killed and 14 injured in this clash.

The ministry said that in Janakapura, troops launched an attack targeting LTTE bunkers and killed six Tiger cadres. One soldier was injured. Security forces launched an attack on an LTTE bunker in Vavuniya, killing two militant cadres.

Source: The Hindu

Thirty-one die in Lanka clashes

At least 30 Tamil Tigers and a soldier were killed in a series of gun battles in Sri Lanka's embattled northern region, officials here said on Thursday.

Troops gunned down five rebels and injured 10 others in separate attacks in Nagarkovil and Muhamalai areas of Jaffna, the Defence Ministry said, adding one soldier also lost his life.

Another two LTTE cadres were killed at Navathkulam in Vavuniya in a confrontation, it said.

Separately, two guerrillas were gunned down in Kokkuthuduwai in northeastern Welioya yesterday, the ministry said.

In another confrontation in Welioya, one rebel was shot dead and another injured on Wednesday, the Media Centre for National Security (MCNS) said.

One more LTTE cadre was killed in Andankulam area of Welioya while two others injured yesterday, it said.

In fierce clashes at Vavuniya, at least seven rebels were killed by troops in Periyapandivirichchan area yesterday, the Defence Ministry, adding another guerrilla died in a separate clash in the same area.

In subsequent clashes in the same area, seven more LTTE cadres were gunned down by security forces.

One rebel was shot dead in Vilayathikulam area of Vavuniya yesterday, the MCNS said, adding another rebel was killed at Parappakandal in northwestern Mannar on Wednesday.

Source: NDTV

Some NGOs providing assistance to LTTE: Sri Lankan PM

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayake has warned that some NGO activists were assisting the LTTE to save the outfit from defeat.

The Tiger militants are being blamed for the recent spate of attacks on civilians in Sri Lanka on the eve of the Diamond Jubilee Independence Day celebrations of the country.

While the US' FBI had named the LTTE as one of the most dangerous terrorist organisations, there were some elements in the country, including NGOs, that had attempted to supply the Tamil Tigers with highly nutritious food and bullet proof suits to save it from defeat, he said.

Wickramanayake, speaking in Parliament on the motion to extend the State of Emergency in the country for another one month, yesterday said the Tigers are now mainly confined to the small jungle area in the north.

The Tiger militants are committing acts of terror on civilians to divert the attention of people in the North as they were being defeated in the battle against the Armed Forces, the Island newspaper quoted the Prime Minister as saying.

Source: Times Of India

For some Sri Lankan women, military is the saviour: book

Wives and mothers in militancy-infested Sri Lanka have come to accept the military as the sole avenue of employment for their husbands and children, however anguished they are about losing them in the war, a new book says.
"Given the absence of non-military public sector expansion and lack of employment opportunities even for the urban youth, agrarian devastation, closure of garment factories and breakdown of rural economies, wives and mothers have come to accept the military as the sole avenue of employment for their husbands and children," writes Neloufer de Mel in "Militarizing Sri Lanka: Popular Culture, Memory and Narrative in the Armed Conflict".

According to de Mel, women also have to constantly negotiate with paramilitary and para-legal entities in going about their daily business and are vulnerable to gendered abuse as these groups stand accountable neither to the government nor the law.

"Militarizing Sri Lanka" is about the work of militarism and militarisation in relation to the Sri Lankan armed conflict, and covers a period spanning the late 1980s to 2005.

The writer says women have also taken advantage of the military economy in various ways.

"During the war, a thriving sex industry operated in the north-central city of Anuradhapura, the site of a major transit camp for Sri Lankan Army soldiers either going to or returning from the battlefields of the north," de Mel, an English professor at University of Colombo, says.

From about 10 sex workers in the city in 1986, the figure shot up to 1,000 by 1996, she claims.

Source: ptinews.com

U.K. Calls for a `Political Process' to End Sri Lanka Conflict

By Jay Shankar

Feb. 7 (Bloomberg) -- U.K. Foreign Secretary David Miliband called for a ``political process'' to end Sri Lanka's conflict with Tamil rebels, saying violence in the South Asian island nation has escalated in recent weeks.

``Violence can never provide an answer to Sri Lanka's problems,'' Miliband said in a statement posted on the Web site of the British Embassy in Colombo. ``A sustainable solution to the conflict can only emerge through a just political process involving all communities.''

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam have been fighting for 25 years for a separate homeland for Tamils in a conflict that has killed more than 70,000 people. The military has stepped up attacks on the Tamil Tigers in the north after forcing them out of the eastern region in July.

