On this day in history: April 21th
753 BC Romulus and Remus found Rome.
43 BC Battle of Mutina: Mark Antony is again defeated in battle by Aulus Hirtius, who is killed. Although Antony fails to capture Mutina, Decimus Brutus is murdered shortly afterwards.
1836 The Battle of San Jacinto Republic of Texas forces under Sam Houston defeat troops under Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna.
1898 The U.S. Congress, on April 25, recognizes that a state of war exists between the United States and Spain as of this date.
1918 German fighter ace Manfred von Richthofen, known as "The Red Baron", is shot down and killed over Vaux sur Somme in France.
1952 Secretary's Day (now Administrative Professionals' Day) is first celebrated.
1975 President of South Vietnam Nguyen Van Thieu flees Saigon, as Xuan Loc, the last South Vietnamese outpost blocking a direct North Vietnamese assault on Saigon, falls.
1987 The Tamil Tigers are blamed for a car bomb that explodes in the Sri Lankan city of Colombo, killing 106 people.
2008 The United States Air Force retires the F-117 Nighthawk.
President Barack Obama is leaving the door to open to possible prosecution of Bush administration officials who devised harsh terrorism-era interrogation tactics.
He also said Tuesday that he worries about the impact of high-intensity hearings on how detainees were treated under former President George W. Bush. But Obama did say, nevertheless, he could support a Hill investigation if it were conducted in a bipartisan way.
Obama has said he doesn't support charging CIA agents and interrogators who took part in waterboarding and other harsh interrogation tactics, acting on advice from superiors that such practices were legal. But he also said that it is up to the attorney general whether to prosecute Bush administration lawyers who wrote the memos approving these tactics.
#2
Standard practice these days, unfortunately. When one party takes over from the other they start attacking each other with all the lawyers they can muster. Not so good for the country but I guess it makes them feel better.
#7
Obama won't persue prosecutions but won't stand in the way if the Justice Department decides to.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
04/21/2009 16:24 Comments ||
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#8
Like the used car salesman who says he wants to sell you the car at a lower price, but his boss won't let him. But let him try to convince his boss to lower the price.
#9
The first time we get attacked by loony jihadists, BO is going to have a lot of "splainin" to do. Oh I forgot, these attacks are "man-made disasters"--don't want to be politically incorrect.
#10
Barry's hole card. If things get really bad, a nice show trial against the Evil Bushitler and his henchmen would probably be a more palatable diversion then starting another war to deflect attention from his bumbling administration's policies.
#12
The first time we get attacked by loony jihadists, BO is going to have a lot of "splainin" to do.
No, the real reason Big Zero went over to see the CIA yesterday was NOT to reassure them after releasing documents that put the country in harms way, went over there and specifically said in part "...everytime something goes wrong, you ALWAYS get the blame...". HINT? HINT?
Coalition forces destroyed an anti-aircraft gun in southern Afghanistan Tuesday, officials said.
The strike came several days after the U.S. military warned that new intelligence indicated insurgents had heavy weaponry that potentially could shoot down U.S. and coalition forces' helicopters, CNN reported
Villagers in Afghanistan's southern Helman province told troops that insurgents got a ZPU-1 anti-aircraft gun and placed it on the back of a truck, a NATO statement said. When troops located the gun, they said it was armed and ready.
Insurgents have tried unsuccessfully to down coalition helicopters in the south with surface-to-air fire, CNN reported. Recent intelligence, however, pointed to the acquisition of heavier caliber weapons that potentially would have a better chance to be successful.
#2
There is an odd concern here for coalition forces. During the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, the Russians built some immense underground arms depots that were so well concealed that we only discovered them by accident, and often after they had been found by bad guys.
If they have discovered another one, it would give them a huge amount of serious modern combat small arms and explosives.
Posted by: abu do you love ||
04/21/2009 1:09 Comments ||
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#3
Specialist Robert C. Oxman, 21, had put a dead fighters phone in his pocket. As the platoon descended, the phone rang and rang, apparently as other fighters called to find out what had happened on Sautalu Sar. By sunrise, it had been ringing for hours.
...RING...RING
US: Hello?
Taliban: Sautalu?
US: Sorry, he's in hell. Can I take a message?
Taliban: ..CLICK..
#5
Good action. With the current administration however, publisizing successful opns like this one will will draw flies and most assuredly change the ROE.
