Warning: Undefined array key "rbname" in /data/rantburg.com/www/rantburg/pgrecentorg.php on line 14
Hello !

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka detains defeated presidential candidate

2010-02-09

[Iran Press TV Latest] Sri Lanka's defeated presidential candidate, former General Sarath Fonseka, has been arrested and taken into custody charged with conspiracy against the president. "He was dragged away in a very disgraceful manner in front of our own eyes," Muslim Congress leader Rauff Hakeem told Reuters. One of Fonseka's security officers, I. P. Herath, confirmed the account. The charges date back to the time when he was serving as the country's top military officer, Hakeem said. Fonseca, who lost by an 18-point margin in the January 26 presidential election, blamed President Mahinda Rajapaksa of rigging the vote. The government in turn has accused him of a coup and an assassination plot while he was still serving. The outspoken commander had quit his military post in November, after defeating the Tamil Tigers seeking autonomy for minority Tamils, to run as the candidate of a disparate opposition alliance. Lakshman Hulugalle, director of the state-run Media Center for National Security, said Fonseka had been arrested by military police and would be tried by a court-martial that will be closed to the public. "He was having discussions with various political party leaders and the opposition to overthrow the government and the president, and getting into politics and planning to divide the army while he was still serving," Hulugalle said.

Link

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka warns civilians to flee

2009-02-03

The Sri Lankan government has said it cannot guarantee the safety of civilians living among Tamil separatists in the north of the country. "The government cannot be responsible for the safety and security of civilians still living among LTTE terrorists," said Lakshman Hulugalle, a government spokesman, referring to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. He urged civilians to seek shelter in a government "safe zone" - where there have been reports of shelling as well - but did not say how the civilians would be able to flee if they were being held against their will as human shields, as claimed by the government's military.

Link

Sri Lanka

Lankan troops poised to take Tiger HQ

2008-11-26

Security forces ambushed and killed scores of Tamil Tigers in northern Sri Lanka yesterday, the defence ministry said, adding its troops were poised to take the rebels' political capital. Government soldiers occupying a newly-captured bunker line from the Tiger rebels in the Jaffna peninsula carried out the ambush early Tuesday, the ministry said in a statement. It did not say if there were casualties among troops. However, the ministry said government soldiers in the northern mainland were set to take the town of Kilinochchi, the political capital of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Heavy fighting was raging along three fronts on the outskirts of Kilinochchi despite monsoon rains, the ministry said. "Soldiers are busy with strengthening the supply backbone for troops in the forward areas with loads of food, drinking water and medicine being transported there," the ministry said. "Troops await the next move. 'Kilinochchi we are coming' is their motto," the statement added. On Monday, the ministry said 27 soldiers had been killed and another 70 wounded in fighting around Kilinochchi. The Tigers said they killed 43 troops while the military claimed they had killed over 120 Tigers. A pro-rebel report, meanwhile, said the guerrillas killed 43 soldiers in a separate battle Sunday and halted the government's march toward a strategic crossroads northwest of Kilinochchi. TamilNet quoted unidentified rebel officials as saying the clash occurred in Nalloor village. The rebels took away the bodies of eight soldiers, it said. Rebel officials could not be contacted for comment on the government report because communication lines to the north have been severed. The head of the government's security information centre, Lakshman Hulugalle, declined to comment on the report by the pro-rebel Web site, saying the government would not respond to accounts by rebel supporters. The government has vowed to crush the rebels and end their decades-old separatist campaign. Government soldiers in recent months have captured a number of key rebel bases and large swaths of land previously controlled by the guerrillas, seizing the country's entire west and forcing the insurgents into a shrinking territory in the northeast. However, the rebels have offered stiff resistance as the soldiers approach Kilinochchi.

Link

Sri Lanka

Army detachment attacked by Tamil rebels in Sri Lanka

2007-10-16

An army detachment located in south-eastern Sri Lanka has been attacked by Tamil rebels, a government spokesman said Monday. The director general of the government media centre, Lakshman Hulugalle, said Tamil rebels had used small arms to attack the army detachment in Thalgasmankada, 380 kilometres south-east of the capital on Monday evening. He said according to initial reports no serious damage had been caused. Military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said reinforcements had been sent to reach the camp located deep inside the jungles on the border of a wildlife park. He said a wildlife department jeep carrying game rangers had been caught in the fire, but nobody had been injured. However Tamil rebels claimed that the detachment had been overrun, with six soldiers killed, weapons seized and the camp set on fire. In a message posted on the pro-rebel Tamilnet website claimed the camp was under the control of the rebels for three hours and they removed six weapons and communication equipment in the raid. The area borders the eastern province where Tamil rebels still maintain pockets and carry out small-scale attacks on the security forces. A private radio station reported that a group of rebels had arrived in boats from the south-eastern coast and launched an attack on the small military detachment set up to prevent rebels from infiltrating into the wildlife park. Tamil rebels last week warned that they would launch attacks shortly and that they were preparing for their next step.

Link

Warning: Undefined property: stdClass::$T in /data/rantburg.com/www/rantburg/pgrecentorg.php on line 132
-4 More