The government has blamed the LTTE for killing more than 90 civilians since Jan. 1, 48 of them in three attacks between Feb. 2 and Feb. 4. Tamil rebels said 49 Tamil civilians were killed and 18 others ``disappeared'' during the conflict in January, according to a statement posted on the LTTE Web site.

Sri Lankan fighter jets bombed an LTTE command center and a communications station on Jan. 5. At least 31 rebels were killed in gun battles with government troops in Northern Province on Jan. 5, according to the Defense Ministry.

``I urge all in Sri Lanka to take steps to safeguard the civilian population and find ways to reduce the violence,'' Miliband said.

Source: Bloomberg

India should put pressure on LTTE: TULF chief

The international community, especially India, should put pressure on the LTTE to refrain from killing innocent civilians in Sri Lanka, a senior Tamil politician has said.

"The time has now come for India to step in and tell the LTTE to keep hands off civilians," Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) president V Anandasangaree said.

"The LTTE's only hope now is to unleash fresh violence for which the Sinhalase are not prepared," he said in a statement from London.

"I condemn every killing. I believe that no one has any right to take the life of another," he said.

"It (the killings) will not take them (LTTE) anywhere. Instead they lose their credibility day by day. It is high time the international community warn the LTTE to refrain from causing the death of innocent civilians," he said.

He criticised the Tamil media in Lanka for not being categorical in 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."

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

He said the LTTE must confess that they can't give any protection to the Tamils and surrender their cadre to the forces.

Source: The Hindu

Sri Lanka suspends school sports after bomb

Feb 7, 2008 (AFP) - All school sports have been suspended in Sri Lanka after a Tamil Tiger suicide bomb attack in the capital killed nine pupils and a baseball coach, the government said Thursday.

An eduction ministry spokesman said planned field trips for events marking the island's 60th anniversary of independence from Britain would also be cancelled, with the freeze remaining in place until further notice.

The decisions follow Sunday's suicide bomb attack at the main railway station in Colombo that killed seven schoolboys from a local collage and their coach.

Two other schoolgirls were also killed in the same blast, believed to be the work of the separatist rebel group the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

The sports ban will hit popular cricket tournaments organised by schools.

"We have taken a decision to suspend all school cricket tournaments until further notice following a directive by the Ministry of Education," Dilshan de Silva, the secretary of the Schools Cricket Association, told AFP.

The move could affect a friendly match between two leading schools played since 1879. The 129th annual match between the Royal College and St. Thomas's College was to be played over three days next month.

The more popular match between Ananda and Nalanda colleges, which together have produced the highest number of Test players, including Sri Lanka's World Cup-winning skipper Arjuna Ranatunga, could also be hit by the suspension.

Sri Lanka has ordered schools in Colombo to remain closed until Monday as a sign of mourning for the nine students killed in Sunday's bomb attack, while security for all schools has been stepped up.

The authorities fear that the Tiger rebels, fighting for independence since 1972, could target schoolchildren as a way to create unrest.

Source: LBO

India urged to end military support to Sri Lanka

A group of Indian Tamils on Thursday urged the Indian Defence Minister A.K. Antony to end military support to Sri Lanka, saying it was worsening the situation in the island.

Periyar Dravida Kazhagam leader Kolathur Mani said that Antony heard carefully what his delegation had to say but he made no commitment, the Tamil Nadu political leader said.

"We told him that the Indian government needed to respect Tamil sentiments. Now that Colombo has rejected the ceasefire it signed with the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam), India should stop helping Sri Lanka militarily," Mani told IANS after meeting Antony.

"India should only work towards a political solution in Sri Lanka," he added. "The land of Mahatma Gandhi should not be seen as providing arms to the land of Buddha."

But Mani, a long-time sympathiser of the Tamil Tigers, said Antony made no commitment. "He kept saying 'ok, ok' to everything we said but he did not give us any assurance that India's policy will change."

Mani said his delegation also showed Antony 10,000 of the one million signatures collected mainly in Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry urging India to end its wide-ranging military backing to Sri Lanka.

Mani's comments came a day after he led a 500-strong demonstration in the heart of the Indian capital in support of the same demand. Most of the protestors were from Tamil Nadu, a few from Mumbai and New Delhi.

Thousands have been killed and many injured in escalating violence across Sri Lanka blamed on the LTTE and Sri Lankan armed forces in the past two years. Sri Lanka in January abrogated a Norway-brokered truce it signed with the Tigers in 2002.

Source: MSN