#6
What?!!! The Americans shot first! That isn't fair. Americans should only shoot when they are shot at, and even then, only of one of them has been killed. Also, they should warn the Taliban, so that the Taliban can get ready to fight.
/sarcasm
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
04/21/2009 7:28 Comments ||
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#7
They were civilians (dropped their AK47s) who were making a baby duck factory.
#10
Parabellum: "Well, "Lost" is on the widescreen at the NCO club at 9, and they're having some problems with the Tivo, so it's better if we just kill them all now so we don't miss the show."
No point in taking prisoners anymore. They can't be questioned or sequestered in anything less than 3 star accommodation and there isn't enough in Afghanistan.
#12
Aaaaaahhh. I'm sure the talibunnies were indeed surprised when American bullets started hitting them. Reminds me of a story a friend of mine told me about an NVA company that literally stumbled into a 175mm battery's perimeter. 175s don't make very good anti-personnel weapons, but apparently the "shock and awe" was something to see.
I'm sure the Taliban will try to retaliate. I hope the guys are ready and waiting for it.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/21/2009 11:54 Comments ||
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#13
The MSM is going to call this mass murder. Spit.
#14
The Times seems to portray this as Bumbling GIs Somehow Defeat Taliban Superman. Reminds me of the lionization of the Viet Cong, who kinda ceased to exist after being wiped out in their victorious Tet Offensive. The Times told me that back then too...
[Bangla Daily Star] Clashes between rival ethnic groups in south Sudan have left more than 170 people dead, a district official said yesterday. Armed fighters from the Murle ethnic group in remote Akobo county in eastern Jonglei state attacked Lou Nuer villages over the weekend, county commissioner Doyak Chol said.
"We have found 177 bodies dead, and we are expecting many more, even as high as 300 in total," Chol told AFP by satellite telephone. "Many are unaccounted for, whole villages have been burnt to the ground. The destruction is terrible."
It was the second outbreak of deadly violence between the two ethnic groups in Jonglei in a month. In March, as many as 750 people were killed in clashes in Pibor county further south.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
the areas attacked had been left vulnerable after a government-backed disarmament campaign collected guns from one area, but not from other rival groups.
Hmmm, sounds fair to me.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
04/21/2009 19:13 Comments ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] A case was filed yesterday against Moulana Abul Kalam, alleged commander of Al Badr Bahini in Faridpur during the Liberation War, and his brother-in-law on charge of committing war crimes.
Bhakta Ranjan Biswas, son of Madhab Chandra Biswas of Purura Namopara village, filed the case with a Judicial Magistrate's Court against Kalam alias Bachchu Mia, 65, of Saltha upazila and his brother-in-law Mohammad Kazi, 60. Kalam, the chairman of non-governmental organisation Bangladesh Masjid Council, hosts an Islamic programme 'Apnar Jigyasa' on private TV channel ntv.
Magistrate Motaharat Akhter Bhuiyan received the case and directed the officer-in-charge of Saltha Police Station to investigate it.
According to the case statement, both Kalam and Mohammad Kazi, who joined hands with Pakistani occupation forces, were engaged in killings, looting, rape and arson during the liberation war in 1971. They also formed peace committees in various areas in the district.
The accused along with 10 to 12 armed men entered Ranjan's house and Kalam shot dead Ranjan's father on the first day of Bangla month of Jaistha in 1971. Kalam also killed Gyanendra Biswas, son of Rajendri Biswas, at his house the same day, alleged the plaintiff. They set the nearby house of Montu Bakshi on fire with gunpowder and also killed Ohab Sardar, Md Tuku Molla, Kanchu Fakir, Abdul Molla of Kumar Kanda village, Hachen Mia, Baru Khatun of Alampur village, Abdul Omed Molla of Keshabdia village, alleged the complainant.
Kalam also fired shots at Lal Mia of Alampur village, who survived the attack and is still alive, said the plaintiff.
Earlier, another case had been filed under the Collaborators' Act against Kalam alias Bachchu with the Boalmari Police Station on March 23, 1972. He had been on the run for long after the liberation war.
Faridpur Muktijoddha Sangsad Unit Commander Abul Fayaz Shah Newaz told The Daily Star that Kalam alias Bachchu, who had been involved in killings, looting and arson in Nagarkanda, Saltha and Boalmari in 1971, should be arrested and tried.
Faridpur Sadar upazila Chairman advocate Samsul Haque told The Daily Star that Kalam is a 'known war criminal' and must be brought to justice.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2009 00:00 ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] Six suspected members of the banned Islamist militant outfit Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), including two women, were arrested in the early hours yesterday in Jamalpur town.
A joint team of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) and police raided a house at Phulbaria Munshipara in the town around 12:30am, hauled the six and took them to Jamalpur Sadar Police Station. Later, they were arrested them under Section 54 of the Criminal Procedure Code and produced before a local court, which placed them on a five-day remand each.
The arrestees are Abdus Salam, 25, of Daspara in Modhupur of Tangail, Mizanur Rahman, 21, of Gopinathpur in Sarishabari of Jamalpur, Mohammad Zakaria, 28, of Krishnapur in Nalitabari of Sherpur, his wife Rabeya Begum, 23, Tareque Mostafa Masum, 29, of Moghbazar in Dhaka, and his wife Syeda Halima Yasmeen.
They had rented the ground floor of the three-storey house at Munshipara around one and a half months ago.
Contacted last night, Officer-in-Charge of Jamalpur Police Station Abdul Matin said that during primary interrogation, the arrestees said they are followers of Prof Abdul Majid of Charfasion upazila in Bhola. "We are checking whether the detainees are involved with JMB or any other militant organisation," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2009 00:00 ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] Investigators of the sensational Chittagong arms haul case yesterday started interrogating National Security Intelligence (NSI) field officer Akbar Hossain, now on remand.
An investigator seeking anonymity said Akbar claimed that whatever he had done was on instructions of some officials of higher authority. Akbar also named some of the officials and the investigators were yesterday busy verifying those names, said the investigator.
The NSI field officer was arrested and placed on a two-day remand Sunday reportedly for hiring seven out of the 10 trucks and a crane for offloading and transporting the firearms and ammunition seized at Chittagong Urea Fertiliser Ltd jetty on April 02, 2004.
A team of investigators quizzed the NSI field officer at Criminal Investigation Department (CID) headquarters at Dampara Police Lines throughout the day yesterday.
Former investigation officer of the case Md Ismail Hossain Khan--an ASP of CID Gazipur range--also assisted in the interrogation of Akbar.
However, CID Chittagong Divisional Special Superintendent of Police (SSP) Mohammad Muslim said ASP Ismail, predecessor to current investigation officer of the case CID ASP Muniruzzaman Chowdhury, was not specially brought in for the interrogation. "He came here for some other work and we got him to help out in the interrogation," said Muslim.
Investigation officer Muniruzzaman Chowdhury said they found it difficult to glean information from the NSI field officer.
He expressed inability to say anything more regarding the interrogation.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2009 00:00 ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] Police in Jamaica stormed a hijacked plane yesterday and arrested a lone gunman who had seized the Canadian airliner carrying 182 people during a stopover, the country's information minister told media. Police captured the hijacker without firing any shots and no one was injured, minister Daryl Vaz said.
"It has ended the best way it could which is no fatalities, no injuries," Vaz told CBC. "Everybody is unharmed."
"And the six crew members have actually disembarked the plane and are now in the actual airport terminal," he said.
The armed youth, identified by officials only as from a Montego Bay family, allowed all passengers and two crew to leave the chartered CanJet Boeing 737, but was still holding six crew hours later at Montego Bay's Sangster International Airport.
Canjet said the plane had been due to depart Montego Bay for Cuba with 174 passengers and eight crew when the jetliner was hijacked.
Two crew members apparently locked themselves in the cockpit after the intruder managed to pass security and sneak into the plane shortly before midnight local time during a layover.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
...So the guy hijacked a plane to keep it from going to Cuba?
In the immortal words of Hedley Lamarr, "Kinky."
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
04/21/2009 0:12 Comments ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Internet hackers who attacked Denmark's Free Press Society website for selling prints of a controversial Prophet Mohammed cartoon failed, said the group's director said Monday. "We don't know who is behind this attack on our site International Free Press Society, but if it's an attempt to sabotage the sale (of the pictures), this attempt has been a failure," Lars Hedegaard told AFP.
Despite the hacking, Hedegaard said close to "600 of the one thousand signed prints" had been sold, over half of them to foreign buyers.
The prints of the cartoon by Danish artist Kurt Westergaard, featuring the prophet wearing a turban with a lit fuse stuck on the top, were put up for sale for $250 on the group's website on April 8.
Established in January, the International Free Press Society's Board of Advisors includes a number of controversial speakers including Geert Wilders, whose film Fitna has been condenmned as anti-Muslim propaganda, and Daniel Pipes, founder of the pro-Israel, anti-Arab Campus Watch website.
A collection of similar drawings by Westergaard and other artists sparked protests from Muslims worldwide when they appeared in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten in September 2005.
Westergaard, 73, has since received death threats and now lives under police protection after Danish intelligence uncovered a suspected plot by two Tunisian nationals to kill him.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2009 00:00 ||
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Four policemen were among at least 10 people killed in firefights across Indian-held Kashmir (IHK), police said on Monday, just days ahead of another round of voting in India's general election. Two security force personnel, a militant and a woman were killed during a fierce gun battle in south Kashmir's Doda district late on Sunday, police said. Elsewhere two policemen, two militants and two civilians were killed in violence on Monday, they added. For security reasons, voting has been staggered over five phases in Kashmir, where militants have called for a boycott. They say New Delhi is trying to boost the legitimacy of its rule in the region by holding elections.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2009 00:00 ||
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Taliban commander Maulvi Hakimullah Mehsud escaped unhurt from an airstrike by Pakistan's military on Sunday, a Taliban spokesman told CNN.
Missed him by that much ...
A Pakistan Army officer claimed that 20 Taliban were killed in the attack in the Orakzai Agency, and a military spokesman said Mehsud was the intended target. An intelligence official confirmed the target.
On Saturday, Mehsud had claimed responsibility for a suicide car bomb attack on a security convoy in Hangu. At least 28 people were killed in that attack and about 30 were wounded.
Officials and a tribal elder said families had begun fleeing Orakzai Agency amid a military bombing campaign against Taliban hideouts.
Fighter jets and gunship helicopter pounded the hideouts Sunday night, killing at least one person and wounding three others, said Mohammad Yasin, a local government official. A senior military official said at least eight Taliban died.
Unrest in the tribal belt has displaced hundreds of thousands of people over the last year.
"People are afraid," said Azam Khan, an Orakzai tribal elder. "They are scared, because it was a consistent bombing by the jets the whole of last night. Scores of families are leaving the region."
Also early on Monday, the bullet-riddled body of an Afghan man was found near Mir Ali in North Waziristan, along with a note accusing him of spying for the United States.
In Bajaur, local officials said some of Baitullah Mehsud's supporters killed two followers of pro-Taliban cleric Sufi Mohammad.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
almost like he knew when/where the attack was going to be.
Posted by: abu do you love ||
04/21/2009 1:14 Comments ||
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#2
"I'm going out...for some smokes. Youse guys stay here"
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/21/2009 18:37 Comments ||
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Unidentified men blew up a boys' primary school in the Zirgiray area of Nawagai tehsil in Bajaur Agency on Monday. The number of schools damaged in this way has reached 38, but it was the first such incident after the peace deal in Bajaur. Meanwhile, the head of the Mamoond tribal jirga, Malik Abdul Aziz, and his driver sustained injuries in a remote-controlled bomb blast on Monday, local sources said. The injured tribal elder was shifted to Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) in Peshawar for treatment. Sources told Daily Times that the attack was made near Barkhlozai Morr in Asman Patti area when he was travelling home from agency headquarter Khar. He had survived a remote-controlled bomb attack a year ago.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2009 00:00 ||
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A two-day-old ceasefire in South Waziristan collapsed on Monday as the Taliban attacked bases of security forces hours after a drone attack targeted suspected Taliban hideouts, said residents and officials. Three people, including a woman and a child, were also killed in crossfire between the Taliban and the security forces, said locals. According to foreign news agencies, the Taliban attacked at least four security checkposts. The agencies said the security forces also shelled and launched airstrikes against Taliban positions in Wana, killing eight suspected Taliban, said officials.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2009 00:00 ||
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[ADN Kronos] Four Pakistani frontier guards were abducted on Friday in the troubled Swat valley in North West Frontier Province, Geo News reported, citing unnamed local sources. According to the sources, the frontier guards were kidnapped in a mountainous area near the border with Afghanistan.
No militant group immediately claimed responsibility for the kidnappings, which breach a recent peace accord between the NWFP government and militants in Swat.
Under the historic peace accord signed in February, militants agreed to lay down their arms and end 18 months of bloodletting in return for the implementation of Islamic (Shariah) law in Swat and the surrounding Malakand division.
The Pakistani Taliban said on Monday it wants Shariah law applied not only throughout Pakistan but in a worldwide Muslim caliphate made up of 56 states. The Pakistani Taliban's spokesman Muslim Khan made the remarks in an exclusive interview with DawnNews TV.
Khan also said in the interview that the Taliban would only lay down their arms in Swat if Islamic courts ordered them to do so.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Appeasers!
The Taliban aren't even listening to their bloody demands to lay down arms.
[Geo News] A hand grenade was lobbed into a bakery located in Ranchore Line area of Karachi, killing one person and injuring five others. According to police, unknown motorcyclists hurled hand grenade on bakery in which six people, including two women, were injured. The injured were shifted to the Civil Hospital where a 60-year-old person succumbed to the injuries. The police said that the accused had hurled the grenade as the owner of the targeted bakery had refused to pay the extortion money.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2009 00:00 ||
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[Geo News] A would-be bomber has been arrested by police from the federal capital, sources said on Monday. The arrested person has been identified as Khurram Shahzad, sources said. Besides, the police have also seized an explosive-filled jacket from his custody.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2009 00:00 ||
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BAGHDAD (AP) Only in Iraq a few weeks, nearly 500 U.S. Army combat engineers who specialize in clearing roads of explosives learned they were being shipped off to southern Afghanistan, one of the clearest signs of America's shifting wartime priorities.
The transfer, which moved into its final stages Monday, is the largest movement so far of personnel and equipment from Iraq as President Barack Obama puts the focus on the fight in the Taliban heartland.
"We are probably going to be the beginning of the influx you are going to see to Afghanistan," Lt. Col. Kevin Landers, commander of the Fort Carson, Colo.-based 4th Engineer Battalion, said as crews packed crates and cleaned vehicles for the flight to Kandahar.
It's now clear some of the troops and firepower will flow directly from Iraq, where the Pentagon plans to gradually draw down its more than 132,000 personnel before the withdrawal of all combat forces by September 2010.
Obama has ordered 17,000 more U.S. soldiers and Marines to Afghanistan to bolster the 38,000 American troops already battling the resurgent Taliban.
"We are going to take this footprint out of Iraq," said Landers, whose battalion received word of its reassignment last month just after taking command of clearing roads in Baghdad of bombs and debris.
Since then, his troops have conducted routine operations while preparing for their departure.
They won't be replaced another sign of America's evolving military map.
By the end of next year, the U.S. military presence could be down to about 30,000 to 50,000 personnel to train and advise Iraqi security forces. Plans call for all American forces to leave Iraq by the end of 2012.
Military officials have publicly said they would not redirect large numbers of soldiers directly from Iraq to Afghanistan. Quietly, though, the military has been sending troops and equipment for months.
In late March, the Fort Sill, Okla.-based 100th Brigade Support Battalion was moved from the giant U.S. base in Balad, 50 miles (80 kilometers) north of Baghdad, to southern Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, a stream of military transport planes has been ferrying helicopters, vehicles, weapons and other equipment from Iraq to Afghanistan.
But this week's airlift of the 4th Engineer Battalion "is the largest unit movement of personnel and gear from Iraq to Afghanistan to date," said Lt. Col. Dave Dancer, operations chief for the 225th Engineer Brigade, which oversees the 4th Engineers.
The battalion arrived in Iraq in late February. Four days after taking command in mid-March, it received new orders: pack up and compete its 12-month deployment in Afghanistan, said Landers, 42, of Atlanta.
The battalion began sending troops and equipment everything from giant tow trucks and bulldozers to desks and chairs last week, said Command Sgt. Major Anthony Archer, 41, of Austin, Texas. The transition is expected to be completed within weeks.
On Monday, soldiers were busy cleaning wrecker trucks, which are used to haul damaged or broken down military equipment, before loading them on airplanes to send later in the week.
A suicide bomber dressed in police uniform killed four policemen at a checkpoint in northeastern Iraq, police said. Lieutenant Colonel Hameed al-Shimari, who heads an emergency police unit in Baquba, 65 km northeast of Baghdad, said seven civilians were also wounded in the attack, Reuters reported.
A US military official said at least eight US soldiers were wounded in the attack, but none were killed, as police had reported.
In another incident two girls under the age of 12 died, when a sticky bomb targeting an army officer exploded outside their home as he left for work, police said. The bomb was planted outside the door of Captain Saadun Mohammed Ali's home in the city of Fallujah west of Baghdad, police Colonel Daud Maraawi told AFP. Ali was already in his car when the explosive went off and escaped, but the blast killed his daughter and niece as they waved goodbye, Maraawi said.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Put Captain Saadun Mohammed Ali in charge of interrogations. And give him plenty of private face time.
Terrorsits Separatist militants launched attacks at seven places in the southern border province of Yala on Monday night, but with minimal effect, deputy provincial governor Kritsada Boonraj said on Tuesday.
Gunmen wounded four people near a local teashop in Yaha district. A fire was also started at a food stall and police were ambushed, but there were no injuries. Ambushes were set for soldiers in the districts of Bannang Sata, Lam Mai, Muang and Krong Pinang, but there were no injuries.
Mr Kisada said closer cooperation between authorities and village chiefs, religious leaders and local residents had resulted in fewer incidents because the terrorists militants were unable to spread their doctrine of violence.
[Straits Times] COMMANDOS have rescued a hostage after storming what police said was a kidnapping gang's hide-out in the northern Philippines and killing five suspects. National police chief Jesus Verzosa says the five were identified as members of the notorious Mostrales gang that has been engaged in kidnappings for ransom in Manila and nearby provinces.
He says the group's Filipino hostage was rescued and operatives recovered four handguns and ammunition during Sunday night's raid in Urdaneta city. Officials did not immediately release details of the abduction and rescue. Kidnappings are common in the Philippines but more often occur in the violence-torn south.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2009 00:00 ||
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[ADN Kronos] A suicide bomber who was among thousands of civilians fleeing Sri Lanka's war zone in the country's north is reported to have set off a blast that killed at least 17 people, according to unconfirmed reports citing a defence official. The bomber was believed to be a member of the separatist Liberation Tamil Tigers of Eelam which is engaged in heavy fighting with security forces.
"An LTTE suicide bomber has attacked thousands of Tamil civilians who are now trying to seek refuge with the Sri Lankan army, this morning," the defence ministry's website said on Monday. "Battlefield sources said at least 17 civilians, including women and children, have been killed in the cowardly bomb blast."
About 5,000 Sri Lankans have fled the fighting in Tamil Tiger-held area in the north of the country, the army said.
The military said people had begun to flee the conflict after the army broke through a fortification which had been blocking its advance into the Tigers' last stronghold. The UN estimates that up to 100,000 civilians are still in the area which has been at the centre of heavy fighting for several months.
Military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara told the media that soldiers had advanced in the region on Monday.
Government forces claim to have captured most of the rebel strongholds in recent months and restricted the remaining guerrillas inside the designated zone, which measures around 20 square kilometres on the northern coast.
Meanwhile, the Red Cross says since February it has since evacuated more than 10,000 sick and injured patients and accompanying aid workers from Putumattalan, in the area held by the LTTE. Ferries chartered by the Red Cross have made a total of 23 trips, each carrying more than 400 people, to Trincomalee and Pulmoddai in government-controlled areas.
"These evacuations have saved many lives," said Morven Murchinson, the Red Cross' medical coordinator in Sri Lanka. "It is vital that they continue because more sick and wounded people are arriving every day at the makeshift medical facilities in Putumattalan, which lack the staff and supplies needed for adequate care."
But the Red Cross said civilians in the conflict zone continued to be at risk due to the extremely poor security conditions there. The few remaining medical facilities in the area have been directly affected by the fighting, with both staff and patients killed and wounded in recent days, it said.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2009 00:00 ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] The Sri Lankan government gave Tamil Tiger fighters and their leader 24 hours to surrender yesterday, after tens of thousands of trapped civilians managed to flee rebel-held territory.
The ultimatum to Tigers supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran and his cadres would run out midday (0630 GMT) Tuesday, said the government's defence spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella. "We warn Prabhakaran and his cadres to surrender within the next 24 hours," Rambukwella told reporters, without specifying what action would be taken against the cornered rebels.
The warning came as aerial video footage provided by a Sri Lankan spy plane showed more than 35,000 civilians pouring out of the sliver of jungle territory where the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) are making a final stand. The presence of the civilians has been cited by the Sri Lankan military as one of the main reasons preventing a final, all-out assault on the Tigers' position.
Thousands of civilians Monday escaped from the area still held by Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers, signalling that the rebels' "complete defeat" was imminent, President Mahinda Rajapakse said.
Showing AFP aerial video from a military spy plane over the tiny area where the Tigers are staging a last stand, Rajapakse said 35,000 non-combatants had crossed the lines into government-held territory within a five-hour period. The military said the surge of civilians had continued 10 hours after the initial exodus of men, women and children. "The footage clearly shows that the people are defying the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) and escaping. They are running to safety," the president said. "What we are doing is not a military operation, but the world's biggest hostage rescue."
The government has accused the LTTE of using trapped civilians as a human shield, and the president suggested that their escape removed a final obstacle to an all-out military assault. "The process of the complete defeat of the LTTE has just begun," he told AFP. "It is now all over for the Tigers."
The live streaming video from the spy plane showed hordes of people running towards military lines, with some crossing a lagoon in neck-deep water.
The Sri Lankan Defence Ministry said the Tigers killed 17 civilians Monday in a reported suicide bombing aimed at preventing them escaping. "Without the civilians, the LTTE can't survive," airforce chief Roshan Goonetileke told AFP. "They were shamefully holding the civilians as a human shield, but they can no longer stop the civilians from escaping."
He said the rebels had tried to stop the civilians by shooting at them and setting off explosions, but the sheer size of the sudden exodus had appeared to overwhelm the Tiger cadre.
The United Nations had said that up to 100,000 civilians were trapped in the sliver of coastal jungle controlled by the LTTE and living in "dire humanitarian conditions." Both sides in the long-running conflict have traded accusations of targetting civilians, while the international community has repeatedly urged a permanent ceasefire to prevent any further loss of innocent lives. "What I have told the international community is that there is no need for a ceasefire... Just ask the Tigers to allow the civilians to go," Rajapakse said.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said it had evacuated 10,000 sick and their relatives from the rebel-held areas to hospitals in the government-controlled northeast of the island since early February.
Earlier Monday, Sri Lankan security forces said they overran a Tamil Tiger defensive line and rescued at least 5,000 civilians, sparking the mass exodus of 35,000 more. "This (the 5,000) is the biggest single rescue so far and we believe the number of civilians crossing over to our side will increase," said military spokesman Udaya Nanayakkara.
President Rajapakse, meanwhile, said time had finally run out for LTTE supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran, who has not been seen at the guerrillas' public functions for nearly 18 months. "The only thing Prabhakaran can now do is to surrender," the president said. "I don't want him to take cyanide and commit suicide. He has to face charges for his actions."
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2009 00:00 ||
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nobody in the central committee will surrender. The sound like "dead enders".
... and I do try to keep it to a minimum, but if you've got spare change, please kick in. I've had a monitor and a laptop give up the respective ghosts in the past month and hosting is a bare ten days away.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2009 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Coalition forces destroyed an anti-aircraft gun in southern Afghanistan Tuesday, officials said.
[Bangla Daily Star] Clashes between rival ethnic groups in south Sudan have left more than 170 people dead, a district official said yesterday. Armed fighters from the Murle ethnic group in remote Akobo county in eastern Jonglei state attacked Lou Nuer villages over the weekend, county commissioner Doyak Chol said.
Unidentified men blew up a boys' primary school in the Zirgiray area of Nawagai tehsil in Bajaur Agency on Monday. The number of schools damaged in this way has reached 38, but it was the first such incident after the peace deal in Bajaur. Meanwhile, the head of the Mamoond tribal jirga, Malik Abdul Aziz, and his driver sustained injuries in a remote-controlled bomb blast on Monday, local sources said. The injured tribal elder was shifted to Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) in Peshawar for treatment. Sources told Daily Times that the attack was made near Barkhlozai Morr in Asman Patti area when he was travelling home from agency headquarter Khar. He had survived a remote-controlled bomb attack a year ago.
[Bangla Daily Star] The Sri Lankan government gave Tamil Tiger fighters and their leader 24 hours to surrender yesterday, after tens of thousands of trapped civilians managed to flee rebel-held territory.
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